Tornado at Best of British Weekend which ran at Nene Valley Railway 22nd and 23rd April 2017, I went on the first day.
The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is 7 1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, Ferry Meadows and Wansford.
The Nene Valley Railway has a full-scale "replica" of Thomas the Tank Engine working a passenger and freight service on 'Thomas' events; it was the first railway in the world to possess one. The Nene Valley Railway considers its Thomas to be the "official" Thomas the Tank Engine, because it was named by Thomas' creator, the Rev. W. Awdry, in 1971. The replica engine runs at various special events, weekends and bank holidays; however, the Nene Valley Railway does not host official 'Day out with Thomas' events as many railways do.
Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 1800 'Thomas'. Built in 1947. Restricted to around Wansford Yard and hauling Wansford - Yarwell Junction shuttles only, apart from an annual trip to Peterborough. Returned to steam in June 2016 following a two and a half year overhaul.
BR (Southern) Bullied 4-6-2, unrebuilt Battle of Britain class No. 34081 '92 Squadron'. Built in 1948. Arrived on 20 May 2010 at Wansford from the North Norfolk Railway, having left that line in 2003. The loco returned to steam in January 2017 following an overhaul which began in 2010.
Visitors
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST (W/No.2857) No. 75008 'Swiftsure'. On loan from the East Lancashire Railway.
Whilst there I rode on Helga the railcar as well as Tornado, sometimes SJ Class Y7 Diesel Railcar 1212 B-2 'Helga' is dressed as Daisy for Thomas days out. I also purchased ERTL Dodge, Take N Play Racing Thomas, Racing Ivan and Racing Raul.
I also saw G Scale Thomas, James, Percy, Toby and the all new Bachmann G Scale Winston in action on the Wansford Garden Railway. I also bumped into Daniel Coffey @DanCoffey1991 on Twitter, quite well known amongst fans.
60163 Tornado is a mainline coal fired steam locomotive built in Darlington, England. Completed in 2008, Tornado was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Railways in 1960. It is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped without preservation. The locomotive's namesake is the Panavia Tornado, a combat aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force. As of April 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100mph in over 50 years on British tracks. Over the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd April, the Nene Valley Railway host a Best of British weekend with special guests 100mph superstar British Railways North Easter Region Class A1 Pacific No.60163 "Tornado" taking a break from its Main Line duties to visit the railway over two day event.
22 апр 2017
