TRAINSPOTTERS are expected to turn out to see the 21st Century built steam train, the 60163 ‘Tornado’ travel through the Forest of Dean on St David’s Day.

The train, which took 18 years to build and was completed in 2008, leaves Cardiff for its return journey to London mid-afternoon on March 1 and will pass through Lydney and follow the Severn Estuary to Gloucester before heading to Paddington.

All profits from passengers travelling on the train will go towards keeping Tornado on the main line in future years.

The Tornado is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive as all the originals were scrapped without preservation.

The construction of Tornado began in 1994 and was financed through a variety of fundraising initiatives.

Having been designed with compliance to modern safety and certification standards, it obtained its certificate to run on the country’s rail network in 2009.