Crowds cheer on steam locomotive

The project has taken 18 years of planning, construction and fundraising

Rail enthusiasts have thronged station platforms from York to Newcastle to catch a glimpse of a steam locomotive.

The £3m Tornado, built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in Darlington, County Durham, was tested on the East Coast Mainline on Tuesday night.

The steam engine, the first to be built in the UK for almost 50 years, was able to achieve speeds of 75mph (120km/h) for the first time.

The trust now hopes the Tornado will begin tours in 2009.

The Peppercorn class A1 steam locomotive was in York undergoing trials and is designed to haul special charter trains.

The project to build the 170-tonne locomotive took 18 years.