THERE was a change from the normal diet of diesel trains at Oxford station yesterday as Britain’s newest main line steam locomotive, No 60163 Tornado, powered through.

Completed four years ago, Tornado is a £3m re-creation of a 1940s A1 Class Pacific express engine, designed for the London & North Eastern Railway.

All of the original locomotives of the type were scrapped after British Railways withdrew steam trains in the 1960s.

But the A1 Steam Trust was formed in 1990 to build Tornado, which was the first main line steam loco to take to the rails in Britain since 1960.

Appropriately bearing a Cathedrals Express headboard - the name of the crack Cotswold Line express - Tornado was bound for Worcester via the line through the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire Cotswolds, before retracing its route to Salisbury in late afternoon.

Tornado is due to visit Oxford again next Thursday, hauling an excursion from Lewes and London, which is timetabled to arrive in Oxford at 1.45pm and depart at 5.20pm.

And another steam special will run via Oxford and along the Cotswold Line a week tomorrow, with British Railways Britannia Class Pacific No 70013 Oliver Cromwell booked to haul a train called the Cotswold Venturer from London Paddington to Worcester.