Home»All my photos»2009 Railway Photographs»The Waverley - Tornado's first runs over the S&C 3 - 4 October 2009

This weekend, the A1 Locomotive Trust took Tornado over the Settle and Carlisle line for the first time, running two return York - Carlisle trips entitled The Waverley. The Saturday run took place in gale force winds and when I saw her at Appleby she was already late and struggling, as she left, to keep her feet on the greasy rail. What with this and a falling tree having brought down the overhead near Bingley, she was very late back into York. The Sunday dawned bright and sunny and Tornado was early off the National Railway Museum to pick up her train in York station. The running via Leeds and Skipton was disappointing but sufficient to keep to the schedule. Then, after the water stop at Long Preston, she stormed away, reaching Settle Junction at 55 mph and hitting the bottom of the bank at 56. She had dropped to 33 after Settle and 29 at Helwith Bridge, but then charged across the level stretch to reach 38 by Horton and 41 just after. Speed stayed in the high thirties until slowing for Ribblehead Viaduct, and she had a fast run across the tops, reaching 60 after Garsdale. A smart run downhill brought us to the outskirts of Carlisle over 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The return run was gingerly as far as Appleby, but a smart departure brought us up to 54 at Great Ormside and 44 at Smardale. From there to Ais Gill she was in her thirties almost all the way, and went over the top at 34 mph. A lot of her downhill running was at or near line speed, and then after a slow run from Skipton to Leeds, she really made the sparks fly on the home run into York. An excellent day out and another triumph for this fine machine.