Britain’s newest steam train has come to the rescue of Cheshire passengers booked to travel on one of the world’s most luxurious trains. The Northern Belle arrives in Crewe this week, but it looked like the trip would be canceled after the locomotive it was supposed to be pulling ran out of air.
The purple-painted Princess Elizabeth engine – which once carried Crack Express high-speed trains between London and Glasgow through the city – was unable to move after a catastrophic boiler problem at its depot in Carnforth, Lancs. The devastated Northern Belle boss David Pitts had to cancel the sold out trip on Friday over the spectacular Settle-Carlisle line through the Yorkshire Dales.
But now the Tornado, the only steam locomotive built in the UK in the 21st century, has been drafted to haul the 1930s-style Pullman train that will depart Crewe on Friday morning.
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“Never in my life have I been so excited to see a tornado,” joked Pitts. “It’s a great locomotive and the only steam locomotive that has reached 100 miles per hour in the UK in the last 50 years.
“So I’m sure that none of the 200 booked passengers on the Friday train will be disappointed, but if anyone is disappointed, we offer them the option of changing their booking to a different date.”
On board the Northern Belle
The historic Princess Elizabeth – affectionately known as “Lizzie” by generations of railroad workers – was built in Crewe in 1933 and named after the then seven-year-old Queen.
The Northern Belle train is known as the British Orient Express
Mr Pitts is hoping the locomotive will be repaired in time to pull Northern Belle trains later in the year. But until then, Tornado will step in for the special steam services on the Settle-Carlisle line.
The Tornado was completed in 2008 for around £ 3 million – the first newly built long-distance steam locomotive in Britain since the Evening Star in 1960. It is the only existing example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive, the entire original production batch being scrapped.
It is named after the Panavia Tornado, a Royal Air Force fighter aircraft. In 2017, it became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph on British rails in more than 50 years.
