Yes, I was toying with the idea of going along to the footbridge across the tracks near to the Shakespeare tunnels. I couldn't tempt my wife and brother-in-law though. However, a photographer named Jelltex took some stunning photos from there, see link below. Apparently Tornado is using Russian coal which gives rise to satisfyingly immense billows of smoke and steam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jelltecks/4202917513/in/set-72157622808714749/
How about this for a story. Third rail electric trains suffer in the snow and ice but big heavy steam locos are a different matter. Some very privileged commuters were to benefit, as you can see:
"We were out with Tornado yesterday as you may know on the SR Kent coast lines, we were the ONLY train around in the area almost all day! Saw a few Javelins, parked up, and a poorly Southeastern train being doubled headed by 2 x class 73's! We had a slow run in the morning but in the evening as there were no electric trains around we had a good sprint! When we got back to a snowy Victoria for the dinner run at 1745 we had about 100 commuters who were stranded at Victoria and couldn't get home to Kent on SE and SR trains. They came over to platform 2 to see that we were stopping at Bromley,Swanley and Maidstone, and as we were not full we took them on free of charge. They were very grateful and many said they never even normally get a seat! Such fun, and some very happy converts to steam, albeit not a SR one but we all had a hoot." Progress ha!!!
http://rtrevithick.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=maincommuter&action=display&thread=159&page=2