Today, 1st August 2018, marks 10 years since steam locomotive No.60163 Tornado was first steamed, and since then, it has certainly been on a big journey.

Tornado has featured on both the big and small screen, having featured in Paddington 2: The Movie, and also helping Jeremy Clarkson from London to Edinburgh in Top Gear’s Race To The North (Top Gear S13).

Tornado is, and still is, Britain’s newest mainline capable steam locomotive, and recently, the locomotive steamed on the mainline at 100 mph! It is now the locomotive that is capable of travelling along the mainline at 90mph.

Royalty has also travelled behind Tornado, as the locomotive has also hauled the Royal Train, including HRH Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

60163 Tornado has also visited a lot of heritage railways in its 10 years, including the East Lancashire Railway, Severn Valley Railway – most recently for their Spring Steam Gala 2018, North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the Nene Valley Railway.

Northern Plandampf

One of the most famous milestones for Tornado was its role in hauling the Northern Plandampf services, taking over diesel services between Skipton and Appleby for three days in February 2017. Thousands came to photo and ride behind the locomotive, which marked the first time since the end of BR steam that a steam locomotive had hauled a regular passenger service on the mainline.

Below is our video from the event:

This is a major milestone for the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, who operate and maintain Tornado.

We look forward to the next 10 years and seeing where this takes us.

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