THE newest main line steam locomotive in Britain thrilled county rail enthusiasts when it passed through Hereford for the first time.
Tornado, built by enthusiasts in Darlington at a cost of £3 million over nearly 20 years, stopped at the city’s railway station on Saturday.
The Peppercorn A1 Class number 60163 Tornado, designed for a top speed of 100mph, was taking excursion passengers from London to Ludlow’s Medieval Christmas Fair.
Former Hereford Cathedral School student Arthur Peppercorn designed the A1 class steam locomotives, and 49 were built during 1948 and 1949 by British Railways.
However, the A1s were withdrawn from service by British Rail in the late 1960s in favour of the more reliable but less romantic diesel trains.
Tornado was steamed up for the first time in 2008 after a 19-year project to build a new engine from scratch.
Remarkably, Tornado was not the only steam-hauled train passing through Hereford on the weekend.
Earlier in the day, King class four-cylinder locomotive number 6024 King Edward I went through the city from Eastleigh, also pulling an excursion to Ludlow and Shrewsbury.
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