WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

NEW-BUILD A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado worked a series of five trips from Edinburgh to Aberdeen in the spring of this year, though all were accompanied by a diesel locomotive.

In issue 253 I reported on the first of these which took place on March 14. Marketed as‘The Aberdonian’, these were successful, so a further series of four took place on August 1, 8 and 31 and September 7. All ran diesel-free and my correspondent Sandy Smeaton has kindly sent me full details of three of the trips with Tornado, run by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and crewed by West Coast men.

Table One shows the outward journey from Edinburgh on September 7, over this heavily graded and restricted route as far as Perth on its way to Aberdeen via Dundee, via the Forth Bridge and the Ladybank single line via Newburgh as Tornado is banned over the Tay Bridge. From Edinburgh, the gradients are varied until the 1-in-110/500 drop down passed Turnhouse, where one of the highest speeds on this section normally occurs. Then there is a 1-in-100 climb to Dalmeny and the level stretch over the Forth Bridge to North Queensferry from where the line drops steeply down at 1-in-70 to Inverkeithing.

Here, the route to Dunfirmline diverges and the Dundee line climbs for nearly three miles at gradients as steep as 1-in-94 to a summit beyond Dalgety Bay, before falling to Burntisland. From there it’s a steady uphill stretch to after Dysart and downhill to Thornton Junction. Then the line climbs again for over four miles to Lochmuir, before dropping down at