The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has released a statement regarding No.60163 ‘Tornado’ and the events which took place whilst hauling ‘The Ebor Flyer’ at the weekend.

The A1SLT has apologised for the disruption caused to passengers onboard ‘The Ebor Flyer’ and also to passengers on board other train services impacted by the breakdown.

Tornado came to a stop just south of Sandy with a broken combination lever. Investigations, which have been taking place at the Nene Valley Railway, has found this was due to the middle piston valve overheating and binding in the valve chest. The root cause has not been found yet, but the trust says it is likely that insufficient lubrication was the cause. The trust continues its investigations to find the cause of the failure in the lubrication system and any contributing factors.

Since winter maintenance, Tornado has run for many miles with no issues in this area.

Although the trust has been asked if the higher speed was a cause, they don’t believe, at present, that speed was a factor in the failure. They say it probably would have happened earlier on in the journey if they were running at a lower speed but would have most likely still happened.

The A1SLT has given each passenger onboard ‘The Ebor Flyer’ a voucher with a discount off a future Tornado hauled railtour.

The A1SLT are also looking at the option of re-running the train in the future once Tornado has been repaired and they will ensure all passengers onboard ‘The Ebor Flyer’ get the first chance to book tickets.

We have already reported that the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust have postponed their visit to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley. They have also now announced they have postponed ‘The Ynys Môn Express’ which was due to run on the 28th April 2018.

They will also be rearranging the Tornado Team day that was due to be at the Nene Valley Railway on Saturday 12th May 2018, again, a rescheduled event date will be announced in due course.

The trust is now concentrating their efforts on continuing the investigation and undertaking the necessary repairs to bring Tornado back to doing what she does best..!

If you would like to support The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, then why not become one of their monthly Covenantors and by donating from £10.00 a month towards the upkeep of Tornado, there are around 1,200 who regularly donate towards the maintenance, why not join them?! Click here for more information, please click here, or for a one-off donation, please click here, call 01325 460163 or email [email protected]

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