The Race to the North is an episode of Top Gear that featured a three-way race held in 2009 between a Jaguar XK120 car, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and railway locomotive 60163 Tornado – a brand new mainline steam engine completed in Britain in 2008. The race saw the car, bike and locomotive, race from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, a journey of around . Eighteen months in the planning, the race was filmed in secret on 25 April 2009, and shown on 21 June 2009 as the first episode of the thirteenth series of Top Gear.

Dubbed A1 versus A1, the race involved Tornado, based on the design of the 1949 Peppercorn A1 Class British Railways express passenger locomotives running on the East Coast Main Line, pitted against the 1949 models of Jaguar car and Vincent motorbike, both being restricted to using the A1 primary road, rather than the modern day M1 motorway (because the M1 was not opened until 1959).

To decide on who would use which form of transportation for the race the trio would pick out pieces of paper from a hat. Richard Hammond picked first and would ride the Black Shadow motorbike. Jeremy Clarkson picked next, and to the surprise of everyone, especially James May, would travel on board the footplate of Tornado, leaving the Jaguar to May.

However, while being introduced to the footplate crew alongside Tornado's representative Graham Bunker, who would be traveling on the footplate of Tornado on the first leg to York and parts of the second leg from Berwick, Clarkson was told to his horror that he would not be driving but would instead be the fireman, in charge of shovelling the coal for the trip – "I'd be shovelling a lot of coal, 8 tons of it". The race was to be the centrepiece of the first episode in the 13th series of Top Gear.

No. 60163 Tornado, capable of but at the time restricted to , broke a number of records for preserved steam locomotive operation in Britain, including the first 'non-stop' all-steam-hauled passenger train from to in 41 years, and a first for the steam preservation era, the run having last been achieved by Tornado's fellow LNER Pacific type locomotive, No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, on 1 May 1968, a few months before mainline steam on British Railways ceased on 11 August 1968.

Background The contest was billed as the 21st Century Race to the North, as a multi-modal version of past railway races from London to Scotland. The term Race to the North had emerged in the 1890s with the various railway companies on the East Coast and West Coast main lines competing for passengers. This culminated in the 1930s competition between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) companies for the prestige of having the official fastest London to Scotland timetabled service, before World War II changed the priorities for the rail system.

The post-war late 1940s was an era of resurgence for the railways, driven by the newly nationalised entity British Railways, which attempted to regain some of the prestige of the pre-war competition between the private railway companies. Part of this was the creation of a non-stop passenger express train from to , timetabled at 6 hours 30 minutes. Launched in 1949 as the Capitals Limited, from 29 June 1953 it was known as The Elizabethan, after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. The Peppercorn A1 class was never used on the original Elizabethan due to the lack of a corridor-type tender for crew changes on the move. The original trains were exclusively operated by the streamlined LNER Class A4.

The race was specifically given a 1949 theme, with the BBC postulating that the race might represent what Top Gear would have been like in 1949. That year reflects the fact that the original 49 Peppercorn Class A1s were built in 1948–9, and accordingly, the bike and car selected were 1949 models.The Railway Magazine, July 2009 The motorcycle was a Vincent Black Shadow,BBC News, 18 June 2009 registration 750 UXL (1952), the car was a Jaguar XK120, registration SKE 7 (1954). According to the show, the XK120 and Black Shadow were the fastest car and bike in the world in 1949. Although Tornado is a brand new locomotive completed in 2008, her design was based on the original 1940s designs used for the LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotives, with appropriate modern day changes for engineering, safety, operational and manufacturing cost reasons.

The idea and much of the organisation of the race is credited to Graeme Bunker, managing director of railtour operator Steam Dreams and operations director of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the builders of Tornado. 18 months before the race, The BBC had an idea of doing a remake of the British Transport Film, Elizabethan Express as a drama directed by Gabriel Range who would have written the Script with producer Simon Finch.

The film would have been a rail disaster in which the train would be hijacked by a group of terrorists who plan to destroy the rail network. Meanwhile, A passenger would have been taken as a hostage in a Jaguar XK120 car, followed in pursuit by a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle used by the terrorists. The ending of the film would have been that the train crashes on the approach to Waverley Station and after a speech from the leader. The terrorists would have caused the train to explode. The car and motorbike would have carried on for a few more miles before they and the hostage in the car got incinerated in a parking garage near Edinburgh Airport allowing the terrorists to escape.

Upon hearing this, Clarkson loved the idea so much that he decided that the drama would be axed and the run would be the first episode of the thirteenth season of Top Gear.Steam Railway Magazine, Issue 363Motorcycle News, 15 June 2009 Clarkson also contacted Graeme directly.

The Top Gear producers' initial choice of locomotive was No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, although due to her ongoing restoration at the National Railway Museum in York, Tornado was put forward as a suitable replacement. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust saw the Top Gear race as a way to introduce more people to Tornado, following on from the publicity success of her being officially named by the Prince of Wales, and the prestigious hauling of the Royal Train, bringing the locomotive to a new audience.

Until the run made by Tornado for Top Gear, the last time a steam train had made a non-stop run from London to Edinburgh was in 1968, with a special charter run by the Locomotive Club of Great Britain (LCGB). The LCGB ran this special train on 1 May 1968, (returning on 4 May), to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first time this journey was made non-stop. On both occasions, the train was hauled by the famous locomotive, No. 4472 Flying Scotsman.

In the preservation era, steam locomotives had only recommenced departures from King's Cross in 1994, after a 30-year gap. The departure at the time was an Elizabethan train only as far as , hauled by No. 60009 Union of South Africa. In the following years, a goal of the preservation and railtour movement was to perform another all-steam-hauled train from London to Edinburgh. This was to have happened in 2008 as The Coronation, using two engines, one taking a London to York leg, and then another taking the train on to Edinburgh. The plan failed when, while stopped for water at Tyne Yard, an inspection of No. 60009 Union of South Africa revealed an over-heated axlebox, meaning the train was completed using diesel haulage. With the successful completion of the run by Tornado for Top Gear, she became the first steam engine to complete the run 'non-stop' for 41 years.

Preparation Cathedrals Express railtour

Due to the secrecy surrounding the plans to film the race, the rail part of the race was not openly publicised in advance. Instead, the rail charter was telemarketed directly to 64 regular National Express East Coast passengers, Handed out tickets to 23 members of the public and called around 600 of regular Steam Dreams customers, as one of their regular Cathedrals Express tours, and as such, carried a Cathedrals Express headboard.Heritage Railway Magazine, Issue 124 The tour used conventional diesel haulage for the return leg back to London, arriving at Victoria Station after an hour at , behind a ten minutes early, another Class 66 took the empty coaches back to Eastleigh Works. The tour was only Tornado's second ever departure from King's Cross.

All passengers had been told about the tour was that it was to be an 'attempt to achieve the fastest steam hauled trip between Edinburgh and London since the 1960s'. While many rumours had persisted about this special tour, but no passengers became aware of the Top Gear plan on arrival at King's Cross.

Due to the tour being the first 'in one go' trip for a steam locomotive from London to Edinburgh for 41 years, many railway enthusiasts travelled on the train, fulfilling a lifetime's ambition of this particular 'bag' (where enthusiasts attempt to travel on, or 'bag', every possible steam tour route).

Tornado's load consisted of 11 coaches, with the A1 Trust's maroon support coach behind the locomotive followed by a kitchen car and nine dining cars of the Riviera Trains Royal Scot liveried rake in carmine and cream colours, The carriage load weighed in at 358 tons tare, 375 gross.

Given the headcode 1Z63, Tornado was booked to complete the journey in 8 hours 2 minutes, without any passenger stops in stations, but with four water stops en route at Grantham, York, Newcastle upon Tyne (Tyne Yard) and Berwick, totalling 95 minutes booked stoppage time.UKSteam.info, Tornado charter 25 April 2009 The crew changed over at York; and at the water stop at Tyne Yard Tornado also took on more coal.

No public trains were rescheduled to create a special path for the charter train, however, the schedule planned in advance was crafted to avoid where possible being delayed by public trains. Also, in a departure from normal main line steam operation railway practice, the train was, where necessary, given priority over normal train services. This was achieved by having a National Express East Coast executive on board, communicating by mobile phone and radio with signal boxes and train control centres.

Passengers dined from a menu which was put together by Jamie Oliver.

Race conditions The race was started on platform 1 of London King's Cross station, and the finishing line was the bar at the Balmoral Hotel, adjacent to Edinburgh Waverley station.

The race was also billed as A1 versus A1, the LNER Peppercorn Class A1 design Tornado against the car and bike allowed to use only the A1 road,A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, 6 May 2009 otherwise known as the historic Great North Road, which runs from London to Edinburgh and is the longest single-numbered road in the United Kingdom.

The rail route taken by Tornado on the East Coast Main Line is long. The A1 road by comparison is long, albeit from St Paul's Cathedral and not King's Cross, to the centre of Edinburgh,BBC News, 8 January 2001 at the eastern end of Princes Street near Waverley station.

The race was to be run "as quick as legally possible",Jones 2009 with the road vehicles restricted to the UK speed limit of , and Tornado restricted to its approved main line top speed, where the line was not otherwise restricted by temporary or permanent speed restrictions.

Race Start