Mr. Gazongola writes to tell us:

Yes Ladies and Gents, the first mainline steam locomotive to have been built in over five decades has made her maiden voyage. 

On Saturday the 7th of February, the brand new loco, dubbed ‘Tornado’, set out from Darlington at 0745 GMT and arrived at King’s Cross Station at 1400 GMT

Image source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Peppercorn class A1 Pacific was built over 18 years, and cost £ 3 million. Painted in apple green, this was the original colour of the first 30 peppercorn classes, made from original plans from 1948, the last original A1 being scrapped in 1966. She is fitted with extra water storage capacity, and all the latest railway electronics to make her safe to be run on the mainline.

Tornado pulled 13 carriages at speeds of up to 75 mph, at a total of about 500 tons. Try to get that out of a modern vehicle. If you don’t mind taking twice as long to get to your destination, then this is the train for you. Well, I shall certainly be waiting for my ticket, and hope that she will be running for years to come. Full steam ahead Tornado!