Tornado

Fancy a footplate ride on Tornado? See http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk or http://www.wsr.org.uk for details. Only £125 \/

Steve
(WSW)[/quote]

Hello Steve, [smilie=hi ya!.gif]

Would I fancy it, simple answer YES :smt023, but I'm afaid the budget of being semi-retired now doesn't stretch that far, I would be evicted for not paying this month's rent :smt022.

Anyway enough of my sob story, I am going to enjoy myself with a Senior Citizen Rover ticket (excellent value).

I shall have to put myself forward for Noel's show on telly now, Deal or No Deal and win the £250,000. :lol: LOL.

I'm going to see if with my charm & good manners in good order 8) , if I can persuade the crew to let be "cab" the TORNADO during the course of the day.

Best regards SteamHawk216. :smt006

 

some photos of 60163 on the wsr today 2-6-9 at http://keyhamtrain.fotopic.net

 

Hello KEYHAMTRAIN,

Great photos, especially the one where TORNADO is taking water at Bishops Lydeard, also looking through the road bridge at the same station with TORNADO awaiting to leave with her train, very clever angle.

Best regards SteamHawk216. (A fellow Plymouth resident.)

 

She's still quite a crowd puller - it seems her trains on the WSR are now up to 10 mk1's! If thats due to demand, and i suspect it is, then thats great news.

Chris

 

Crowd puller? Too right! I glanced at the WSR webcam when Tornado took her first train to Minehead today. The platform was so crowded with arrivers and departers; rugby-scrum skills would have come in handy.

Forgive me for my lack of patience in not wanting to scout through 100 pages of posts on this loco, so this may have been brought up before: Is it possible that Tornado's nameplates were manufactured upside down in error? Putting the crest under the name would have suited the profile of the smoke deflectors so much better. I hope it's not deemed heretical to criticise, but imho the plates look somewhat ill-fitting on an otherwise stonkingly good-looking locomotive.

 

The 'North Eastern' from the original batch of A1s had a very similar type of name plate with a crest above the name itself. Its on the wall in the NRM warehouse section, or it was two weeks ago when i was there.

 

Yes, went on it today on the way back from Cornwall and it was hauling ten very full Mk1's. Had to queue for about 30 mins to get tickets as it was nearly as busy as a gala weekend. The majority of people seemed to be "normals" too, heard quite a few people asking if this was the "loco off the telly"! Interestingly, Mark Allatt was pushing a trolley up and down the train selling souveniers, seemed a very happy chap.

 

Having to work this week , typical! I would agree about the plates, I think there was also 'Great Central' & 'Great Northern' or was that still the Thompson rebuild? Yes I think so. I think the straight plates look better.
Anouther thing about it was I think the east coast engines of Gresley, Thompson & Pepp. had undoutedly the best names ,most evocative sounding of all the companys / regions ,in modern times anyway.

 

As a heads up. TopGear.com is saying that the Top Gear Race with Tornado will probably kick the series off on the 21st. However it may be the 28th because of some European Athletics are on. Best to check the Top Gear site today because it will change tomorrow.

Nice picture of Jeremy, James and Richard in front of Tornado.

 

http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2 ... ke-vs-car/

 

I'm waiting with interest for any closing comments by Clarkson on the show. If he was moved by the experience and is starting to think that trains are quite a good thing as long as they're steam-hauled, it would be a nice boost to preserved steam's potential market.

 

In one of his books he talks about his admiration for 4472 and how when he was a youngster he'd "put his penny on the track just so it could be flattened by the real Flying Scotsman".

 

In another book he wrote about his fascination of Deltics.

 

He has admiration of Brunel and the GWR from The Great Britons series.

 

After reading the comments on that blog http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2 ... ke-vs-car/
All I can say is it makes NP look like The Oxford University Debating Society. :smt101

 

Yup, seems that way \/

 

Are those numbers of the left of the Top Gear blog post numbers or IQ counts?

 

Done......as "Captain Sensible" :smt064

 

my contirbution:

Better a coal junkie than a petrol head