The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has released an update on the maintenance of LNER A1 No. 60163 ‘Tornado’.

Their last update saw Tornado repainted into BR Green thanks to West Coast Railways. On the 1st September, 60163 Tornado was pulled in to the sunshine to reveal her new look.

This has allowed the Trust to inspect things in the daylight. A “snagging” list has been produced which has items that have been missed or needed a second coat of paint.

Inside the cab, the cab sides were repainted as well as the roof being cleaned and polished. The boiler backhead has been cleaned, decreased and repainted where needed.

The nameplates were also restored and repainted thanks to RAF Leeming. This involved sandblasting to remove the old paint. However, due to the workload of RAF Marham, the team didn’t have time to paint and dispatch their badge to RAF Leeming.

So, for The Queen of Scots tour, the nameplate on the fireman’s side didn’t carry a proper badge, but instead, the A1SLT had to use a temporary aluminium plate borrowed from Darlington Locomotive Works – did anyone see this? Let us know in the comments below.

A number of small tasks have also been tackled, such as the acquisition of new Do Not Move boards, with rubber feet as to not scratch the new paintwork, a full oil level survey, painting the chocks as well as restoring the drivers and firemans seats.

Tornado’s support coach has also had a bit of TLC and has had a repaint. Additional repairs over the last few weeks involved the roof ventilator, adjusting the brakes as well as replacing the tea boiler!

Tornado then had a light engine move for The Queen of Scots tour as a shakedown, and following the tour, a further snag list was produced, the most serious was the need to replace a broken trailing driving wheel spring on the left-hand side.

A spare for this isn’t carried in the support coach due to the size and weight, so a replacement was delivered from Darlington Locomotive Works to the National Railway Museum in York.

Following The Ticket to Ride tour and the private charter for the Stockton & Darlington 195, the locomotive needed attention to its shriek whistle and an air pump.

Plans for Tornado now depend on the virus and subsequent restrictions.

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