Tornado at Crewe Heritage centre

[craigy]

Hi all, Tornado will be visiting the Crewe Heritage centre from Saturday 10th April to Tuesday 13th April. The centre will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday as usual, from 10.00am - 4.00pm where Tornado will be on show along with the sales stand and cab visits ( subject to availability ). Monday the centre will be open from 4.00pm and from 7.00pm there will be a talk and slide show by the Tornado lot, lasting 1.5.hrs approx and Tuesday will see her in steam. The centre will open at 4.00pm and close at 8.00pm. admission prices are as follows:-
Sat - Sun £5 ADULT, £10 FAMILY, £3 OAP/CHILD
Mon - Tue £3 ADULT, £2 OAP/CHILD, £5 FAMILY
Everyone is welcome and this is a good chance to get some excellent pics.

[DazDood]

I shall certainly be making a visit Tuesday Afternoon I think, and with a bit of luck be seeing it steam out of Crewe on Wednesday morning

Daz

[welshdave]

Hi,

Even though I only found out about 60163's visit to Crewe yesterday morning, I was still able to pay a visit.

Not being a huge fan of "kettles", I nevertheless wanted to see Tornado "in the flesh" and yesterday was a good a time as any. The first thing was trying to comprehend that it's a completely new build, and not a 60-year-old preserved loco - that came crashing down though on finding out that there was a plethora of electronic stuff in it (someone jokingly said that there was more electronic gadgets in it than there is in a Class 66!)!!! I've never seen so many switches on a steam loco!

It's a fascinating loco, and I would urge anyone with a remote interest in railways, even dyed-in-the-wool diesel enthusiasts, to have a closer look at it, whenever they can. I had the pleasure of visiting the cab, and felt privilaged to do so the driver was very knowledgeable, and a thoroughly nice bloke, who'd driven 9Fs back in the 60s. He also gave me an insight to how to drive a steam loco, as on MSTS driving one successfully is something that has eluded me.

I think it's safe to say that it has changed my view on steam locos, but I must admit I've always liked the bigger locos, like Stanier Pacifics, Kings, Bulleid Pacifics, A4s and Standard Pacifics

Regards

Dave Randles