SCORES of Suffolk steam fans were left disappointed as new express locomotive Tornado failed to make it to Stowmarket as it prepared for today's special train to London.

Paul Geater

SCORES of Suffolk steam fans were left disappointed as new express locomotive Tornado failed to make it to Stowmarket as it prepared for today's special train to London.

But steam fans in Ipswich had a field day as the train was prepared for the special service in sidings just beside Gippeswyck Park.

The train came to Suffolk from Didcot in Oxfordshire, but needed to turn so it could run into Parkeston Quay station facing in the right direction.

The diesel pulling the empty stock of the train had been due to turn at Stowmarket - but in the event the train was half an hour late and the decision was taken to turn it in Ipswich freight yard instead.

Colin Green, a member of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust which raised the �3 million needed to build the locomotive, had been waiting at Stowmarket and was disappointed by the no-show.

“I've seen it several times before and there are opportunities to see it in other parts of the country so I was not that worried - but it was disappointing for all the people, including youngsters, who had turned out to see it.

“But it was one of those things - this was an empty stock movement.”

And Diana Challis from Rushmere spent two and a half hours waiting for Tornado to pass Morrisons in Ipswich.

“It is rather disappointing - we would go to see it at Manningtree tomorrow, but we can't make it then,” she said.

Tornado was not actually pulling the train - the power came from a modern diesel which is ten years older than the steam engine!

But it was in “light steam” giving photographers the chance to get some great action shots.

Today's special train is the last leg of a special journey from Prague in the Czech Republic to London to commemorate the 70th anniversary of special trains that carried hundreds of children to safety in London as war broke out in Europe.