As part of her stay at the GCR, following her withdrawal from the mainline in November last year, 60163 Tornado was used for a day of steam driving experiences, prior to her public running days.
I was one of the lucky few who managed to get on this experience, which was an equivalent of the Railways Silver Steam Package. This sees you take the train from Loughborough to Leicester North and back (a total trip of around 15 miles), with 6 coaches in tow in which special guests, such as family and friends, can travel aboard.
With permission from my driver, I placed my AKASO EK7000 action camera on the tender, right behind me to capture my driving experience in full. This video shows some of the key moments from my round trip, with captions explaining what was going on at certain parts of the trip. The weather was brilliant winter sunshine, and the experience of driving a mainline steam engine, on a double track preserved line, with a rake of coaches in tow, was certainly something else. Having driven Tornado just over 3 years ago light engine on the NVR, this trip was a real eye opener, and an experience I would recommend to anyone, whatever their locomotive preference!
With thanks to my brilliant driver Andy, for helping me to get the best out of the engine, and our fireman Paul, along with the A1 Trust for the availability of Tornado, and the Great Central Railway for hosting the event.
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29 сен 2024
