Tornado, the new £3m steam locomotive named earlier this year by TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, with be returning to Wales on Saturday 25 July with 'The Towy Tornado'  excursion from Eastleigh to Camarthen.

The train will start diesel hauled from Eastleigh (06:10hrs) and pick up at Southampton Central (06:22hrs), Romsey (06:38hrs), Salisbury (07:06hrs), Warminster (07:35hrs), Westbury (07:51hrs), Trowbridge (08:01) and Bath Spa (08:21rs) enroute to Bristol Temple Meads (a 08:36hrs) where 60163 Tornado will be waiting. At 09:11hrs with the steam locomotive in charge, 'The Towy Tornado' will head into South Wales, travelling through the Severn Tunnel for only the second time, pausing at Newport (a 09:52; d 10:07hrs) and passing Cardiff (10:28hrs), before hitting the undulating countryside en-route to Bridgend (10:53hrs). Continuing west, Tornado will climb Stormy Down Bank, take water at Port Talbot (a11:16 hrs; d 11:58hrs), up to Landore (12:16hrs) and ascent Cockett Bank before passing Llanelli (12:43hrs), culminating in a run along the Towy Estuary to the old market town of Camarthen, arriving at 13:11hrs.

At Camarthen there will be an afternoon break of over three hours for exploration, when passengers may choose to take one of the optional tours to The Gwili Steam Railway (Supplement: £10 adult, £6 junior including coach transfer and Gwili Railway journey) or The National Botanic Garden of Wales (Supplement: £13 adult, £9 junior including coach transfer and gardens admission).

The excursion departs Camarthen at 16:47hrs with Tornado in charge once more, retracing the outward journey along the South Wales main line passing Llanelli (17:17hrs) and Landore (17:38hrs) before taking water at Port Talbot (a17:56 hrs; d 1824hrs). ‘The Towy Tornado’ will then continue through Bridgend (18:38hrs), pausing at Cardiff (a 18:53hrs; 19:04hrs) and Newport (a 19:26hrs; d 19:33hrs). Tornado will then pass under the Severn Tunnel to enter Bristol Temple Meads (20:33hrs), where 60163 will hand back over to a diesel. The train will then depart at 21:03hrs for the last leg, pausing at Bath Spa (21:20hrs), Trowbridge (21:35hrs), Westbury (21:45 hrs), Warminster (22:00hrs), Salisbury (22:30hrs), Romsey (23:15hrs) and Southampton Central (23:30hrs) before arriving back at Eastleigh at 23:42hrs.

Only a few Premier Dining tickets for ‘The Towy Tornado’ remain to join the train before Newport outbound, priced at adult £199 and junior £179. The train is being promoted by Pathfinder Tours (Tel: 01453 835414; Web: www.pathfindertours.co.uk; Email: office@pathfinder.co.uk).

The Trust respectfully requests that anyone wanting to see Tornado's main line passenger trains follows the rules of the railway and only goes where permitted.