Follow that train!

Last summer at Earley Station we were lucky enough to see Tornado, the newly built Peppercorn class A1 Pacific steam locomotive, using the original blueprints a team of skilled engineers spent £3million and almost 20 years building the mighty train. It was dark and the loco had only stopped for a few minutes so when we heard it was coming to the nearby Watercress Line my Dad and I leapt at the chance to get trackside for a closer look.

Arriving at Alton Station Tornado was already at the platform with passengers boarding and wandering round the engine, viewing was limited here. The train was also running in reverse so the photo opportunities would wait.





The line from Alton to Arlesford is 10 miles long and has a couple of small stations and viewing areas on route so we jumped back into the car after a coffee and made for the next stopping point at Medstead & Four Marks, with several locos running on the line including the guest star we would get lots of chances to snap some nice photos. On route to Medstead I spied a bridge across the track at a deep cutting down a side road, pulling up with seconds to spare we got our next view of Tornado.



A short drive away was the station, we set off on foot to explore the area.











Next on the line was Ropley and lunch in the field adjacent to the track, as we took the first bites what should roll past……



The station itself was off limits unless we forked out £20, so we hot footed it down to the end of the line at Alresford, just in time to see Bittern the sister train to Mallard steaming up to leave, again the platforms were out of bounds to none ticket holders, but with a small platform by the siding and the viewing hill above the station it didn’t matter.





As we wandered round the shop the cry of “Tornado” went up again, everyone ran up to the hill to get a better look, but with some clever thinking we reasoned that to get the engine and tender to the front of the carriages would require it to back up down the line to the nearest set of points, so we headed through the carpark and clambering on top of a bin got the best view in the house as they slowed to a halt alongside us for several minutes.





Back up on the hill we waved the train off.



Back on the road we headed for home and chatted about the day, deciding at the last moment to turn off once more to Medstead & Four Marks to catch a final glimpse, from the end of the platform we were surprised to see Tornado running up towards Alton (we must have taken longer to get to the A31 than we thought) so I fired the shutter a few times.









With all the passengers onboard the mighty Peppercorn Class train pulled out of the station as we headed home, a great day out chasing an amazing piece of British engineering.



Theres a few more photos here from the day out. Thanks for looking.

Steve.