New steam train takes to tracks

Tornado will make its passenger debut in the new year

Rail enthusiasts young and old lined the platform at York station to watch a new steam train thunder off on its first main line run.

The £3m locomotive Tornado, the first steam engine built in the UK for almost 50 years, pulled out of York bound for Scarborough.

The test run journey was the first for a new a steam train on the national railway network since 1960.

Tornado was built by Darlington-based charity, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust.

The first journey was a "light engine movement" in which Tornado, a Peppercorn class A1 Pacific steam locomotive, pulled two support coaches at a maximum speed of 50mph.

Second trial

Mark Allatt, chairman of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, said the departure was watched by hundreds of people and described it as "another momentous day for Tornado".

Tornado will be based at the National Railway Museum in York until February 2009 at least.

There it will undertake main line tests and trials before completing the certification process and receiving the go-ahead to operate on Network Rail.

Its second trial is scheduled for next Thursday when it will travel 60mph on a return journey to Barrow Hill depot, near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, pulling 11 coaches.

Mr Allatt said: "Tornado's test runs are all part of the preparation for her Network Rail passenger debut in the new year."