Tornado Raises a Storm in
St. James's Park
Mark
Allatt, Chairman A1 Locomotive Steam Trust - account
of the Lecture by Peter Lindop
Talk held on Tuesday
2nd March
2010.
On
the 2nd March we welcomed Mark Allatt, the Chairman of the A1
Loco Steam Trust - the owners of60163 "Tornado". This turned out to be one of
the most well attended speakers in recent years (if not all time).
Entitled 'The Tornado Story: from Dream to Steam', the illustrated talk covered
the epic story of how a conversation in a pub turned into a generation long
struggle to build a steam locomotive from scratch, by asking members of the
public to donate 'the price of a pint'.
The Al Steam Locomotive Trust, a registered charity, built Peppercorn class A1
Pacific 60163 Tornado at its Darlington Locomotive Works to haul charter trains
operating on Network Rail. Fitted with additional water capacity and the latest
railway safety electronics, Tornado is fully equipped for today's main line
railway. The class Al's were designed by Arthur H Peppercorn for the London &
North Eastern Railway and 49 were built in 1948/49 by British Railways. However,
following the dieselisation of the railways, all were scrapped by 1966.
The project to build a new Peppercorn class Al was launched in 1990 and after 18
years of planning, construction and fundraising, the £3 million locomotive was
completed in August 2008. Following tests and
trials, first on the Great Central Railway, Loughborough and thereafter on the
Network Rail main line based out of the National Railway Museum, York, Tornado
hauled her first main line passenger train on 31st January 2009. Tornado was
named by HRH the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of
Cornwall at York station on 19th February 2009.
Funds to build Tornado have been raised through deeds of covenant, donations,
commercial sponsorships, (principal sponsor, William Cook Cast Products Ltd)
commercial loans, and a Bond issue. The Trust is
still seeking to raise funds to repay the outstanding £600,000 borrowed to
complete her construction.
Tornado starred in an episode of 'Top Gear', first shown in 2009 and watched by
over seven million people, racing a 1949 vintage Jaguar XK120 car and Vincent
Black Shadow motorcycle from London to Edinburgh, with presenter Jeremy Clarkson
on the footplate.
Frequently headlined in the press and on TV, No. 60163 Tornado was the subject
of a BBC documentary 'Absolutely Chuffed, The Men Who Built a Steam Engine'
broadcast Christmas Eve 2008 on BBC2 and now available from the Trust on DVD.
Mark Allatt, Chairman of The Al Steam Locomotive Trust, commented: "Tornado has
had a hectic first year of main line operations stretching right across the
country.
