Two locomotives to haul train – and make history

A SPECIAL steam train will make history when it arrives at Bristol Temple Meads tonight.

The Tamar Devonian will be hauled by two of the country’s best-loved steam locomotives.

The country’s newest main line steam locomotive Tornado and the Great Western engine King Edward I will be at the head of a 14-coach train.

King Edward I will take the special with 450 people on board from Temple Meads at 8.45 this morning.

Tornado will join the train at Taunton to help haul it over the gradients, known as the Devon banks, on the edge of Dartmoor.

The two locomotives, with Tornado at the front, will then return to Bristol, arriving at 8.15pm.

Peter Watts, general manager of Pathfinder Tours, which has been running rail excursions for the past 37 years, said: “These are the two icons of the steam railway movement at present. King Edward I is the flag-bearer of the Great Western and Tornado has captured people’s imagination wherever she goes.”

King Edward I, which celebrates its 80th birthday this year, was rescued from a scrap yard at Barry and restored by a dedicated team of volunteers over 16 years.

Tornado was completed in 2009 after a 19-year appeal supported by 2,000 enthusiasts. They wanted to build an A1 class engine because all 49 of the originals were scrapped in the 1960s.

She has become one of the most famous engines in the country after she was named by the Prince of Wales and appeared on BBC’s

Trains were often hauled by two engines during busy holiday periods but it is a rare sight today.

And it is particularly special as the two engines represent different railway company’s designs – the Great Western and the London and North Eastern.

Mr Watts said: “This really is a rarity and it’s unlikely to be repeated. We realised that both locos were in the West and in a position to do it.”

Bristol Temple Meads is also involved in a second rare railway event today. A First Great Western High Speed Train (HST) will run a special excursion from the station to Portbury, travelling along the line beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge normally only used by freight trains going to and from Portbury docks.

The journey to Portbury is part of an excursion from London Paddington to mark the 175th anniversary of Brunel’s Great Western Railway. The train is being named The Brunelian in honour of the occasion.

For anyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the HST as she travels along the Avon Gorge, she leaves Temple Meads at 3.17pm reaching Portbury at 3.45pm. She departs from Portbury at 4.05pnm and is due back at Temple Meads at 4.31pm.