Tornado

Please go to www.a1steam.com for the latest information on tours for next year - more will be added as they are confirmed.

 

It was pleasing to see the report over Christmas that the Tornado Episode of Top Gear was one of the Most watched programmes on the BBC i-player last year. There must be a lot of people who know about Tornado now.

 

I believe that this is the first topic on the forum that has reached 100,000 views. And over 1500 replies... Not bad

 

YAY The Tornado, congrats for reaching this wonderus mile stone.

 

I'm sure that Mark Allatt will be able to make some use of that fact to Tornado's advantage

 

Trouble is a lot of the public still can't tell the difference. One Sunday whilst Earl Of Mount Edgcumbe was sitting at Stratford Upon Avon someone came up and asked if it was Tornado.

 

Clearly the recent focus on the 3 'R's hasn't been a big success.

 

I really hope so.

 

That's Joe Public for you. Go to an airshow and listen to the number of people who think that any single engined fighter is a Spitfire. It's up to us as preservationists to educate and inform people as to the differences between the locos we care for.

 

I know this is probably a controversial view to air here... but as long as Joe Public is paying its money to travel behind a steam locomotive or to go through the gates of an airshow, then does it really matter that they don't know a Castle from an A1 or a Spitfire from a Tucano?

Yes it's a bit frustrating to us as enthusiasts and historians, but as long as the public want to enjoy 'steam trains' or 'the aeroplanes that Grandad saw' and is prepared to help fund our passion, then I don't think it's something to get too meithered about.

 

Indeed, I don't know my Norman castles from my Medieval ones, or my Grecian columns from my Roman balustrades. I'm sure keen students of those disciplines would prefer I know the difference, but it doesn't stop me from paying good money to see the UK's many architectural and archeological gems (and thereby contributing my small amount towards the preservation and running costs) and to thoroughly enjoy myself while doing so.

What speaks more to me is that the chap who asked if the Castle was 'Tornado' was evidently aware that Tornado exists. To me THAT is the important bit...

 

I agree with all the posts above, but when you try to explain the not so subtle differences between a Castle and an A1 and you see their eyes start to glaze over, it's then you realise that you are trying to explain the difference between Katie Price and the good looking woman that is reading the news.

 

I can see where you're coming from - a Castle being bold and brassy whereas Tornado exudes elegance and real class.

 

LOL I walked into that one.

 

I think you might have it backwards. Isn't the A1 just a round tube (I mean boiler) on an over-sized set of wheels?

Where's the elegance in that!

 

For elegance and real class look no further than a big un, 6229, 6233 or 46235.

 

A round-topped box always looks more elegant than a Belpaire ;-)

 

Well at least its out in the public domain

60163 will visit MOSI on Thursday 4th February hauling the royal train.

The bad news is that there appears to be no public access to the museum whilst the train or the loco are on site.

Needed - one high local vantage point as although the security will be in place there must be somewhere to Beetham