Tornado and Twins : A Resurrection!

Construction of Tornado began in 1994, and was at Darlington Works for most of the project, while numerous components such as the boiler were manufactured elsewhere. The project was financed through fundraising initiatives such as public donations and sponsorship deals; further funding came from hiring out Tornado itself for special rail services. Construction was completed in 2008, and full certification of the locomotive was achieved in January 2009. Having been designed with compliance to modern safety and certification standards, Tornado has been conducting passenger services on the UK rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways since 2008.

The history of the LNER class A1 and A3 locomotives is too complicated for fbb's decaying brain cells so a brief summary will suffice here. There were 49 original A1 Pacifics (4-6-2) locos built; none survived to be preserved.

A group of dedicated fans of the marque set out to build a new one, hence 60163 Tornado which is certified for high speed main line running and makes a spectacular sight at full blast!

Soon after fbb's short-lived trainspotting days, British Railways Modernisation Plan was building diesels by the dozen. Steam engines were old technology and the craze for preserving them began to burgeon.

fbb, always a tease, used to provoke near violence from the Spotters brigade by asking whether there would be preservation societies set up for they new fangled (and universally derided) diesels.

It was in 1968 that, almost unnoticed, two diesels were condemned to the cutters torch.

10000 and 10001 were the brainchild of Henry George Ivatt (4 May 1886 to 4 October 1976).

Always known as George, he was the post-war Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. He was the son of the Great Northern Railway locomotive engineer Henry Ivatt. George Ivatt was born in Dublin, Ireland, and educated at Uppingham School, England.

Constructed in partnership with English Electric, these twins were the first main line diesels for the UK.

Their construction was complete a few precious months before the railways were nationalised and George Ivatt was proud to drive the first of the two out of the works resplendent with its stainless steel LMS lettering!

One clever techie type has used a picture from 10001's declining tatty green years ...

... and wurgled it to look like the as-new 10000!

He has even "painted" the D8000 at the rear in matching black.

The twosome often headed the Royal Scott ...

... and it was thus that your author "copped" them whilst hanging out of the window** somewhere near Cheddington. (**Not advised - in fact, not possible on most trains today)

Two sadlys.

Sadly, the locos spent their last days ignominiously hauling goods trains ...

And sadly, British Railways spent huge amounts of dosh in the immediate post nationalisation period building "standard" classes of steam locos when everyone knew that diesels were the future. Actually, of course, electrics were the future ...

... and E3001 had stainless steel numbers as well! Various governments still haven't quite grasped that electrification makes sense in every possible way and, generally and regularly they stride forward and then retreat from "doing the right thing".

But why not build a new 10000, just like the new Tornado. The Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society is embarking on such a project.

It's a bit like model railway "kit bashing" whereby you take bits of different kits, a large tube of glue and, with a bit of slicing and filling, create something "different".

First they found a diesel engine of the right type, hardly used and tucked away in a shed where it could be fired up as a generator.

Big, isn't it? And here it is on the way to store ready for action!

Then you need a chassis, good and solid, not a puny tin tube like that beloved of modern engineers.

Look, the class 58 has a strong chassis, a great slab of metal.

It will need a bit of trimming and a bucket or two of Miliput; but basically it will do the job. 

In a diesel locomotive the engine generates electricity to power motors to turn the wheels.

In another stroke of good fortune the Society has obtained bogies from a scrapped loco that used to run between Manchester and Sheffield.

The bogies are very similar to those on 10000, the electric motors are still in place ...

... and with a good squirt of WD40, the team is hopeful that they will whizz round yet again. Other important bits can be obtained from other English Electric designs as the company was good at standardisation.

Designs have been prepared for the cabs ...

... which leaves two things to be done. Firstly to raise enough money and secondly to build it!

The Society has a web site (here).

Of course, really, they ought to be rebuilding BOTH of them. But sourcing parts and finding two lots of money make that idea somewhat unlikely.

It looks like a fascinating project, perhaps lacking the universal appeal of building a huge steam locomotive, but a noble and worthwhile aim nevertheless.

Although a slightly smaller project, the NER diesel electric railcar rebuild has been astoundingly successful. (It wasn't the world's first electric train, by the way; it was the world's first diesel/petrol electric train!)

 Next autonomous blog : Friday 29th March