A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is a Darlington, England based charitable trust formed in 1990 for the primary purpose of completing the next stage of the locomotive heritage movement, the building of a new steam locomotive from scratch (i.e. not a re-build of an existing locomotive). This project became the construction of 60163 Tornado, carried out by Locomotive Construction Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the A1 Trust. After over 15 years of fundraising and construction, Tornado steamed for the first time in January 2008. In contrast to various other heritage projects, with an eye to timely completion and full certification for main line use, the founding principles of the A1 trust were to treat funding as a priority and not a distraction, to use professionals in their fields for the various posts needed, and to use the engineering industry for all manufacturing to meet the needs of certification. By October 1999, the trust had the largest numbers of supporters of any British locomotive owning group, and represented a 20th of all railway heritage group membership. Some of the sums raised by covenanting were "unheard of" from railway enthusiasts.