Fridge Magnet Tornado Locomotive

Fridge Magnet Tornado Locomotive. Plastic fridge magnet with a photograph of the new ‘A1 class‘ Tornado‘ steam locomotive taken at Newcastle Central Railway Station. Tornado is seen hauling a ‘Railway Touring Company’ service from York to Edinburgh. This locomotive is the first of a new breed of modern built steam locomotives, to designs that did not manage to get preserved after the move to modern diesel and electric power was introduced in the 1950’s and 60’s. This locomotive design was created by Arthur H. Peppercorn. The original 49 ‘Peppercorn’ Class A1s were ordered by the LNER and built at Doncaster and Darlington for British Railways (BR) in 1948/9, after the nationalisation of the railways after the end of the 2nd World War. These locomotives were in service for only 15 years before they were scrapped. These locomotives, while similar to earlier ‘Gresley’ designs like the Flying Scotsman, benefited from Peppercorn re-designing earlier locomotives and incorporating the latest design and construction techniques into the engines.

In 2017, Tornado, under cover of darkness on the East Coast Mainline, was the first steam locomotive to travel at 100mph since the 1960’s when steam locomotives were replaced with diesel engines.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is now well on the way to completing it’s 2nd steam locomotive, the Sir Nigel Gresley designed ‘P2’ Class, called ‘Prince of Wales‘ The locomotive is due to be completed in 2022/23.

The trust’s next project is to build another extinct Gresley design the LNER V4. Work has already started with scanning of the original designs.

Fridge Magnet Tornado Locomotive photograph size is 70 x 45mm. These is a small stand inside the back of the magnet, this is to alloy the magnet to stand up, rather than be stuck on the fridge door. All of our plastic gift products are manufactured here in the United Kingdom. Text on the magnet reads ‘Tornado’.