Tornado star attraction at Tyseley locomotive festival

Jun 26 2009 by Paul Suart, Birmingham Mail

TORNADO, the first main line steam locomotive to be built in Britain for almost 50 years, will be the star attraction at this year’s Tyseley 101 festival in Birmingham.

The two-day spectacle at Tyseley Locomotive Works from tomorrow will also feature a replica of Locomotion No.1, the world’s first successful steam locomotive, a GWRCastle7029 Clun Castle and a GWRCastle5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in steam.

More than seven million people watched the Tornado race from London to Edinburgh against a Jaguar XK120 car and a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle in a 1940s themed challenge in BBC’s Top Gear last Sunday. Michael Whitehouse, chairman of Tyseley Locomotive Works, said: “It’s fantastic to have Tornado coming back to Birmingham where her construction started.”

The £3m Peppercorn class A1 pacific steam engine will be on the demonstration line hauling passenger trains.