And in local news.......

Steam trains have a whiff of nostalgia about them, whilst by no means a steam buff I do enjoy seeing them run and will take an opportunity to have a ride on one whenever possible.
So this brought a bit of joy to my heart.

BBC.

Steam trains snow rescue 'glory'

Darlington-built Tornado was unaffected by the freezing conditions

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.

They were taken home "in style", said the Darlington-built engine's owners.

Wow, just wow.

Just goes to show that occasionally old style engineering can compete with modern far more complex systems. The Tornado has been one of my ongoing interests for a few years from when I first heard about it. My first thoughts were "Oh someone's building a model steam train." However it turned out the scale was 1 to 1 and it was to be a full sized train, no model simply a thing of beauty.

If any operators want to modernise their services by using steam trains, I would be happy to give them a quote

Mark Allatt, A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

Oh yes indeed.