This is number three of a potential succession of recreated, newly built locomotives in the UK...did the successful reincarnation of the Tornado begin a trend? Well...who is going to start the ball rolling here?
"On Saturday, January 31, at 4pm in the Norwegian Restaurant Coach, at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway, history will be in the making. Something that has only been done by Darlington, with panache and an eye-watering price tag, is going to happen again here in Swindon. And it will rival what Darlington has done with the 50th A1, called Tornado.
Tornado captured everyone’s imagination in the latter part of 2008 when it was rolled out as the first steam locomotive built in Britain for almost half a century. Today’s generation had proved we still have the skills to take raw iron, steel, brass and shape it into a locomotive that, for a brief moment, captured the imagination of the people of this island. It turned heads as the rest of the world was for once amazed rather than surprised at the eccentricity of the British.I think that there were some envious looks from many across the globe as we achieved what some of them only dream of."
Full article here
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4080619.Galloping_Alice_to_take_to_the_tracks/
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
wallyworld Today’s generation had proved we still have the skills to take raw iron, steel, brass and shape it into a locomotive that, for a brief moment, captured the imagination of the people of this island. It turned heads as the rest of the world was for once amazed rather than surprised at the eccentricity of the British.I think that there were some envious looks from many across the globe as we achieved what some of them only dream of."
Today’s generation had proved we still have the skills to take raw iron, steel, brass and shape it into a locomotive that, for a brief moment, captured the imagination of the people of this island. It turned heads as the rest of the world was for once amazed rather than surprised at the eccentricity of the British.I think that there were some envious looks from many across the globe as we achieved what some of them only dream of."
Yes, it was quite an achievement. However, if I recall correctly, significant portions of the locomotive were manufactured elsewhere in Europe. The Swindon article is somewhat over the top.
For a plan like that to work in the states, I think it'd have to be a locomotive that still had a lot of design drawings intact, have high route availabilty (not to large or small) and have a decent amount of pulling power for decent sized tourist trains. I think a NYC 4-8-4 Niagara or a NYC hudson would be good candidates.
There's also a report in this week's Railway Herald, which you can download for free at www.railwayherald.co.uk/ Apparrently some similar locos survive in Australia and the Swindon & Cricklade Railway (of which I am a member) plan to make contact with one of the preserved lines in Australia where on of these locos survive. The news broke with the latest S & C newsletter; that and news of other 19th century passenger cars they're restoring was enough to make send my subscription renewal cheque straight away!
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.