Mark Allatt resigns from A1 Trust
MARK Allatt, one of the pivotal figures behind world market-leading Peppercorn Pacific No. 60163 Tornado builder The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, has resigned as a trustee and council member with immediate effect.
Mark, an independent marketing, communications and branding consultant, has been associated with the trust for more than 30 years, 27 of which were as a trustee, including 16 years as chairman.
He has been credited with the success of the trust’s publicity, marketing and fundraising activities, and was also a driving force behind the plans to build a new Gresley P2 2-8-2, No. 2007 Prince of Wales.
Recently appointed trust chairman Steve Davies MBE said: “Mark can be rightly proud of the major contribution he has made to the trust over the last 30 years, especially in the area of fundraising.
“His energy, drive and imagination were at the heart of most of the major projects pursued by the trust, and I am joined by my trust colleagues in wishing him well in the future.”
Mark was born in 1965 in Sheffield but raised and educated in Dronfield, North Derbyshire, and Bottesford, in North Lincolnshire.
As a youngster he collected second-hand Triang-Hornby models, but the gift of a Flying Scotsman set at Christmas 1970 sealed his love of all things LNER.
Mark went to university at De Montfort, Leicester, and later gained a degree in politics and economics while maintaining his interest in railways through membership of the Gresley and A4 societies. He later became chairman of the LNER Society.
After the project to fill a missing gap in the LNER heritage steam fleet by building a new A1 was launched in 1990, he attended the second meeting at King’s Cross in March 1991, and responded to an appeal for volunteers by offering to help with marketing, publicity, and fundraising.
Tornado moved under its own power for the first time on July 29, 2008, and was officially named by the Prince of Wales at York station on February 19, 2009.
Its apex moment came on an early-hours test run on the East Coast Main Line on April 12, 2017, when it reached 101mph – with a proud Mark on board. Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially travel at 100mph on the national network since 1967.