Ton up Tornado

Be nice to hear Mr Riley's comment on a story that was about on the SVR some years ago that the two 5's had gone through Warrington or somewhere up that way at 85mph landing both in hot water

 

I wonder if anyone has any video of the actual 100mph section? If it had been during daylight, it would sure to be on YouTube by now.

 

I do hope some of those who use the Y nickname for Tornado stop using it, a hundred MPH steam loco is certainly anything but boring!

 

A1s were recorded at 100+ several times during the 1950s, C.J. Allen timed at least one of these events

Cheers,

Alan

 

Well deserved good coverage on the BBC1 lunchtime news.

A comment earlier by keith6233 mentions 46229 in 1997, what was achieved then please?

Dave

 

Steam Railway at the time said something along the lines of "we can't publish the speed achieved down Shap, but if you send us £96 we'll let you know". It was 46229's last run.

 

Agreed. But it bugs me when people refer to a locomotive as a 'train'.

 

AFAIK the test runs with Bittern on the GWML were only up to 90 mph or thereabouts, but now we're told that the 100 mph test with Tornado is because they need a 10% safety margin for running at 90 mph. I am wondering why the difference. Might it be because the tests with Bittern were in preparation for only three runs in service at 90 mph (and a tad above as it turned out) whereas the intention with Tornado is presumably for more than three, possibly whenever necessary for pathing or recovery of lost time?

The ages of all the other locos are one reason why it might be desirable to continue restricting them to 75 mph. But neither the A1 Trust nor anyone else has said that no other locos will ever have their speed limits raised. On the contrary, the BBC website says "Steam engines are currently limited to 75mph on the ECML, but the idea is that they'll instead be able to travel at up to 100mph - hence the testing." Note "they".

Even for Tornado itself there is evidently a serious amount of paperwork to be dealt with before any public 90 mphruns.

 

Congratulations to the A1 Steam Trust - A well-deserved achievement which shows that they have a machine capable of such performance, however regularly or irregularly they wish to use the capability.

Richard.

 

Tremendous achievement! All credit to A1SLT. This is also a wonderful tribute to the Gresley and Peppercorn lineage from which Tornado is descended.

 

They are definitely worth a reading.

 

I have a log of that run and i believe it was 98 Ray Towel was on the footplate and said it was 100 on the speedometer ,i wonder was the Matey headboard on Tornado a nod to this?.

 

Knew of the tests, and had a possibility of going out last night, but work got in way, with an early start.

However, another achievement for A1ST, and delivering again, in terms, of a goal they have always expressed, and the undoubted knock on's in terms of publicity today.

Part of me wonders if 90mph is going to be the norm, and the 10% is at NR discretion, to keep out of the way of other traffic etc...

A great day for all concerned, interesting reading that it may be year end before paperwork is in place though on FB.

 

I don't know the history of the +10% notion but I do recall even the humble 158s before introduction were tested at 99mph, so it's not new.

Patrick

 

Without the rights and wrongs of Edward Thompson, there would be no Peppercorn A1 in any event so it is a shame to see him willfully missed out (despite the obvious lineage from Gresley through Thompson's work to Peppercorn).

It is a victory for all that is LNER derived, that is for certain.

 

I think Bill Hoole had one into the upper 90s on the Scotch Goods! He got carpeted when the guards log showed a signal check when the ran down the preceding down Talisman.

 

So, is Tornado the first steam loco fitted with roller bearings to do the ton? Did 6256 or 46257 manage it or, indeed, any of the so fitted A1s, 60153 to 60157?

 

I do not know if there is an official record but several sources including Pete Townend have gone on record to say some of the original A1s did achieve the ton. Whether they were of the roller bearing example, or not, I do not know. I rather suspect that without official records it will merely be recorded as hearsay.

Tornado's achievement rather underlines the potential the originals had for high speed running. One wonders how much faster they would have been with streamlining.

All of the ex-LNER Pacifics were perfectly capable of great turns of speed, even Thompson's designs (classes A2/2 and A2/3 clocked at more than 90mph on several occasions). I do not believe the ton would have been beyond any of them.

It is a great reflection on the design teams of the LNER that they were able to produce so many Pacifics capable of sustained high speed running over such a long period of time. No doubt that many would reflect on the trials and tribulations of the three CMEs they were produced under, but ultimately all three of them deserve our gratitude for that they oversaw.

 

Let's be honest, other than Stoke bank, the ECML is a bit flat and ideal for speed. Stanier's big uns would have had some fun.