WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW
DECEMBER produced two good runs with LNER A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado – the first from Wolverhampton to Bristol on the seventh, which I reported on in the last issue, and the second the following Saturday, the 14th.
The Railway Touring Company’s (RTC) ‘Tynesider’ was originally planned to be hauled from King’s Cross to Newcastle by Tornado and return by LNER A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa. Quite early in the planning stage this itinerary proved to be impractical and the trip was cut back to York and renamed ‘The Christmas White Rose’.
In the event, with No. 60009 unavailable, the trip was hauled both ways by No. 60163 and it also took a diesel locomotive for train heating and shunting at York. I had thought of booking but the early start from King’s Cross meant a long drive to find an early enough train to get to King’s Cross for the 7.23am start, plus the lack of No. 60009 and the diesel on the back put me off. As it turned out that was the wrong decision, for Tornado produced two even time runs on the way to York – a very rare event in recent years.
However, the ever-mobile Alan Rawlings was on the
