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Steam to the Rescue!

It doesn’t get any better than this story for fans of steam trains.

Cold and snowy weather halted modern electric trains in the United Kingdom and the A1 Tornado steam locomotive came to the rescue. The BBC reports:

Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England.

Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail.

Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado – Britain’s first mainline steam engine in 50 years – offered them a lift…

There’s another nice article from KentOnline:

At least one train ran on time today – Monday – but it was not a Eurostar.

While modern electric trains suffered problems all day with snow and ice, steam engine Tornado streaked through the county on a special dining trip – adding insult to injury by running alongside the high speed line.

The steam-hauled Cathedrals Express even picked up some stranded passengers in London to take them home.

Marcus Roberts, chairman of charter train company Steam Dreams, said: “Snow does not affect steam trains at all.

You’ve got to love it!

2 Comments

  1. High tech solutions seem to be designed to operate under optimum or – at least – average conditions, whereas ‘low tech’ is geared for – at best – average conditions.

    Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 12:04 pm | Permalink
  2. admin wrote:

    That sounds about right!

    Thanks for your comment.

    Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:26 pm | Permalink

One Trackback/Pingback

  1. The Low-Tech Times › Trains in the Snow on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 9:15 am

    [...] Steam to the Rescue! [...]

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