P1010027. It might not look it in these photo's but she was almost complete.
Tornado is a new Peppercorn A1 class Pacific locomotive built over eighteen years to make up for the lack of one in preservation. The build stayed as faithful as possible to the original drawings although some compromises had to be made to accommodate modern safety standards and substitute for construction techniques that simply aren't used anymore so, for example, the boiler is welded rather than rivetted.
P1010027. It might not look it in these photo's but she was almost complete.
P1010035.
Fittingly 60613 (she hasn't been named yet) had her first public outings on the East Coast Main Line on the weekend of January the 31st and February the 1st, 2009. Sadly on both days the return legs were scheduled too late for photography. Negotiating Burnigill viaduct at about 5:00 on Saturday could have offered a nice silhouette if there had been any sunset but all I got was a black smudge against a dull grey sky.
P1050005. On a dull Saturday she ran from York to Newcastle and return here cantering past Preston-le-Skerne between Darlington and Ferryhill.
P1050006. The steam that appears to be leaking from behind the smoke deflector is actually from a whistle. She has a second whistle there, a chime type from an A4 Pacific, and the drivers do like it. I think on this occasion the driver was swinging from it all the way from King's Cross- it's a wonder he had any steam left to pull the train.
P1050007. I wonder if there was an inch of ECML between York and Newcastle that wasn't covered by photographers.
P1050148. Saturday was positively balmy compared to the miserable Sunday for the run from Doncaster to Durham and return. The photographs aren't terribly good but I've posted them for what they're worth. These are taken from the Cathedral- I was looking at that flag for ten minutes and I still manage to cock things up as she coasted across the viaduct into Durham Station.
P1050149. Wharton Park was heaving with admirers.
P1050158. Although the tour ended at Durham she couldn't turn round there so the train had to carry on to Newcastle to go around the loop. I trotted down to the Gala building on Claypath just in time to catch her departure. Going downhill she pulled away with a minimum of fuss.
P1010737. Locomotion at the Darlington Railway Museum.
Shildon was the world's first railway town so it was only fitting that the NRM's new annex should be set up there.
P1010066. Dull weather for the museums celebration of modern traction. A Western diesel-hydraulic withdrawn from service in the '70s and class 60 which I considered fairly new- I felt chills when I thought about it and realized they've been in service for nearly 20 years.
P1010070. In the cab of the Experimental Advanced Passenger Train (APT-E). I imagine Concord was something like this- a glimpse of what the future looked like nearly 40 years ago.
P1010071. Examples of cutting edge passenger travel from over a century apart. The APT-E still holds the British speed record for non-electric traction. Yes it is listing slightly- the tilting mechanism was causing some concern when I was there.
P1010074.
P1010081. English Electric's prototype Deltic in its unique livery- the prominent headlight is the most obvious of many differences from the production examples introduced in 1962. Designed specifically for express passenger duties only 22 production Deltics were built and ran exclusively on the East Coast Main Line. They ruled the top-link expresses until being superceded by the charecterless but efficient HST 125s in the 70's. They were withdrawn in 1982 and five were preserved. The high revving, two-stroke Napier Deltic engines that gave them their distinctive voice, unbeaten power to weight ratio and name of course are so complicated that none of them has had a complete overhaul since they went into preservation.
P1030492. Now for a steam day with somewhat better weather. The nine inch gauge compound closest to camera is over a century old and was built at Crewe by the very craftsmen who built the locomotives it was modelled on. LNER V2 workhorse Green Arrow makes an attractive backdrop.
P1030494. The Duke of Gloucester. Kettles really aren't my thing and I should have checked my facts before typing the earlier caption which was utter rubbish. Although outwardly similar to the Britannia Pacifics the Duke is a one-off three cylinder prototype- a short-lived failure who's shortcomings were never addressed due to the demise of steam. She might have remained a footnote in railway history but, saved for preservation, underwent the sort of tweaking and modifications she would have received in service maturing into a 3,000hp monster holding many records for steam traction.
P1030517.
P1120299. A care-worn Stanier 8f, repatriated after a long career in Turkey, awaits restoration at Locomotion.
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