Tornado approaching Ramsbottom

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 29 Mar 2018

Legendary locomotive "Tornado" approaches the signal box and level crossing at Ramsbottom during the east Lancashire Railway's "Tornado: The 100mph Steam Engine" event held over the 2018 Easter weekend. Peppercorn Class A1 60163 “Tornado” is a main line coal-fired steam locomotive. Unlike other steam locomotives, Tornado is not a preserved locomotive but was specially built. Construction of Tornado began in 1994 and was completed in 2008, making her Britain’s newest steam engine; indeed, Tornado was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Railways in 1960. Having been designed with compliance to modern safety and certification standards, Tornado has been conducting passenger services on the UK rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways since 2008. Tornado is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped without preservation. Despite her youth, she has already become an icon, finding fame in “Top Gear” and the 2017 family feature film “Paddington 2” and in April 2017 Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph in over 50 years on British tracks.

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