Fly like the wind! On a Tornado

Saturday ( 13/8)

So the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. and the kettle goes on. An Earl Grey tea for me and a filtered coffee for Darrin. Neither of us can stand the dreadful tea and instant coffee that UK hotels offer their customers. They also ruin it with that dreadful UHT milk in the little pots. So we come organised. Even the “milk” has been carefully selected – it’s a creamer that tastes like fresh milk.

Beverages enjoyed and a bit of TV bringing us up to date on Olympic wins in Rio we ease ourselves into the day. We have decided to have something to eat at Kings Cross station to keep us going as a full breakfast will be served to us later.

As we descend in the lift we see this poster:



We’ll let you know if what we have on Sunday morning matches up to this.

As I mentioned in the Friday report we are literally 5 minutes walk from Kings Cross station.
As we venture outside and along Euston Road (it becomes this at the junction of Marylebone Road and Great Portland Street) we see this.
Is it Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World? :



It’s far grander. It’s the roof of St. Pancras station and the Renaissance Hotel. Isn’t it just splendid. Its clock proclaims it is 7:20a.m.



A little further on and we could be in Universal Studios in Orlando.



No, it’s the real Kings Cross station. We check the departure board and whilst the “Charter Service” is displayed no platform has yet been allocated.

We wander over to Platform 9 ¾ and I see if I can get through the wall to the Hogwarts Express but I’m not totally successful. Must be the Muggle in me!



Darrin has gone instead to Pret a Manger and grabbed us two coffees and croissants.



By the time we have eaten and drunk the “Charter Service” has been displayed as leaving from Platform 2. We enter towards the platforms from the West Concourse and in doing so pass by the recently unveiled statue of Sir Nigel Gresley who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway and was designer of many a famous train such as the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman.



We make our way across and there in all their splendour are the coaches we will be travelling in today.



Ours came from the original “Torbay Express” -operated by the Great Western Railway from Paddington to Torquay and Paignton in the late 40s.

At the head of this convoy is the “Tornado”, a steam train of our age. 60163 Tornado is a mainline 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.





We have about 5 minutes to walk to the rear of carriages and take our seats. We must have been the first to book this trip as out table is No1 in carriage A.



We get settled and exactly at 8:07 the whistle blows and we start to pull out of King Cross station and out into the suburbs of London. The carriage has grand armchair seats (fixed to the floor) and has that grandeur of years gone by.



We almost immediately enter a tunnel which takes us underneath the Regents Canal. Above us is is the Eurostar route which is encased in a tubular bridge.

We pass through Finsbury Park, home of the Emirates football stadium and its not long before we see Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) on our left. The stewards have started serving fizz – Prosecco to be precise. Some mix their orange juice with it to create Buck’s Fizz. We continue climbing out of London until we reach potters Bar. Here we take on more passengers and breakfast starts to be served.



There is cereal or porridge and then this is followed by a full English – bacon, sausage, black pudding, fried bread, mushrooms, bubble and squeak and baked beans.



There is toast or pastries to follow. Boy! Are we ready for this?
As we eat the countryside flies by – Brookmans Park, Welham Green and Hatfield.



We start to climb again at 1 in 200 passing through Welwyn Garden City and on to the glorious 40 arched Digswell viaduct that crosses the River Mimram.



(Library picture)

On to Knebworth and then Stevenage where a few more passengers join the train.

The train now descends for 8 miles along what was known as a “racing stretch” in steam days.



We relax after the superb breakfast as we race through Hitchin, Arlesey and Biggleswade. Sand, Beds. is next, famous, of course, for the RSPB headquarters. We pass from Bedfordshire into Cambridgeshire as we reach St. Neots. Huntingdon, birthplace of Oliver Cromwell and Peterborough are next. After Stamford we pass into Britain’s smallest county – Rutland. Oakham, the county town is famous for its railway signal box as anyone who has ever tackled the Airfix model of it can testify. Oakham’s castle – largely ruined, does boast the earliest surviving Great Hall (1180-90) of any English castle.

Through Melton Mowbray famous for its “Protected Geographical Indication” pork pies.

It’s coming up to about 12:20p.m. as we start on our final stretch north. Barrow upon Soar and Loughborough whizz past as does Trent Junction where the routes to Nottingham and Derby diverge. We are now on freight only lines which is quite a privilege and we pass the sprawling sidings at Toton. Langley Mill is next followed by our stop at Alfreton. Tornado will carry on to Chesterfield for folk visiting Chatsworth House. As a Derbyshire lad I have visited that place hundreds of times in my life so we have opted instead to spend the afternoon at Crich (pronounced Cry – ch) Tramway Museum.

As we climb aboard the awaiting coach which will take us on a twenty minute journey to the trams we are handed bags containing our admittance wristband, a map, a World War II identity card and a 1d (penny). The museum was formed by a group that, back in 1948, had bought the Southampton 45 for the princely sum of £10. They formed a society of enthusiasts and in 1961 opened the museum to the public.

Along the mile of tram track there are 5 distinct areas: Terminus Town End (where you board trams), Stephenson Place, Victoria Park, Wakebridge and Glory Mine. It’s worth mentioning that an adult ticket is £16 and but for a few days exceptions, is valid for a whole year! Today they are have a special of World War II and re-en-actors mingle with the crowds. There are soldiers, G.I.s, sailors, Home Guard, Policmen and Spivs. It’s like being in an episode of Dad’s Army.

We decide to take a tram. They have a fleet of 60 but only four or five are running at any one time. They do bring others out in rotation as one in service goes back into the depot. Our choice is the one from Southampton that rhey bought for £10 and we climb the stairs to the upper deck.



It has open platform at both ends but we sit inside. When I say sit, trying to get two wide rears onto the tiny seats is quite a feat. They must have been much smaller back in the 20s and 30s. The conductor comes along to collect fares and it is at this point you part with your penny.



The ticket is issued and punched and allows all day riding until the museum closes.





Stephenson’s Place has the 18th Century Derby Assembly rooms which were carefully demolished, taken to the museum and re-erected and donated to the museum.



Today, they contain exhibitions of “the electric era” and “Tommies and Clippies” – the tram operators and ticket conductors. There is also an ice cream shop, a Discovery centre, Gift Shop, Rita’s Tearooms and the Red Lion Pub.

We continue our merry way past the tram depot which we will call in at later in the afternoon.

You pass underneath the Bowes-Lyon Bridge (the late Queen Mum’s family name).



Its ironwork was cast in 1844 and it used to stand at Stagenoe Park in Hertfordshire. It was rebuilt at Crich in 1992.

We are now in Victoria Park. This area has a bandstand, an Adventure Play Area and the Main Entrance to the museum. Today it’s all about growing vegetables during the war and Anderson shelters!





Wakebridge is the next stop and this has a lead mining display should you be interested in that sort of thing.

The last part of our journey is to Glory Mine. Today it’s a picnic area but in years past it was an actual quarry for limestone.



We now reverse the back of the wooden bench seats to face the right way for the return journey.



We actually get off at Wakebridge and walk down the pavement to Victoria Park.

Here, a young man is performing George Formby songs at the bandstand. There are vintage cars everywhere and one, a 1948 Citroen contains its owner and a wonderful little West Highland Terrier called Max. Of course, being Westie owners ourselves we make a great fuss of him.



We call in at the tram depot where there is a large exhibition hall stuffed full of “a century of trams” and there are more vintage cars cars parked in the yard.



In the tram shed we watch as a Blackpool open top single decker is prepared for service.



Time for a cuppa so we pass the Red Lion with its merry drinkers and up to the pathway to Rita’s tearooms.





Shame the prices aren’t 1940s. At least they do Earl Grey tea so we order a pot and I have Victoria sponge whilst Darrin enjoys a home-made Eccles cake.



Time for another ride and this trip is aboard one headed to Bispham “Hold very tight please, Ting! Ting!”




We have really enjoyed this afternoon. It has been so atmospheric and was something completely different. Alas we have to board our coach back to Alfreton for the return journey to London. The weather has been kind to us all day but little do I realise that I really have caught the sun on the back of my neck.

Back at Alfreton station and there are lines for the toilets. If I chose to review the Gents on Trip Advisor it would barely be scoring0.5 out of 5. “As much as that!” remarked Darrin. Why can’t people treat these facilities with respect? OK – off my soapbox.



At 5:20 the Tornado pulls into the station and I get a chance to take a beautiful photo of her in steam.



We get on board and drinks are waiting for us – a pre ordered whisky and lemonade for me and a gin and tonic for Darrin.



We settle in again and await dinner. Our return journey initially follows the same route until it gets south of Toton where we veer off onto the Nottingham to London line. Passing through Nottingham we can see the “castle” up on the hillside which is in fact a “Ducal Mansion” used these days by Nottingham City Council. Any remains of the original castle built by William the Conqueror, where the Sheriff and Robin Hood may or may not have been at loggerheads, are long gone.

Dinner begins and we start with smoked duck breast served with an orange and fennel salad.



This is followed with Butcher’s Choice roast leg of Welsh lamb with redcurrant, rosemary and red wine sauce. It is accompanied with Cougettes Provencal, Cauliflower Mornay, new potatoes in parsley butter and rosemary infused roast potatoes.



To accompany this we had chosen a Errazuriz Teno Block Merlot.

Dessert is warm Bakewell tart with Crème Anglaise. This was exceptionally delicious. Nice and light with a good almond and raspberry jam flavours.



There was a selection of Derbyshire cheeses – Sage Derby, Derbyshire Stilton with strawberry and Cropwell Bishop served with savoury biscuits, celery, grapes and onion chutney. We both decided this was too much and waited for the coffee which we had with liquers – Bailey’s for Darrin, Amaretto for me. After dinner mints and chocolates were also served. We had crossed the Trent River and on through Bottesford in the Vale of Belvoir (pronounced Beever) speed. In the distance we see Belvoir Castle.

Next is Grantham, birthplace of Margaret Thatcher. Isaac Newton of gravity theory attended school here.

We stop at Peterborough to take on water. However, the pressure is low and what should have been a ten minute filling becomes half an hour. 9:28p.m. at Kings Cross seems to have gone out of the window.
We weren’t to be beaten though.

We start to gather speed as we shoot through Corby Glen and then cross the viaduct at Little Bytham. Now, the Tornado really shows us just what she can do. The limit should be 75 m.p.h. but the stewards assure us it’s 75 plus V.A.T. (Sales tax). We reckon we were touching 100 m.p.h. for a good 30 miles. This was a thrilling ride and we passed by the commemorative sign where the Mallard achieved 126 m.p.h. on 3rd July 1938.






That half an hour lateness would become just 2 minutes!
The excitement over, we gradually transition to the to the flat lands of Welland Valley. We return through Welwyn Garden City having stopped at Stevenage for those who had boarded here in the morning. Next up was Potters Bar where we make another stop to shed further passengers and we finally cruise into Kings Cross at 21:25 – as I said, two minutes late.

Travellers at the station stand in amazement as the green liveried beast chugs up towards the buffers. We walk from our carriage down the long platform and as we reach the locomotive and tender there is the fireman (stoker) and his face is coal black.



People are shaking his hand. They also shake the driver’s hand.




It was a truly wonderful journey, well organised and a day of memories.



We leave Kings Cross and within ten minutes we are in our room at the Premier Inn at Euston. Cups of tea are made as we get ready for bed. No alarm is set. It’s not long before we are fast asleep.
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Sunday (14/8)

I’ll keep this brief. We woke at 8:30 after a good ten hours sleep. The breakfast at the Thyme restaurant lived up to the poster – there was a ton of stuff on offer – juices, fruit, yoghurts, cereals, full English, toast, pastries and pancakes. By 11 a.m. we were home having caught the Metropolitan line on the Underground back to Harrow. The laundry could wait until tomorrow!

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** Please note I feature photos of track taken from open windows on the train. I want to make it clear that the window is never dropped more than about 6 inches and I never, ever lean out. The camera is teased slowly out so it is no more than a few inches outside the train window. It is securely fastened to me. If you should ever take a steam train trip - keep safe. NEVER lean out of travelling train windows under any circumstances.


INDEX: http://DIBB.in/11901959

Geoff. Firstly what a well written report, so descriptive and full of information. One can tell you are a locomotive enthusiast.
I didn't know about the Gresley statue, what an accolade to a fantastic engineer. Pity he wasn't employed by GWR!
I have to say the breakfast looked really good, but the dinner was a whole different level. Love the look of the lamb,
We stay at Alfreton when we visit our Daughter but I didn't know about the tram museum. Fantastic work these preservation societies do. What we do and where would we be without these volunteers.
The Blackpool tram looks awesome.
I'm not surprised you had such a long sleep after all that excitement.
Thank you for this report. Outstanding.

Oh Geoff what a wonderful day! You are very lucky - it all looks so decadent, and elegant. Not to mention the food! Your photos really are amazing.

I love the one of you trying to go through platform 9 3/4! Brilliant.

Thank you for sharing this!

An other fantastic day and glad the weather was on your side food looks great as well

Helen

Great report Geoff, we often get steam trains through Rugby, we can hear them hoot from our house. Lovely looking food as always, you seem to get good food wherever you go! Pussycat

What a fabulous report again. We stay in Crich, in a small rented cottage in the market place for a week, every year when we come home to visit relatives. I'm Derbyshire born and bred and maybe biased but it's a beautiful area of the country.

My cousin was at Langley Mill Station to see Tornado, he sent a photo to Carl.

That photo is just excellent. We have ordered one from the A1 trust. They always do one of each trip but I'm not sure where it was taken. Should arrive in about 10 days.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate we appear to play hard but then again my husband Darrin works hard so he really appreciates a day when he can totally relax and enjoy life. I just tag along (as if!)

Fabulous weekend...my late dad would of loved the steam train. Xx

Wow Geoff, that weekend sounded fantastic and the service on the Tornado looks great. So happy you both enjoyed it and always love reading your trippies. Thank you so much for sharing.

Geoff, I imagine a lot of work went into creating that report and I, for one, are very grateful.

If you don't mind I would like to share one of my pictures of Tornado passing through our local station (Thatcham,Berkshire). The guy that mans the station most of the time is one of the most helpful of staff you could imagine so I took this for him, blew it up to A4 and I believe it is now mounted on his wall at home.

I am old enough to remember steam trains running through the village where I grew up (Adderbury in Oxfordshire). Sadly the line, which ran from Banbury to Cheltenham, was axed as part of the Beecham cuts and not many photos of the line remain.

I believe the hotel at one of the KCX/St Pan stations re-opened a few years back and that must be quite an experience to stay their.

Once again thank you so much for putting the effort into the report and it may very enjoyable reading.

Out of interest are you a member of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust on Facebook? Assuming you are on FB of course

Regards and thanks again

BB