LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado

British steam locomotive built in 2008

In 1990, the charitable A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was founded with the intention of building a new LNER Peppercorn Class A1 steam locomotive and the 50th member of its class. The original 49 Peppercorn A1s were built in 1948 and 1949 at Doncaster and Darlington Works at £16,000 each. They were initially ordered for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) to a design by its chief mechanical engineer Arthur Peppercorn, but were delivered after the company had been nationalised and became British Railways. The Peppercorn A1s ran services on the East Coast Main Line until the last one was scrapped in September 1966 after a comparatively short service of 15 years. None of them were preserved. Tornado was intended to be built as the next Peppercorn A1 and not a restoration nor replica, and was assigned the next available number in the class after No. 60162 Saint Johnstoun. It was designed as an evolved member of its class, incorporating various improvements that would have occurred had steam continued in Britain. It was the first new build steam locomotive on British railways since BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star was completed in 1960. The name Tornado was chosen in honour of the Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado air crews flying at the time in the Gulf War. The honour of choosing the name was given to a £50,000 sponsor of the project.

Ironically, in 2003, it was decided to make Tornado oil fired for cost and operational reasons, following earlier dual fuelled coal and oil fired proposals in 1998, when boiler design commenced. With advances in manufacturing, Tornado's 48 feet (15 m) long steel plates were electronically cut from one piece of steel, as opposed to the original Peppercorn A1s, which had two piece frames riveted together. The fluted chimney was still not fitted at the time of its LNER Apple Green livery launch on 13 December 2008, due to it still being machined at the manufacturer. It was completed and fitted in time for the inaugural main line passenger run. In early 2002, the Deutsche Bahn's Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works in Germany was identified as a suitable supplier. It possessed the required knowledge as main line steam operation had continued in East Germany until the mid 1980s, 70% of its work still involved steam, and it still possessed the powerful plate roller machines. The trust did not have sufficient funding to place the order until January 2005.

In 1991, a preference for a "Doncaster pattern" riveted tender was expressed as per the original Peppercorn A1s. While in this undercoat, Tornado wore the web address of the A1 Trust on the side of the tender and the mark RA9 on the locomotive cab, denoting its route availability. followed by its official launch on 1 August, moving up and down the test siding in front of the press. Although the painted number is 60163, Tornado is designated 98863 on the British main line in TOPS, where "98" describes a steam engine, the "8" stems from the power classification of 8P, After three days, Tornado had completed her first non stop mile run and had hauled empty coaches. Her final passenger run on the GCR was on 12 October, and had run 1500 mile (2414 km) by the end of the month. and the engine was described as having performed "effortlessly" and "faultlessly". Three test runs were planned for 4, 6 and 18 November 2008, involving out and back journeys from York in the evenings. The first was to Scarborough, a round trip of 84 mile (135 km), with a support coach only. All runs were carried out successfully. Following the test runs, Tornado received her first full livery at the NRM's paint shop where she was painted in LNER Apple Green with "British Railways" on the tender, as worn by the first original 30 Peppercorn A1s. A dynamometer car from the North Eastern Railway was attached. On 11 January 2009, Tornado left the NRM for preparations for her mainline passenger debut.

As a new build locomotive, Tornado certification was more complex in comparison to a restored one and required liaison with Network Rail, HMRI, and a vehicle acceptance body, with the origin of all construction materials needing to be documented and every aspect of the manufacture recorded. Further tests were performed at Network Rail facilities located between York and Darlington, at a testing facility known as a WheelChex. This consists of track fitted with sensors to measure vertical force effects such as hammer blow. In January 2009, the railway press reported that a discrepancy had emerged in the 18 November 2008 test, whereby the OTMR recording equipment on the Class 67 being towed had recorded a top speed of around , while the A1 data recorder measured speeds "nearer the " mark. It was stated that while a 10% overspeed is allowed (and may be required) in such new equipment test runs (A4 Class 4464 Bittern reached in 2007), Tornado had not been planned or authorised to do so on this test. It was suggested that the discrepancy might have been down to the equipment on the Class 67

On 31 January 2009, Tornado completed her first passenger trip on the British mainline, hauling The Peppercorn Pioneer in a return trip from York to Newcastle via Darlington and Durham. Both trips carried 500 passengers, and were organised for covenanters only. This was followed by her first mainline train available to the wider public on 7 February, hauling the A1 Trust's own The Talisman from Darlington to London King's Cross. Her first departures out of London were to be two circular tours named the Cathedrals Express from Victoria station on 14 February, but the first tour was subsequently changed and left from Waterloo. In April 2009, Tornado appeared at the LNER themed event at Barrow Hill Roundhouse where she featured alongside Peppercorn A2 Class 60532 Blue Peter and Class A4s 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley and 4488 Union of South Africa. Blue Peter was repainted in LNER Apple Green livery for display alongside Tornado, and their meeting re created a scene not witnessed for nearly 50 years.

The A1 Trust promised to paint Tornado in all four liveries that the original Peppercorn A1s had worn during its first period of operation with its first 10 year boiler certificate. In 2015, following an intermediate overhaul, Tornado returned to service in its original LNER Apple Green.

The original Peppercorn A1s were easily capable of reaching and in 2004, approval was sought for Tornado to achieve regular operation. In January 2009, having gained approval for running at , discussions took place about testing Tornado to higher speeds. In the early hours of 12 April 2017, Tornado achieved during a test run on the East Coast Main Line, becoming the first steam locomotive to reach the speed on the British mainline since 1968. Following this test, Tornado achieved certification to be allowed to run at on the main line, The A1 Trust has offered driver experiences at the controls of Tornado during visits to heritage lines. In 2013, she hauled the first steam hauled service from London Victoria to Sheffield Park via East Grinstead and the Bluebell Railway since 1963. In 2017, Tornado was used by Northern Rail on scheduled public timetabled services between Appleby and Skipton prior to the reopening of the Settle–Carlisle line, which had been closed for a year because of a landslip. On 14 April 2018, while running at 90 mph south of Peterborough on The Ebor Flyer from London King's Cross to York, the locomotive's inside motion failed. The subsequent repairs and re testing took several months to complete.

In November 2021, Tornado was withdrawn from mainline service after a number of tender wheel flats caused by slippage from falling leaves were detected. Following an appearance at the Great Central Railway in January 2022, the locomotive moved to Loughborough for dismantling and major overhaul. It was to be complete in July, but delays caused by the COVID 19 pandemic while the boiler was being restored at Meiningen Works in Germany, and additional work needed on the driving wheels and tyres, led to its completion date pushed back to the spring of 2023. However issues with the boiler have further delayed completion of the work. The overhaul will include the installation of European Rail Traffic Management System (ETCS) in cab signalling equipment.

Tornado was built by the Locomotive Construction Co Ltd, While at the GCR, the project costs were running at the rate of £10,000 a month, In 1997, Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), the then operator on the East Coast Main Line, became a sponsor, and decorated Darlington station for the event, as well as offering free travel for trust workers. which initially cast the driving wheels on "very advantageous terms", The film was released on Region 2 DVD on 28 December 2009 with unseen material and DVD extras. Tornado and the Tornado project was also partly featured in the BBC Four documentary episode The Last Days of Steam (series 8 of the Time Shift documentaries), and also on How Do They Do It? (channel Five version, season 3 episode 3). The project also featured on BBC 2's magazine programme Working Lunch broadcast on 3 December 2007.

On 25 April 2009, Tornado hauled a 10 coach Cathedrals Express charter from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. This private train was filmed by the BBC for a retro Top Gear Race, in which Jeremy Clarkson on the train raced James May in a Jaguar XK120 and Richard Hammond on a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike. Tornado was booked to complete the 390.2 mile (628 km) journey in 8 hours 2 minutes, without any passenger stops at stations, but with four water stops en route at Grantham, York, Tyne Yard and Berwick, totalling 95 minutes booked stoppage time. Because motorways did not exist in 1949 (the first not being built until 1959) May and Hammond were restricted to using A roads. In a close finish, Tornado came second behind the Jaguar, with a difference of only about ten minutes between them. The train was formed from the maroon support coach and a uniform rake of nine Royal Scot blood and custard coaches. The race featured in the first episode of the show's 13th series, airing on 21 June 2009.

60163 Tornado, as well as LMS Hughes Crab no. 13065, appeared in the 2017 film, Paddington 2.

A "very limited edition" customised model from The Model Centre (TMC), based on the Bachmann OO scale model in grey livery helped raise funds for the project. Another grey works Tornado was to be made by TMC but with National Express on her tender from her 18 November main line test run. Bachmann released a Tornado model in BR Apple Green livery just before Christmas 2009. Unlike the TMC models, which featured a standard Bachmann A1 repainted in Tornado's then grey livery, and unlike the original Bachmann limited edition model of Tornado which had the locomotive in BR Brunswick Green livery with the late BR crest, the 2009 release was a new model, with most (though not all) of the detail differences applied. This is particularly evident on the tender, which features the enlarged water capacity and reduced coal storage of Tornado as compared to the original A1 locomotives. The model proved extremely popular, to the extent that 10 weeks after going on sale Bachmann stocks were exhausted and more models had to be ordered. Since 2011, Hornby Railways have produced a model of Tornado in 00 gauge. Graham Farish have produced a model in N scale. For their 2013/2014 range, Bachmann released an Express Passenger Blue model of Tornado which is a standard repaint and slightly modified Peppercorn A1. Darstaed Models are to manufacture an O scale model of Tornado using tinplate. The model will feature traditional three rail electric pick up. Accucraft (UK) make a live steam model of Tornado in gauge 1.