The LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
Sunday, February 21st, 2010Restoring classic cars often means salvaging and restoring parts and giving them brand new life. But with the 60163 Tornado, it is a steam locomotive that looks like a train that was built in the 1950s, but it was actually made in the 90’s.
Why is it called Tornado? The privilege to christen the train was given to the sponsor who had given the highest amount which was up to £50,000. Since the war against Saddam’s Iraq had just been won by the coalition which included the Royal Air Force, it has been decided to provide the locomotive a name to revere the Royal Air Force pilots who flew the British-made fighter aircraft also named the Tornado. Therefore, the name “Tornado.”
The Tornado nameplate that is now being worn by the train is actually given by the RAF which they presented to A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (maker of the Tornado train) in 1995 during the frame laying ceremony.
In an effort to provide tribute to classic steam engines, a project was launched to grant them new life and work began to create the 60163 Tornado. A trust foundation known as A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and its subsidiary, Locomotive Construction Co., coordinated and built the Tornado as part of the locomotive heritage movement.
Past and present meet as the Tornado is built. The steam-powered technology of the Tornado may be obsolete but all of the parts and pieces are made with turn of the millennium techniques and apparatuses. But the Tornado’s construction did not come cheap. On the project’s onset, the projected outlay for the Tornado was at £1.6 million but because of gradual price increase and inflation over the years, the cost nearly doubled at £3 million and the Tornado was completed two years behind the initial schedule.
The Tornado started its first test-run in July 29, 2008 at Darlington along Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire on the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, a preserved double track railway meant to both entertain tourists and carry people to their destinations.
The Tornado’s velocity reached up to 121 km/h (75 mph) and it was approved to become a main-line passenger train after it was repainted in apple green color. In January 31, 2009, the Tornado made its first run to transport passengers. The cost to form the Tornado created debt for its makers and making it a passenger train is a way to be able to repay those debts.
The Tornado’s speed is also restricted to only 140 km/h although it is said to be able to go as quick as 160 km/h.
The original color of the Tornado was grey and the tender’s logo on both sides at first have A1 Trust’s website painted on it. As soon as the Tornado’s color was changed to apple green to memorialize the the 1940’s locomotives, the coal-car’sdecals were changed to British Railways.
The Tornado’s paintwork was done by the NRM in front of 500 people and were done with the use of just hands and paintbrushes.
Because of the the effort and the cost poured in the Tornado’s building, Bachmann trains has commemorated this new age classic in one of their limited edition model train collection. The Bachmann 32-550A Class A1 60163 ‘Tornado’ has captured every detail of the life-size Tornado and will be a valuable piece to one’s model trains collection.
