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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2017 :: RMTnews
26
The history of the Peppercorn
A1 No.60163 Tornado is unique.
The locomotive is a new-build
that was started by the A1
Steam Locomotive Trust in
1994 and completed in 2008
when the engine rolled out of
the Darlington Locomotive
Works.
It was the first new
locomotive built in the United
Kingdom since 1960 when the
9F No. 92220 Evening Star was
constructed at the Great
Western Locomotive Works at
Swindon by British Railways.
The design of the engine
comes from an original concept
by Arthur H. Peppercorn the
last Chief Mechanical Engineer
of the London & North Eastern
Railway (LNER) at Doncaster.
As the railways were
nationalised in 1948, the three
cycler A1s built between 1948
to 1949 at Doncaster and
Darlington Locomotive Works
were actually constructed by
British Railways.
49 locomotives were built
for the East Coast Main Line
and were allotted to depots
across the route from
Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds
and Grantham to Kings Cross
for express passenger work. The
A1s were suited for the post-
war-time of poor maintenance,
plus they could burn low grade
coal not like some of their other
class mates i.e. the A4s. Sadly
by the 1960s with the onset of
dieselisation all of the 49
original A1s were scrapped.
An attempt was made to
save one locomotive No. 60145
Saint Mungo, the last of the
class, but she was taken out of
operational service in June
1966 and scrapped in
September of that year.
CELEBRATIONS: A shot taken by Stephen Loeber of
60163 Tornado at Weeley on August 12 when she was
working between Colchester Town and Walton to
celebrate 150 years of Walton Pier and station.
STEAMING
TORNADO
RMT signaller Stephen Loeber tells the
unique story of the Tornado steam train