‘FIFTEEN GUINEA’: For ‘CromwEll’, rEAd Tornado

Welcome to the 50th anniversary of the end of steam. In some ways you might not want to think too much about that milestone – but it’s here, and you can bet there’ll be interest, especially in August. First out of the traps for a run over the Settle-Carlisle on the anniversary of the ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ itself are Pathfinder Tours and Tornado. Not content with just the one run, there are actually two – on the anniversary day August 11, and then again on August 15. The first is to start from Bristol, with steam from Crewe (Shap outbound, ‘S&C’ back); the second from Didcot (‘S&C’ outbound, Shap back). Adult Standard on either is £125. It means the new-build ‘A1’, which celebrates its own tenth anniversary in 2018, joins an increasing list of engines to have marked the occasion down the years – not least the ‘namer’ from the original ‘1T57’, readers’ appeal ‘Britannia’ Oliver Cromwell. By that point this time round though, No. 70013 is expected to already be off the main line – having already reached the ‘ten years’ since its revival in time for the 40th anniversary. This summer will, however, be the first time an engine that didn’t even exist back in 1968 has taken a starring role. “For me, yes, we’re pleased to have Tornado involved on the S&C on August 11,” A1 Trust ops director Graeme Bunker told me. “Is it appropriate? I think it is. Oliver Cromwell would be more appropriate, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be available.” However, Graeme also acknowledges that the interest in the anniversary means the Peppercorn 4-6-2 is unlikely to have Ais Gill to itself that day – and thinks it “likely that more than one train will run.” Indeed, since we spoke, the Railway Touring Company has announced a commemorative ‘CME’ on the symbolic date. “Hopefully,” Graeme adds, “if there is a second train it can have two ‘Black Fives’ up front, and we can commemorate 1968 and celebrate 2018, and the main line steam that we get to enjoy today.”

‘BuMs ON seATs’

Aside from any 50th anniversary angle, the A1 Trust is now busily filing Tornado’s own tenth anniversary schedule into shape – and as it does so there’s good news in terms of ‘bums on seats’ for the trust’s own trains. Indeed, as of December 8 it was able to report that the trips it had previously announced for 2018 were more than half-full. Naturally, those numbers can move down as well as up if you announce more trains (“Stats like that are a bit of a moving feast…”). “We’re not complacent,” says Graeme. “We still have to work hard – but it is a good thing.” How important in this was the publicity over the last year – when the ‘A1’ hauled ‘S&C’ service trains, hit 100mph, and most recently appeared in the latest ‘Paddington Bear’ film? The answer is ‘very’. “The sales boost after ‘Plandampf’ was significant. The same applied after the 100mph run – although that wasn’t as high, we got two bites of the cherry with the ‘newsflash’ then the [TV] documentary.” As for ‘Paddington’ though, Graeme reckons it’s still “too early to measure that one.” Although the most ambitious trip of 2018 is the multi-day ‘Royal Scotsman’ excursion we revealed a couple of issues ago, Graeme is also looking forward to another luxury outing: a return to the Great Northern with Belmond’s Pullmans on June 2. The King’s CrossScarborough ‘Yorkshire Pullman’, No. 60163’s man says, “is going to be very special.” “Tornado on the Pullmans on the East Coast doesn’t happen very often – the last time was in 2009. Will we have to wait another nine years? I don’t know.” Perhaps higher in gricer minds at the moment is the first public 90mph-planned run on April 14 (sold out), which now doesn’t seem so far away. Graeme describes preparation for that as being “well in hand.” “What we’re trying to do is avoid leaving it to the last minute, as you can imagine.”

if there is a second train it can have two ‘Black fives’ up front, and we can commemorate 1968 and celeBrate 2018

More recently announced is a tour from Manchester – the first from there to be promoted by the trust itself – to Stratfordupon-Avon on August 18. Yet despite these things and others already filling out the calendar, that doesn’t mean it’s now full. In fact more appearances are still expected, not least because the end of steam isn’t the only event that has a significant anniversary this year; and with its name, Tornado has a military connection. “We’ll be doing something around the RAF centenary, and we have been asked to do something around the Armistice. So there are more diary dates to go in.” ●● Just now though, Tornado isn’t going anywhere. With a pause until February in its diary, No. 60163 is on an industrial estate in Loughborough where ‘annual maintenance’ is being carried out by Locomotive Maintenance Services. The ‘A1’s’ home at Darlington, meanwhile, is somewhat full of ‘P2’. However, as Loughborough is a low-loader move – sometimes frowned upon by LNER ‘Pacific’ owners due to fears of problems with their Cartazzi trucks – a bit of kit has been devised to enable the engine on and off the road trailer without having to use a ramp. It’s an elevated steel section, around 22in off the ground, and built in bits so it can be transported. Right now, it’s holding a ‘Pacific’. One of the jobs on the list for the ‘A1’ this time is to bore out the cylinders, which increases their diameter. Since the tyres have already been turned (making the wheels slightly smaller), and given that both those factors affect the tractive effort calculation, Graeme says Tornado is “probably the most powerful it’s ever been in terms of tractive effort” – though he also reckons “I don’t think anyone will really notice.”