Steam locomotive Tornado to make first ever trip from Yorkshire to Liverpool

Tornado has spent much of the first half of the year parked up at the National Railway Museum in York, following the onset of the pandemic.

However, her isolation came to an end last week when she did a test run to Lancashire and she is now being prepared for her first ever “Ticket To Ride” to Liverpool and a second journey to Scotland.

Both trips – to Edinburgh or Stirling on September 12 and Liverpool on September 19 – will pick up passengers in York.

The trip to Liverpool, which will start in Darlington, will take on the steep climbs and stunning scenery of Copy Pit, before steaming into the heart of the city at Lime Street.

Passengers will have time to take in the sights before returning along much of Stephenson’s Liverpool and Manchester Railway, before heading back to Darlington via the Calder Valley.

The Peppercorn class A1 engine in LNER livery was built at Darlington Works in 2008 by a group of railway enthusiasts with the help of public donations.

The only member of the Peppercorn class in existence, as all of the originals were scrapped, and regularly hauls steam charters around the country and visits privately-run heritage lines.

Tornado is the only steam locomotive to have reached 100mph in the last 50 years, reaching the ton during tests on the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and Newcastle in April 2017.

She also took part in Top Gear’s Race to the North stunt from London to Edinburgh in 2009, finishing second behind Jeremy Clarkson’s Jaguar by 10 minutes but with 95 minutes of booked stoppage time to take on water.

Prices start at £109 for a return day trip.

For tickets and more information visit a1steam.com/railtours or call our booking office on 01325 488215.