New-build 4-6-2 Tornado reached 101 miles per hour on a test run, setting a new heritage steam era record in the UK.
A unique spectacle saw four trains - one headed by vintage steamer Flying Scotsman - run in staggered formation in parallel on 10 miles of main line to promote Virgin Trains’ new Azuma units due to enter service in 2018. The Flying Scotsman toured NJ and the US in 1969.
A phenomenal response to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s £1.25 million Broadway extension stock offering means that trains will be running into the tourist honeypot next year.
Three vintage steam traction engines hauled the Isle of Man Steam Railway’s 2-4-0T Fenella up the 1,800 foot road climb of Snaefell Mountain.
The second Great North Steam Fair took place at Beamish Museum in April with a line-up of over 100 vehicles in action and on display, including a 15" gauge 2-8-2 carried on a trailer drawn by a steam traction engine. New-build locomotives Samson and Steam Elephant operated on the Pockerly wagonway and 1871-built Coffee Pot, hauling chaldron wagons was joined by Puffing Billy, making a rare working visit to the colliery railway. Beamish regularly operates vintage trams, steam locomotives, electric trolley buses, motor buses, and horse-drawn vehicles.