60163 Tornado

A1 Class Pacific 4-6-2



The A1s were designed by Arthur H Peppercorn, the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). The original 49 Peppercorn Class A1s were ordered by the LNER and built at Doncaster and Darlington for British Railways (BR) in 1948/9, after the nationalisation of the railways. Unfortunately, the rapid onset of dieselisation in the 1960s meant that all 49 were scrapped, after an average life of only 15 years.

With no A1s preserved, the desire to build a new one was born. Tornado was built in Darlington and made its first public moves in steam in August 2008, eighteen years since the project was started. Following Tornado's successful main line test runs in 2008, the locomotive operated her first tours exclusively for the covenantors who paid for the locomotive. Tornado, in its LNER Apple-Green livery, is currently undertaking a busy period of main line tours throughout the country.