THE team behind the revival of the famous Tornado steam locomotive has announced plans to bring back another icon of railways history.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was formed by a group of train enthusiasts who, during a night out in the pub, hatched a plan to build the first steam engine for half a century.

After the success of the first mission, the team is now making plans to recreate another famous locomotive – the P2.

Trust chairman Mark Allatt made the announcement as Tornado returned to its roots at the weekend for a whistlestop tour of the North- East.

The train left its base in York and travelled through Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle before being taken to Locomotion: The National Railway Museum in Shildon, County Durham, where it will be on display for the week.

Speaking at Darlington station, Mr Allatt said: “A lot of people keep coming up to us and saying we should do this or we should do that.

“Most of those people tend to say one particular thing, ‘you guys should build a P2’.

“We have bounced that around for quite a long time and we decided we really do need to put this one to bed once and for all.

“So we have started a feasibility study into constructing a P2 as the next locomotive to be built by the trust.

“We’re looking at the engineering challenges and also the commercial challenges.

“We hope to be able to have an answer by the end of this year.

“If we think we are able to do it, we will properly launch that project after that, if not we will draw a line under it and move on.”

Tornado will be on display in Shildon until Friday, and a team of volunteers from The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust will be on hand to tell the locomotive’s story.

On Wednesday evening, the trusts director of engineering, David Elliott, will give an illustrated talk covering the story of how a conversation in a pub turned into a generation- long struggle to build a steam locomotive from scratch.

The talk starts at 7pm. Tickets, priced £5, are available from the museum on 01388- 771439 or visit nrm.org.uk for more information.

For details about the trust, visit a1steam.com