Great Escapes

Don't think so. As Matt37401 has said, she was purchased as a substitute for St Mungo, which Geoff Drury failed to secure

 

Just think, if St Mungo had been saved, Tornado would have been an A2...

 

I think you could probably put LMR No. 57 "Lion" down as a great escape - it was out of railway service relatively early (by the late 1850s) but then survived as a pumping engine long enough (into the 1920s) that there was an awareness of its historic interest, with the result that it was preserved. Had it been worn out by, say, the 1880s or 1890s, it may well have been unceremoniously scrapped.

http://www.lionlocomotive.co.uk/Rescue.html

Tom

 

And if both St Mungo and Blue Peter had been saved........??? I'd be interested to read what people think

While someone might point to the P2, it's a different world now and we are talking about an established organisation with Tornado already under its belt. I don't think that a P2 would have been a realistic project for a pioneering standard gauge new build group over 25 years ago. I doubt it would have had the resonance with the enthusiast world that an A1 had and clearly still has.

 

Hasn’t there ever been an instance where a locomotive was salvaged from the bottom of a lake or ocean, and restored?

 

The locomotive involved in the 1st Tay Bridge disaster. She was recovered and put back into service.

 

New Zealand Govt Railway. K Class 2-6-0 (Rogers USA 1870's) were among locos placed in rivers to reduce erosion (well, that's the official version anyway - scrap prices were coincidentally very low at the time).

No.88 (dumped in the Oreti River, south end of South Island) was exhumed and - pretty damned impressively IMO - restored to full health, now to be found on the Plains Railway: http://www.plainsrailway.co.nz/stock?page=locos
It notably came out to play for the Dunedin Station Centenary. There are a few YouTube clips too. It really doesn't look like a loco which spent half a century as part of a river bank.

 

42859 I'll get my coat