Bachmann 32-550A Class A1 Tornado
The 60163 Tornado can be compared to restoring classic cars of yester-decades but instead of getting salvaging it for its parts and body, the Tornado is a steam engine built in the modern age but inspired by the classics.
Why is it called Tornado? The sponsor who gave £50,000 was given the right to name the locomotive whatever name it wishes. Since the war against Saddam’s Iraq had just been won by the coalition which included the Royal Air Force, it has been decided to present the locomotive a name to revere the Royal Air Force pilots who flew the British-made fighter aircraft also named the Tornado. Therefore, the name “Tornado.”
The RAF themselves had offered the builders of the 60163 Tornado the nameplates bearing the name “Tornado” through the frame laying ceremony in January 1995.
The 60163 Tornado is actually a plan intended to restore classic locomotives and treasure their heritage. A trust foundation recognized as A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and its subsidiary, Locomotive Construction Co., organised and built the Tornado as part of the locomotive heritage movement.
The Tornado is an idea combining classic engineering and modern ingenuity and it’s a testament to how vintage objects become more sought after as time passes. But the Tornado’s construction did not come cheap. On the project’s onset, the projected outlay for the Tornado was at £1.6 million but due to rising costs brought by inflation and price increases, the cost almost doubled at £3 million and the project was completed two years after the target date.
The first test run of the Tornado happened in July 29, 2008 at Darlington along Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire on the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, a preserved double-track railway with working signals and intended to entertain tourists.
The Tornado’s velocity reached up to 121 km/h (75 mph) and its Apple Green repainting is its final stage of being endorsed as a main-line passenger train. In January 31, 2009, the Tornado made its first run to transport passengers. Making the Tornado a passenger train is one way to repay the debts incurred with the construction of the Tornado.
A steam engine train like the Tornado can reach speeds of up to 160 kmh but seeing as its purpose is more of for show than hauling, it’s only limited to 140 kmh.
The original color of the Tornado was grey and the tender’s logo on both sides at first wore the A1 Trust’s website. When the color of the Tornado was repainted to apple green to memorialize the the 1940’s locomotives, the tender’sdecals became British Railways.
The painting of the Tornado was conducted by the National Railway Museum (NRM) with 500 sponsors watching the train being painted without the use of modern-aged spray-paints but with just paintbrushes.
Because of the the endeavor and the amount of resources poured in the Tornado’s building, Bachmann trains has commemorated this new age classic in one of their limited edition model train collection. The Bachmann 32-550A Class A1 60163 ‘Tornado’ has captured every detail of the life-size Tornado and will be a valuable piece to one’s model trains collection.
