The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust would like to apologise for the disruption caused to passengers travelling on ‘The Ebor Flyer’ on Saturday 14^th April 2018 and passengers on other trains, particularly Virgin Trains East Coast customers, impacted by No. 60163 Tornado’s breakdown. The locomotive came to a stop just south of Sandy with a broken combination lever. Investigations have so far revealed that this was due to the middle piston valve overheating and binding in the valve chest. The root cause is not yet fully clear, but it is likely that insufficient lubrication was an issue. Investigations continue to establish the cause of failure in the lubrication system and any contributing factors.

Tornado has run many miles since winter maintenance with no obvious issues in this area. Whilst we have been asked if the higher speed was a factor in the failure, at present we believe it not to be. It probably happened slightly earlier in the journey than if running at lower speed, but it most likely would still have happened.

Because we did not deliver the day out we hoped to for passengers travelling on ‘The Ebor Flyer’, we have given each passenger a voucher with discount off a future Tornado-hauled railtour. Furthermore, we are looking at the option of re-running the train in the future with a repaired Tornado and will ensure all passengers on ‘The Ebor Flyer’ get the first chance to book tickets.

Following on from this, we have postponed our visit to the Midland Railway Centre (Saturday 21^st April 2018) and we have also postponed ‘The Ynys Môn Express’ which was due to run on Saturday 28^th April 2018, a date is yet to be confirmed as to when this tour will be rescheduled. Additionally, we regret that we will be rearranging the Tornado Team day that was due to be at the Nene Valley Railway on Saturday 12^th May 2018 – again a rescheduled date will be announced in due course.

We are now concentrating our efforts on continuing the investigation and undertaking the necessary repairs.

You can support the work of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust by becoming one of our monthly Covenantors and donating from £10.00 per month towards No. 60163 Tornado. This is our core fundraising initiative and we have around 1,200 people who regularly donate towards the maintenance and upkeep of Tornado. For more information on how you can support the Trust in this way, or to make a one-off Donation, please click here, call 01325 460163 or email enquiries@a1steam.com.