STEAM TOURS - THE SOUTH DEVON EXPLORER - TORNADO 60163

The South Devon Explorer

Saturday 29th May 2021

The South Devon Explorer offers an exceptional day out travelling by train from stations in Berkshire to Plymouth in South Devon. We travel along the famous ‘sea wall’ from Dawlish to Teignmouth and over the South Devon banks through Totnes. The special train will be hauled from Bristol to Plymouth and back by steam locomotive No. 60163 Tornado.

Our train starts from Woking in Surrey and will be diesel hauled from there to Bristol. There are additional stops at Guildford, Reading and Newbury to pick up more passengers. The route follows the river Kennet through attractive countryside and then runs beside the Kennet and Avon Canal for some distance before we make our final stop for passengers at Westbury. Once the tour has reached Bristol we will be able to make the change of motive power where steam locomotive No. 60163 Tornado will take over the train.

We shall soon be speeding along through the Somerset countryside and across the Somerset Levels to Taunton, where we make a brief stop for our steam locomotive to take on water. Our steam locomotive will be working hard as we climb to Whiteball Summit on the Somerset and Devon border before descending through the Culm Valley to Exeter.

The route will follow the Exe Estuary, passing the picturesque Cockwood Harbour, and run along the famous sea wall from Dawlish to Teignmouth. This is one of the most famous and scenic stretches of railway line in Britain, which gained international prominence when part of it was washed away in the 2014 storms. After Newton Abbot, we follow the South Devon line to Plymouth. Immediately we start to climb the very steep gradient of Dainton Bank. The climb twists and turns all the way to the summit at Dainton Tunnel.

A short reprieve for our fireman follows as we descend the gradient to Totnes, which will allow time to get the boiler pressure up for the next climb of Rattery Bank. Gradients as steep as 1 in 47 run for four miles to Rattery before they ease off for the remainder of the climb to the summit at Wrangaton. Running along the southern edge of Dartmoor, we descend towards Plymouth, our destination for the afternoon. There will be time here to visit this modern city, with its many attractions, including the Hoe with Smeaton’s Tower, the old Barbican area with the Mayflower Steps, and the many shops in the city centre. The return journey as far as Taunton will be steam hauled by Tornado. The first real challenge faced will be the ascent of the 1 in 42 gradient of Hemerdon Bank just outside Plymouth. There is also the climb to Dainton Tunnel from Totnes, followed by the return run along the Dawlish sea wall to Exeter. From Taunton, the train will be diesel hauled back to Woking. We stop at the same stations as on the outward journey, to set down passengers.

Steam Hauled by A1 Class Pacific '60163 Tornado'
The original Peppercorn A1 series were ordered by the LNER, but the 49 locomotives were built at Doncaster and Darlington for British Railways (BR) in 1948–49, after the nationalisation of the railways in the United Kingdom. Following the modernisation and dieselisation plans of the 1950s, the A1 Peppercorn class was eventually scrapped at a comparatively early age of just 15 years.

The original Peppercorn A1s were designed to cope with the heaviest regular post-war East Coast trains. The A1 Trust intended Tornado to be built from scratch, designed and built as the next locomotive in the A1 Peppercorn class, not as a replica or restoration project, but an evolution of the class incorporating design improvements that would have occurred had steam motive power continued on the mainline railway.
  
Tornado moved under its own power for the first time on 29th July 2008 at Darlington, and then spent two months at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, where it was tested up to 60 mph (97 km/h) and operated its first passenger train. Tornado then moved to the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York for three test runs on the main line up to 75 mph (121 km/h). After repainting from works grey into LNER Apple Green, Tornado was approved for mainline passenger operation. On 31st January 2009 Tornado hauled its first passenger trip on the main line, The Peppercorn Pioneer, from York to Newcastle and back. By hauling various A1 Trust railtours, charters and other activities, Tornado will begin to recoup the estimated £800,000 debt from the project, which cost around £3 million.