Background
See also: A1 Steam Locomotive TrustThe original Peppercorn A1 series was ordered by the LNER, but the 49 locomotives were built at Doncaster and Darlington for British Railways (BR) in 1948–49, after the nationalisation of the railways in the United Kingdom. Following the modernisation and dieselisation plans of the 1950s, the A1 Peppercorn class was eventually scrapped at a comparatively early age of just 14 years.
Other famous East Coast Mainline steam locomotives have been preserved, for example several Gresley LNER Class A4 and one LNER Class A3, 4472 Flying Scotsman, but all 49 LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotives were scrapped. The last was 60145 St Mungo, which survived until September 1966. An effort was made to preserve 60145, but it failed due to a lack of funds.
The Peppercorn A1s were designed to cope with the heaviest regular post-war East Coast trains. These were frequently 15 coaches or 550 tons. The locomotives were capable of 60-70 mph (95–110 km/h) on level track. Tornado will be able to haul 10-11 coach trains at higher speeds, to fit modern faster main lines.
The A1 Trust intended Tornado to be built from scratch, designed and built as the next locomotive in the A1 Peppercorn class, not as a replica or restoration project, but an evolution of the class incorporating design improvements that would have occurred had steam motive power continued on the mainline railway.
Read more about this topic: LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
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