60163 Tornado is a main line coal-fired steam locomotive built in Darlington, England. Completed in 2008, Tornado was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Railways in 1960. It is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped without preservation. The locomotive's namesake is the Panavia Tornado, a combat aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force. As of April 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100mph in over 50 years on British tracks.

Construction of Tornado began in 1994, and was based at Darlington Works for most of the project, while numerous components such as the boiler were manufactured elsewhere. The project was financed through fundraising initiatives such as public donations and sponsorship deals; further funding came from hiring out Tornado itself for special rail services. Construction was completed in 2008, and full certification of the locomotive was achieved in January 2009. Having been designed with compliance to modern safety and certification standards, Tornado has been conducting passenger services on the UK rail network and on mainline-connected heritage railways since 2008.

The name Tornado was chosen in honour of the Royal Air Force Tornado air crews flying at the time in the Gulf War.[8] The honour of choosing the name was given to a £50,000 sponsor of the project.[8] In 1995, officers of the Royal Air Force presented the Tornado nameplates to the trust at Tyseley Locomotive Works[9] at the frame laying ceremony in January.[10]

Tornado is numbered 60163, as the 50th Peppercorn A1.[4][5][6] Tornado's smokebox door also carries the identification plate "51 A", the code for Darlington shed. The cab side carries the builder's plate "No. 2195 Darlington 2008". The front buffer beam carries the designation "A1", applied in the paint detailing phase for launch in apple green.[11]

On 7 August 2008, Tornado was entered onto the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS).[12] Although the painted number is 60163, on the British mainline Tornado is designated 98863 in TOPS,[13] where 98 describes a steam engine, the 8 stems from the power classification of 8P,[1] and 63 comes from her 60163 number.[13]
The former ex-works grey livery with Trust web-address on the tender
BR apple green livery as worn in 2009
"British Railways" tender markings

Tornado was in grey undercoat[14] until final testing was completed, as a precaution against the need to remove the boiler cladding.[15] The livery was described as "works grey"[14][16] in a "satin finish".[17] While in this undercoat, Tornado wore the web address of the A1 Trust on the side of the tender, and the mark RA9 (denoting route availability)[1] on the locomotive cab. On her third main line test run to Newcastle, the web address was replaced with the National Express logo.[18]

The first full livery is LNER-style express passenger apple green, with "British Railways" on the tender, as worn by the original locomotives in 1948.[14][16] The first 30 Peppercorn A1s delivered wore this colour.[19] This was applied by the NRM paint shop after completion of mainline trials at the NRM in York.[20] Painting was behind closed doors, with the finished article unveiled (without nameplates) on 13 December 2008, in front of 500 supporters of the A1 Trust.[19] The green livery was applied in the traditional way, brush painted by hand.[11] Tornado was unveiled on the turntable with the NRM North Eastern Railway (NER) dynamometer car.[21] Due to time constraints, detailing had been completed only on one side of the locomotive at the launch, and Tornado re-entered the paintshop after the launch before going back on display.[21]

Prior to Tornado, LNER Thompson Class B1 1306 Mayflower and LNER Class D49 46 Morayshire were the only two operational steam locomotives in Britain wearing LNER green.[22] LNER Class V2 4771 Green Arrow was withdrawn from mainline operations on 26 April 2008.[22] LNER green was also the last livery worn by LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman prior to withdrawal in December 2005.

Over the life of her first ten-year boiler certificate, it is expected Tornado will also wear BR blue, BR Brunswick green (pre-1957) and Brunswick green post-1957.[15][16]

Although the name Tornado was chosen and nameplates manufactured long before the locomotive was completed, during commissioning and test running the nameplates were not attached.[23] By railway convention, the locomotive is officially known by her number until the name plates are affixed.

Tornado was named by HRH The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall and Dorothy Mather (widow of designer Arthur Peppercorn), at York railway station on 19 February 2009. The ceremony is marked by a plaque located below the nameplate. Tornado then pulled the Royal Train to Leeds.[24]

In late 2010/early 2011 while undergoing winter maintenance at the National Railway Museum, Tornado was repainted into her second full livery, British Railways Brunswick green with the earlier BR crest. This livery was applied to the A1 class in the 1950s and is a darker green colour than apple green, similar to the liveries carried by Great Western Railway engines. The early BR crest was replaced by a later crest on Br locomotives during the late 1950s.

In late 2011/early 2012, again whilst undergoing maintenance, this time at the Mid Hants Railway, Tornado had its Brunswick green livery retouched (following a slight visible scrape on its tender). At this point it was decided that the early crest should be replaced by the later crest which the A1s carried from the late 1950s until the withdrawal of the last class members in 1966 meaning that Tornado has carried 3 of the 4 original liveries carried by the earlier batches of A1s.
Tornado in British Railways express passenger blue livery, at Nene Valley Railway, 2014

In September 2012 at the A1 Trust's annual convention for the loco's contributors at the Nene Valley Railway it was announced that in November 2012 Tornado would be repainted into British Railways express passenger blue livery. This was the second livery carried by the A1s after entering service. The colour was based on Caledonian blue, the livery of the Caledonian Railway, and was only applied to Express locomotives such as the A1s for a few years before repainting into Brunswick green. This will mean Tornado will have carried all 4 liveries that were carried during the life of some of the earlier A1 locomotives.

Tornado was repainted at Southall into BR express passenger blue; this was unveiled at Didcot on 24 November 2012. Other preserved locomotives painted in this livery include 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley and 6023 King Edward II. In October 2014, Tornado was taken out of service for an intermediate overhaul and went back to operational wearing its original LNER-style express passenger apple green livery once again in June 2015.