The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is a Darlington, England based charitable trust formed in 1990 for the primary purpose of completing the next stage of the locomotive heritage movement, the building of a new steam locomotive from scratch (i.e. not a re-build of an existing locomotive). This project became the construction of 60163 Tornado, carried out by Locomotive Construction Co Ltd,[1] a wholly owned subsidiary of the A1 Trust. After over 15 years of fundraising and construction, Tornado steamed for the first time in January 2008.
In contrast to various other heritage projects, with an eye to timely completion and full certification for main line use, the founding principles of the A1 trust were to treat funding as a priority and not a distraction,[2] to use professionals in their fields for the various posts needed,[2] and to use the engineering industry for all manufacturing to meet the needs of certification.[2]
By October 1999, the trust had the largest numbers of supporters of any British locomotive owning group, and represented a 20th of all railway heritage group membership.[3] Some of the sums raised by covenanting were "unheard of" from railway enthusiasts.[4]
History
The trust had its origins in an informal discussion in Darlington on 24 March 1990, discussing the feasibility of the project, followed by the first announced public meeting on 28 April that year, chaired by the first chairman, Mike Wilson.[5] The trust was formally launched on 17 November 1990,[2] to a meeting at The Railway Institute in York, followed by further presentations in London and Edinburgh.
In Spring 1993 the trust formed the Locomotive Construction Co Ltd,[1] a wholly owned subsidiary of the trust, to build Tornado. In Summer 1993 the trust became the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, a company limited by guarantee with charitable status.[1] This was required to take advantage of the tax efficiency of covenants.[1]
The trust held the first of what would become annual conventions at a Doncaster school on 17 September 1994, attended by 210 people.[6] The trust went online in the Autumn of 1996,[6] and revamped their website in 2008.
The trust had a major crisis[4] in 2001 when a volunteer made several allegations to covenantors regarding defects, over several months. The issue was resolved to the satisfaction of the trust's auditors, VAB and the Charity Commissioners,[7] although the crisis was estimated to have cost £31,500 in lost income,[8] £150,000 in management time,[8] and a five-figure sum for an independent engineering survey.[8] In addition, it was estimated to have put back the completion date for Tornado by two years.[8]
Tornado project
60163 Tornado, the brand new locomotive built by the Trust
The Tornado project aimed to complete the task of building the locomotive from scratch, with no recovered/restored parts, a feat never achieved in the preservation movement before,[5] and not completed in Britain for a main line locomotive since 1960.[5] This was considered by the trust to be the next logical step in the steam heritage movement, after the restoration of Standard 8P Pacific No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester, which due to its final state, had involved building a large quantity of new parts.[5]
The original target date for completion was 27 September 2007, the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway,[5] at a projected cost of £1.6m,[9] with construction taking 10 years.[5] With inflation and material cost increases, the actual spend has increased to £3m.[5]
The trust has financed the Tornado project with a system of regular and one off covenants and industrial sponsorship,[5] as well as negotiating generous terms from several manufacturers. Significant costs were saved in the project by securing parts from companies for free or at significant discount.[5] The trust has also issued bonds to investors in return for financial contributions. Bond holders in return receive interest, and a repayment of the bond on maturity.[10] By 2005 the trust's monthly income was over £10,000[11] and rising.
Selecting a construction site
The original LNER Doncaster and Darlington works were ultimately self-sufficient, but no comparable locomotive workshops remain in the UK, so that the building of Tornado required the use of a large number of sub-contractors in varying locations,[10] requiring multiple suppliers to build components such as the cylinders.[6]Tornado would then be assembled at a site by the Trust. In Spring 1992 the trust announced that it intended to build Tornado in Britain, and not, as had been suggested, overseas, possibly in Poland, although possibly some parts would need to be built overseas.[12]
In 1993 the trust signed an agreement with Doncaster council to build Tornado at an unspecified site in the town.[1] The agreement with Doncaster council later broke down, so it was decided to begin construction at Tyseley Locomotive Works, beginning in 1995.[6]
In 1995, Darlington borough council offered the trust use of the Hopetown carriage works, at an appropriately named Peppercorn rent.[6] The trust named the Hopetown site as the Darlington Locomotive Works.[6] The renovation of the building was assisted with £300,000 in European, National and local grants.[6]
After nine months of conversion work,[6] the Hopetown facility opened and became the Trust's centre of operations. This was timed in conjunction with the trust's fourth annual convention,[3] with Tornado unveiled at the facility, having arrived from Tyseley two days earlier.[3]
In 2001, Darlington Borough Council decided to move the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group into the unrefurbished north end of the carriage works, meaning the trust consolidated in the southern half of the building.[4] As such, the works consist of a space less than 30 metres long by 15 metres wide.
The A1 works are not rail connected. The now disused main line connection of the former carriage works entered from the northern end of the building. A dividing wall was built between the two uses.
The works contained a single ‘road’, a piece of track over an inspection pit allowing work underneath the locomotive. A £10,000 grant from Darlington borough council also allowed the purchase of a five-tonne crane and four hydraulic jacks.[13]
The works also consisted of a specially laid straight piece of track extending the works road for approximately 500 feet (150m) out of the works door.[10] This was used to load and unload components from outside, conduct the boiler tests, and eventually conduct the first steam trials of Tornado.
The locomotive was constructed in the works road facing the dividing wall, with the tender frame being delivered outside and wheeled in to mate with the rear of the locomotive.
Personnel
Dorothy Mather and Mark Allatt
Honorary Officers of the Trust include its President, Dorothy Mather (widow of the designer of the A1s A. H. Peppercorn) and the Vice President, Peter Townend, former Shed Master of the Kings Cross Top Shed,[12] where his work brought him into contact with Peppercorn Class A1s in their running days.
Mather started the CNC plasma cutter that shaped the frame plates, lit the first fire in Tornado’s firebox, and was on the footplate for the inaugural run at Darlington works, stating "My husband would be proud."[14]
Trust member Geoff Drury, who died in October 1999,[3] was the previous owner of 60532 Blue Peter[6] and had also saved Gresley A4 4464 Bittern,[3] and the only other preserved Peppercorn Pacific.[3] An attempt had been made by enthusiasts including Geoff Drury to save the last remaining A1 Peppercorn, No. 60145 Saint Mungo, however the locomotive was scrapped in the Autumn of 1966.[3][5][15]
On 15 July 2000, chairmanship of the trust changed hands to the marketing director, city director and train enthusiast Mark Allatt, due to the ill health of the incumbent's wife.[4]
Talisman railtours
Tornado's first operation of the A1 Trust's Talisman tour, 7 February 2009
Tornado's first public run for passengers was the Talisman on 7 February 2009, from Darlington to London King's Cross. The trip was watched by thousands of spectators along the line and by a large crowd to greet her at King's Cross. This was a positioning run for later tours, with the train returning north by diesel.
Other projects
Flying Scotsman tender
In the autumn of 1991, the trust attempted to buy the frames of the redundant second tender of Flying Scotsman, in order to use its frames for Tornado.[12] In 1992, No. 5332 was acquired, one of the LNER's original ten 1928 corridor tenders.[1] The tank was removed and the frames stripped in Morpeth.[1] In 1998, due to the cost of overhaul, conversion for roller bearings, and the trust's desire to build Tornado out of completely new parts, it was decided to sell the Flying Scotsman tender frame back to its previous owners.[3] This sale to Flying Scotsman Railways was completed in early 2000.[13]
Other contracts
In 2000 the subsidiary company had sufficient capacity to accept an external order.[13] This was an auxiliary tender chassis for Standard Pacific No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester.[13] This was to be the only external order as of 2008, due to the consolidation of the Trust in the southern half of the Hopetown works building,[4] the Trust decided not to accept any more external work.[4]
By 1998, with the state of the finances, it was speculated that if Tornado could be completed on time, all maintenance costs could be funded, and there could be a genuine possibility of a second locomotive being built.[3] Subsequent delays and rising costs meant this became more unlikely.
As of 2000 the trust's chairman had expected other new build projects to have sprung up along the lines of the A1 Trust, however, despite 23 ideas of one form or another, only retro rebuilds such as GWR Saint had occurred.[13] Lack of financial and project control were believed to be the difference between the trust and these other projects.[13]
After construction of Tornado, £800,000 will still be required to service loans and bond issues.[5][10]
However, on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours, current chairman Mark Allatt suggested that a further locomotive could be possible, saying "We've got debts of £832,000, about half of which is a bond issue, and about half again of that is loans from individuals. Our business plan shows that if, as long as we continue with operating the tours we've planned to, and then our covenantors - who have been so generous over so long - stick with us, we can pay that back, and, the quicker we pay that back, the quicker we can start building a new engine".[18]
The A1 Trust is now producing a Gresley P2 numbered 2007 (the next in sequence) Prince of Wales. The P2s share around 70% of components used on Tornado. It will be made after the A1 Trust has enough money for Tornado future overhaul and debts repaid. Once work on the P2 is complete, the trust will start construction on a new V4 numbered 3403 (the next in sequence) Highlander, followed by a new V3 and then a K3.[19]
On Wednesday 13 August 2014, LNER Thompson B1 No. 61306 'Mayflower' was purchased by retired businessman David Buck from Neil Boden for an undisclosed sum. It was later announced that the locomotive will be managed on behalf by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. As of October 2014 however, the deal has fallen through, and 'Mayflower' will now be managed on behalf of West Coast Railway Company.
Related Research Articles
The British Rail Class 98 is a Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) classification that has been used to cover all steam locomotives used on the mainline in Britain, but also has a particular usage for the three Vale of Rheidol Railway-design 2-6-2T locomotives that remained in the ownership of British Rail (BR) after the end of mainline steam traction in August 1968. The locomotives on the Vale of Rheidol Railway were the only steam locomotives ever officially to carry the British Rail corporate blue and the double arrow logo.
London and North Eastern Railway's (LNER) Peppercorn Class A1 is a class of 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives built between 1948 and 1949 at Doncaster and Darlington Works to a design of Arthur Peppercorn. Forty-nine were built for hauling express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line owned by LNER's successor, British Railways' North Eastern Region. None of the original Peppercorn A1s survived into preservation, with the last being scrapped in 1966. The 50th Peppercorn A1, 60163 Tornado, was completed in 2008 as an evolved member of its class.
The London and North Eastern Railway Gresley Classes A1 and A3 locomotives represented two distinct stages in the history of the British 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley. They were designed for main line passenger services and later express passenger services, initially on the Great Northern Railway (GNR), a constituent company of the London and North Eastern Railway after the amalgamation of 1923, for which they became a standard design. The change in class designation to A3 reflected the fitting to the same chassis of a higher pressure boiler with a greater superheating surface and a small reduction in cylinder diameter, leading to an increase in locomotive weight. Eventually all of the A1 locomotives were rebuilt, most to A3 specifications, but no. 4470 was completely rebuilt as Class A1/1.
Darlington Works was established in 1863 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the town of Darlington in the north east of England. The main part of the works, the North Road Shops was located on the northeast side of the Stockton and Darlington Railway
Arthur Henry Peppercorn, was an English railway engineer, and was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway.
Edward Thompson was an English railway engineer, and was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway between 1941 and 1946. Edward Thompson was born at Marlborough, Wiltshire on 25 June 1881. He was the son of Francis Thompson, assistant master at Marlborough College. He was educated at Marlborough before taking the Mechanical Science Tripos at Pembroke College, Cambridge, earning a third class degree. Thompson entered the railway scene after education, contrasting that of his predecessor Nigel Gresley, who had also attended Marlborough after gaining practical experience as a pupil at Horwich Works.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class B17, also known as "Sandringham" or "Footballer" class was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for hauling passenger services on the Great Eastern Main Line. In total 73 were built.
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 Tornado is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. It is the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960, and the only Peppercorn Class A1 in existence after the original batch were scrapped. In 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph (160 km/h) on British tracks in over 50 years.
The London and North Eastern Railway Class P2 was a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for working heavy express trains over the harsh Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line. As they were to serve on Scottish expresses, they were given famous names from Scottish lore.
The first London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class A2 was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Vincent Raven for the North Eastern Railway. Two were built by the NER in 1922 before the grouping and another three by the LNER in 1924. Their LNER numbers were 2400–2404. All five locomotives were named by the LNER.
Hopetown Carriage Works, also known as the Stockton and Darlington Railway Carriage Works, was a carriage works of the Stockton and Darlington Railway built in 1853 in Hopetown, near Darlington, County Durham, England.
The London and North Eastern Railway Class V4 was a class of 2-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for mixed-traffic use. It was Gresley's last design for the LNER before he died in 1941. The V4s had similarities in their appearance and mechanical layout to the V2 "Green Arrow" class. The V2s, introduced some years before, were large and heavy locomotives, with very limited route availability. The V4 was a lightweight alternative, suitable for use over the whole of the LNER network.
The LNER Class A1/1 consisted of a single 4-6-2 "Pacific" express passenger locomotive rebuilt in 1945 from an A1 class locomotive, by Edward Thompson. It was intended as the prototype of a new design of pacific locomotives improving the A4 design of Thompson's predecessor Sir Nigel Gresley. No further examples were built due to Thompson's retirement in 1946.
No.6880 Betton Grange is a steam locomotive which is under construction as a "new-build" project, originally based on the Llangollen Railway in Denbighshire, Wales, then subsequently at Tyseley Locomotive Works. Described as "building the 81st Grange", the project started in 1998, and the locomotive was earlier expected to be operational by 2013, but subsequently by Autumn 2021, which was then pushed back to 2024. It was expected to be launched under steam in a private member event in January 2024 but was postponed a week before the event. All of the original GWR 6800 Class Grange locomotives were withdrawn for scrap by the end of 1965; this project is a creation, from an assemblage of original GWR and newly manufactured components, of a member of this class.
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The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) operated various classes steam locomotives with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. The LNER operated more pacifics than any other of the Big Four British railway companies, and they were mostly used for express passenger work along the East Coast Main Line, though later in their lives many were displaced to other lines.
The Race to the North is an episode of Top Gear that featured a three-way race held in 2009 between a Jaguar XK120 car, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and railway locomotive 60163 Tornado – a brand new mainline steam engine completed in Britain in 2008. The race saw the car, bike and locomotive, race from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, a journey of around 400 miles (640 km). Eighteen months in the planning, the race was filmed in secret on 25 April 2009, and shown on 21 June 2009 as the first episode of the thirteenth series of Top Gear
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LNER Class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales is a 2-8-2 "Mikado" steam locomotive being built at Darlington Locomotive Works, England, and managed by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust. It will be the seventh member of its class and the only P2 in existence; the original six were built between 1934 and 1936 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) to a design by Nigel Gresley, and employed to haul heavy passenger trains on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen line. The P2s were declared Britain's most powerful express passenger engines, although none were preserved.
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Tornado Story Part 1". The Railway Magazine: 17. April 2008.
1 2 3 4 "The Tornado Story Part 1". The Railway Magazine: 15. April 2008.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The Tornado Story Part 1". The Railway Magazine: 19. April 2008.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Tornado Story Part 2". The Railway Magazine: 29. May 2008.
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