Alan Drury's photos with the keyword: Peppercorn class A1

A1 Trust Peppercorn class A1 60163 TORNADO at Gars…

Peppercorn class A1 60163 TORNADO at Kirkby Stephe…

23 May 2021 10 9 366
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. Completed in 2008 at the cost of around £3 million, it is the first newly built main line steam locomotive in the UK since Evening Star in 1960. It is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped. 60163 is named after the Panavia Tornado, a combat aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force. In 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph on British tracks for over 50 years. Construction of Tornado began in 1994 and was at Darlington Works for most of the project, whilst numerous components such as the boiler were manufactured elsewhere. The project was financed through fundraising initiatives such as public donations and sponsorship deals and further funding came from hiring out Tornado itself for special rail services. Construction was completed in 2008 and full certification of the locomotive was achieved in January 2009. Having been designed in compliance with modern safety and certification standards, Tornado has been conducting passenger services on the UK rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways since 2008.