Tornado locomotive delayed after cable theft (From York Press)

Tornado locomotive delayed after cable theft

8:47am Monday 30th May 2011 in News

BRITAIN’S newest steam engine, the 60163 Tornado, made it to the North York Moors this weekend, despite delays.

The train was supposed to arrive at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to take passengers on Thursday, but it was delayed after metal thieves stole cable from the line between Northallerton and Middlesbrough.

The Peppercorn class A1 engine is named after Arthur Peppercorn, the last chief mechanical engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway.

Following the scrapping of all 49 original A1 engines in the 1960s, the Tornado is the only one of its kind in the world after being built in Darlington at a cost of £3 million, from plans preserved by the National Railway Museum in York.

The opportunity to ride on the Tornado was part of the plans to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the moors railway.

Phil Bustard, marketing manager, said: “It’s really disappointing.

“We don’t like our reputation to be adversely affected.

“We can understand if it’s mechanical failure but when it’s just casual vandalism it’s not clever and very frustrating.”

Tornado will run between Grosmont and Pickering until June 5.