The Wardman Wire

A truly wonderful story from David Roberts the Northern Echo :

MORE than 100 commuters left freezing when their modern electric trains broke down in a snowstorm had to be rescued by a steam locomotive.

The Tornado, which was made in the North-East from blueprints almost 50 years old, was the only train capable of rescuing London city workers when their trains ground to a halt because of the bad weather.

Photo Credit: A1 Steam.

The Darlington-built steam engine, the first main line locomotive to be built in Britain for more than 40 years, was one of only a handful of engines left operating in Kent when the winter weather struck on Monday.

The £2m Peppercorn class locomotive, which was built from scratch by volunteers, was pulling The Cathedrals’ Express from London to Dover.

Tornado pulled two trains along the route that day, and on the second journey it became apparent that scores of commuters were faced with the possibility of a night stuck in the capital.

So organisers of the privately- operated tour, Steam Dreams, invited the marooned passengers to hop on board.

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