Under the wires. On her maiden passenger voyage, the brand new steam locomotive no. 60163 Tornado approaches Newcastle Central Station under the wires of the electrified East Coast Main Line, in Newcastle upon Tyne, northern England.

Tornado approached Newcastle just after 13:20 GMT on Saturday 31 January 2009 on her first main line passenger journey, The Peppercorn Pioneer. This train had started in York to the south, arriving in Newcastle over the King Edward VII Bridge.

Tornado is approaching Platform 2 from the West, with her support coach and a rake of 12 passenger carriages behind it, photographed from Platform 3. After the picture was taken, Tornado journeyed to Tyne Yard for servicing, before returning to haul the return journey at 16:34 GMT.

Tornado is a 100% new locomotive, completed in 2008, the first new main line steam locomotive to be built in Britain for almost 50 years. She was built to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) design of the original A1 Peppercorn Class locomotives, built in 1948/9. The original locomotives were also used to haul express trains on the East Coast Main Line.

Tornado wears the historic Apple Green livery of LNER, although with 'British Railways' on the tender, the first livery worn by 30 members of the original 49 strong Peppercorn A1 class. The original locomotives entered service with the nationalised British Railways, which absorbed the LNER and other private railway companies in 1948. The original A1 class were all scrapped by 1966 after a relatively short service life, after the railway Modernisation Plan of the 1950s called for the replacement of steam with modern traction comprising both diesel and electric locomotives.