60163 'Tornado' at Shildon 2010

Looking for some family pictures on my hard drive and I found these pictures tucked away in a file from last year. I'd thought I'd share them with you. It was from an afternoon in Richmond with some family members. We had popped in to visit Locomotion, Shildon on the way back and just happened to bump into none other than the newly built A1 Class No. 60163 'Tornado' at a Steam Gala held here. It wasn't planned....honest!

Class J72 No. 69023 'Joem'

A steam shuttle service heads towards the Collection Building

Tornado the main attraction, centre to Class K1 62005 'Lord of the Isles' to
the right in this picture and LNER Class V2 4771 'Green Arrow'

A close up of the Nameplate

The headboard reads A1 Steam Locomotive Trust as well as their website

Me, standing proudly in front of Britain's newest Steam Loco

Awaiting movement from Tornado

Tornado's Support Coaches lie in wait

Here she blows!

She passes close by.

Awaiting the Green Signal

Until next time.....

My Friends Blog

Just a quick mention for a good friend of mine, Jim Harker, who is a rail enthusiast and a wonderful artist who has just opened up a very funny blog about his other great love, cycling. Saying that, most of the posts are done by another member, basically ribbing Jim about his lack of directional sense, but a very funny read nonetheless! http://blackhorsecycleclub.blogspot.com/

So why would you as a railway enthusiast want to have a look?

The answer to this is that there are a lot of old derelict railway lines surrounding us here in Gateshead that have now been converted into cycle paths. Jim knows a lot about the history of these lines and I always learn something from this blog, about these long gone railway beds. Jim has offered me the use of one of his many railway photographs below from a recent visit to Tyne Yard of Class A1 No 60163 'Tornado' taken in February. It was during a water stop during the 'Peppercorn Pioneer' railtour.

Tyne Yard Tornado

Go have a look, until next time,

Craig

71000 Duke of Gloucester no-show at Tyne Yard

I received a phone call from my Grandad at around 10.30am informing me that he'd seen a plume of Smoke pass him by whilst at work near to Tyne Yard, Gateshead on the ECML. 

I began searching 'Steam Tours' on Google to see which loco had gone under my radar, when another call came in to say that it was No.71000 'Duke of Gloucester' hauling 'The Lothian Tornado' Railtour on route to Edinburgh. After a little more research I found out that it would be coming back via Tyne Yard later on in the day. Brilliant!

No. 60163 'Tornado' was in York having work done to her, so 'The Duke' had stepped up to the plate. This was the same Railtour that was featured in a race between Steam Train, Motorbike and Car on BBC's Top Gear in 2009. 

I'd just seen 'The Duke' a few weeks previously at the NYMR's 175th Anniversary Steam Gala, but I didn't want to miss out on catching No.71000 on mainline duties. So off I headed to Tyne Yard and got there for 8.30pm, armed with camera and fellow enthusiast Jim Harker. Jim had previously found a great spot to get close to where the loco would halt, close to the main office building but without actually trespassing onto railway property, Perfect! (Thanks Jim!)

We waited at our newly found vantage point, with dusk fast approaching and the bitter cold north easterly wind biting hard. And waited.....and waited! We were slightly warmed by the arrival of a CrossCountry Voyager Class 220 passing close by as it came onto the Yard at the end of it's shift to be cleaned to be stabled overnight as the class has done since Virgin days. Time was getting on, darkness setting in and temperatures dropping, we began to fear the worst....a no-show!

We braved it until 9.30pm and with still no sign of anything coming into view, we admitted defeat and headed back to the car. As we drove back over the road bridge that leans across the north entrance to the yard I stopped to speak to other visiting enthusiasts to see if they could shed any light on 'The Duke's' whereabouts. 
One of the guys had just been told that the rail tour was running an hour late due to 'technical difficulties' at Edinburgh Waverley. Downtrodden we headed back towards home and into our local pub to drown our sorrows.

The following day, we were told that 71000 had been struck by watering issue's at Edinburgh which has caused the delay. 'The Duke' didn't roll into Tyne Yard until 11.10pm! Luckily on this occasion we had given up hope which in hindsight, we'd have still been there now, frozen to the spot!
 
So here’s what I did see whilst there……

Duke’s No-Show VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Although a bit disappointed not to see what I'd come for, I did manage to find this great video over on Steam Tube. Here's the link, enjoy http://steamtube.ning.com/video/71000-duke-of-gloucester-3

Until next time....

Craig

60163 Tornado leaves Tyne Yard

Here's a recent video of 60163 Tornado leaving Tyne Yard, filmed on my iPhone 4. Apologies for the slight movement during the film, it was done on a bloody freezing cold November during my lunch hour!

Its just one of my videos I have on my new YouTube channel where I'll be posting Railway related videos, why not check it out by clicking here or by clicking the video link on the right hand side.

Cheers

Craig