Steam on British rails once again?

Apparantly offended about all this newfangled, no character and downright boring diesel and electric stuff some Brits have built and are testing a new (as is brand new) steam locomotive for active duty.

News article:
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/3385724/Tornado-the-first-steam-train-in-Britain-for-50-years.html

The loc's site:
www.a1steam.com/

Having allways loved the character only steam engines have I can only applaud their decision to move back to more aesthetically pleasing railroading.

Very nice. Many Brits would like see this in Z. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

That is so neat. Having lived in the UK, I rode the train a lot and it would be so cool to see a steam engine pulling one's coach. I think a trip back to ride that train is in order
I wish someone made the Flying Scotsman in Z.

John

I heard that because of costs of other fuel, that coal would be able to turn a profit again, and they wanted to start mining in Wales once more. Trouble is there is a loss of knowledge on how to do it. Same problem as running steam engines or old airplanes as the old guys who knows the tricks, (not everything is in a book) that were passed down uninterrupted through the ages, are all gone. I am originally from Southern Illinois and they were always talking about coal's comeback, but with same problems.
I just wish they would bring passenger trains back to the US, steam or otherwise. Is the technical know how and corporate memory still there to run a railroad ?
Anyway back to steam, I am glad that the Brits are using steam and it was made in their shops, and not bought from Red China.

The new loco is based on the design of the old LNER class A1 so, although it has been built from scratch, the design itself is old with modern materials and safety equipment. There are, of course, loads of heritage railways around the country as well a a few regular steam hauled services (e.g. the 'Lord of the Isles' hauled train from Mallaig to Fort William. The big problem is that all the old facilities have gone. No more water troughs, no more turntables, no more coaling facilities. What made it especially difficult in the UK was an 18? year total ban on any fired up steam loco on British Railways lines. The could be towed by diesels but no smoke. Other more enlightened countries continued to let steam run after electrification, albeit mostly on special trains. So gradually the men with the skills died out; even the Tornado's boiler had to be built in Germany.

I love steam locos but one has to admit they are an inefficient, polluting and dirty form of motive power.

A few years back I read a bit on the Web about another steam project in the UK - I don't think it was Tornado - where some engineers were into designing a new steam loco from scratch. The only 'old bit' it was to use was for the loco frame. I will see if I can find those pages again - they could be interesting.

Chris.

Hi all

I have seen this wonderful loco and hope one day to take a trip behind it! It has been build mainly to be used on railtours and you can find out more about her HERE .
I think they are looking at building more loco as alot of the preserved steam locos used on all out heritage lines are now getting to the ends of there boiler lives so something has to be done. I for one would think its a great project and hopefully they will build more and keep the 'knowledge' here for future generations..

Regards
Tom

I think it is neat that so many different people are working on it. It is just like the Coop-Engine being built. Life imitates art, even in Z scale!

ryuen wrote:

...testing a new (as is brand new) steam locomotive for active duty...

whilst building of this loco was a great achievement, it is only a copy of very old design (not really new)
If you want to read a bit more about developments and hopes for new designs, read here:
www.trainweb.org/tusp/index.html

Chris