The Trust has made the very difficult decision to cancel ‘The Ribblehead Rambler’ on Saturday 21^st September. We apologise wholeheartedly to all those who have been looking forward to traveling with us, especially those who have already rescheduled their tickets, and all who had made plans to see Tornado from the lineside or track progress of the tour from home. This is a decision we did not want to make but we have no choice as is explained below.

Tornado is at the end of a long and complex overhaul, and we successfully tested the engine at 60mph last week at the Great Central Railway.  This was unfortunately curtailed by the discovery of a warped fire grate component, which in itself is a relatively simple repair, but it has required the fire to be dropped to allow the firebox to cool down sufficiently for our fitters to enter to effect the repair.  This has therefore lost us valuable ‘running-in’ mileage time.  We hope to resume soon, once some other minor defects have been attended to, but it is clear that despite best efforts it would likely use up almost all of our contingency for getting the engine tested and ready.

Moreover, Tornado has been fitted with the European Train Control System (ETCS) digital signalling equipment. Part of the work for this has involved a change to the braking system, including a new warning ‘sunflower’ for use under conventional signalling arrangements, and electronic brake valves that apply the brakes to prevent such situations as passing a red signal.  A new ‘black box’ data recorder has also been installed. During testing, some problems became apparent, resolution of which would also be too close to the 21^st for comfort.  For example, the data recorder will not be ready until the 18^th September.

Rather than postpone to a future date, we are taking the decision to cancel the train and issue refunds. We will reschedule the tour as soon as possible, but this is also made more complex by the autumn leaf fall season and the many trains that run during the festive season. We would also not want to run a train that is primarily promoted around incredible scenery with a large amount of it in the dark. 

Our focus is now on accumulating more mileage ahead of our mainline test runs. The current plan is for Tornado to move to Tyseley after more high speed running next week. We have agreed with Network Rail to undertake test runs in late September/early October and, with no further issues, we plan to undertake those operations before moving to the Nene Valley Railway in October.