R30086 Hornby British Railways, Peppercorn Class A1, 4-6-2, 60103 ‘Tornado’ – Era 11

In 1990 a group of like-minded people came together in the belief that they could construct from new, a Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific locomotive. The first steam locomotive built in the United Kingdom since ‘Evening Star’ in 1960 and it would be built to meet modern safety and certification standards to enable it to run on mainline connected heritage railways. After a period of nearly 20 years the dream became a reality on the 29th July 2008 when locomotive No. 60163 ‘Tornado’ moved under its own power at Darlington.  Since it entered traffic in 2008 ‘Tornado’ has worn various liveries, starting with ‘Workshop’ grey. After mainline trials it was liveried in LNER Apple Green, applied in the traditional way by hand at the NRM paint shop. In 2010 it was re-liveried into BR Brunswick Green, with different BR logo changes during the following two years.