The P2 Steam Locomotive Trust, who are building P2 Steam Locomotive No. 2007 ‘Prince of Wales’ has announced a number of milestones in construction and fundraising.

The locomotives axles, axleboxes, and wheels have now been delivered to the South Devon Railway Engineering Ltd at Buckfastleigh from Darlington Locomotive Works. This now allows the start of the wheelset assembly.

Only 12 places remain to be filled in The Mikado Club fundraising initiative to pay for the wheeling of the locomotive and tender.

The wheeling of the locomotive was delayed due to the mis-machining of the keyways on the three plain coupled wheel axles, this rendered them as scrap.

The South African based supplier since agreed to replace the plain axles at their cost due to an error on their behalf. Unfortunately, due to a five-month lead time and consequential loss of booked slots with the other suppliers involved in the process of wheeling the locomotive has significantly delayed this part of the build.

The good news is though that this will not impact the overall completion date.

The P2s were the most powerful locomotives to operate in the UK. The ‘Mikado’s’ were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to haul 600-ton trains on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route. Sadly, the design was never fully developed and they were scrapped by 1961.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, who maintain and operate the 100mph locomotive, Tornado, is now building the 7th member of this class at the cost of £5 million. The project will demonstrate how the design can be realised through the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD), enabling the new steam locomotive to deliver its full potential.

About the Mikado Club

The Mikado Club was launched 2 years ago to raise £200,000 from 160 members to wheel the locomotive. This was extended in June 2017 to 200 members and £250,000 to also wheel the tender of No.2007.

The past two years have seen 188 supporters join The Mikado Club and pledging £1000 each towards wheeling the P2 locomotive. This leaves just 12 places to filled to reach the revised target of 200 members.

The benefits of membership include:

• Opportunity to buy a ticket on one of the first trains hauled by No. 2007 ‘Prince of Wales’
• Access (within reason) to No. 2007 at all times
• Exclusive Mikado Club badge
• Opportunity to join one of the teams building No. 2007
• First choice of other components to sponsor
• Special limited-edition version (signed/numbered) of Stephen Bainbridge’s new painting of No. 2007 Prince of Wales at Darlington station
• Special Mikado Club day with Tornado.

The work involved in wheeling the locomotive includes

• Machining both the axle and cannon box castings and also manufacturing the roller bearing details.
• Boring the 8 coupled wheel bosses to its finished size
• Assembly of the bearings and cannon box onto the pony truck axle
• Assembly of the bearings, cannon and axle boxes onto the plain coupled axles.
• Trial fitting of the coupled axles to the frame
• Pressing Cartazzi wheels onto the axle. The fitting and machining of the tyres and fitting the bearings and axleboxes
• Pressing the plain coupled wheels onto the axles, fitting and machining tyres
• Assembling the crank axle, fitting bearings & axleboxes, pressing wheels onto the crank axle, fitting and machining tyres
• Finish machining the crank bosses & boring the crank pin holes and machining & fitting all crank pins
• Trial fitting wheelsets to frames at Darlington Locomotive Works.

Other progress on No.2007 ‘Prince of Wales’

Progress continues on the locomotive, including:

• Frame plates for engine and tender have now been rolled and profiled.
• The engines frames have been erected at Darlington Locomotive Works.
• Over 1,000 fitted and driven bolts ordered and delivered, approximately 800 now fitted to the frames
• All 20 wheels for engine and tender cast and proof machined
• Roller bearings for all engine and tender wheelsets and engine axles (including crank axle), tyres and crank pins delivered, tender axles, tyres ordered and the first wheelset complete
• Preliminary discussions held with boiler manufacturers.
• Forged foundation ring corners have been manufactured and machined.
• Started on boiler fittings with castings for combined injector steam and delivery valves.
• A study into ride and suspension completed using rail industry standard Vampire® software.
• Cab erected and cab side window frames fitted.
• Engine footplate and splasher kits delivered and permanently fitted to frames.
• Smokebox door pressed details made and door completed.
• Door frame manufactured.
• Smokebox delivered and erected.
• Chimney cast and fitted.
• Crosshead castings received.
• Boiler cladding assembly jog built, cladding crinolines and hoops rolled and fitted to jig, cladding sheets procured, rolled and is fitting to the jig.
• Tender frame construction underway.
• Nameplates and chime whistle delivered
• Over £1.6m spent, £1.9m raised and £2.9m pledged of the required £5m.

P2 Roadshows

The trust continues to promote the project, with roadshows already taking place this year in London, Peterborough and York. All have been well received, despite bad weather,

The next roadshow is being held at the Darlington Locomotive Works, which is based at Hopetown Lane, Darlington DL3 6RQ. This is the birthplace of No. 60163 ‘Tornado’ and soon to be No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

Presentations will cover the background, progress and future plans of the trust. They will be presented by key trust personnel including Mark Allatt (P2 Project Director) and David Elliott (Director of Engineering).

The presentations will start at 11 am and run until 1 pm on each of the days below:

• Saturday 7th April 2018 – Darlington Locomotive Works, Darlington
• Saturday 19th May 2018 – Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
• Saturday 9th June 2018 – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
• Saturday 1st September 2018 – Bristol (new date, venue tbc)
• Saturday 8th September 2018 – Derby Conference Centre, Derby
• Saturday 3rd November 2018 – Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester
• Saturday 8th December 2018 – Hilton Leeds City Hotel, Leeds.

What did the officials say?

Mark Allatt, P2 Project Director, The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, commented:

“The delivery of the wheels, plain axles and bearings to South Devon Railway Engineering and only having 12 places remaining in The Mikado Club mark two significant milestones in the project to build our new Gresley class P2 ‘Mikado’. We are delighted with the level of support that the project to build Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive has received since construction started only four years ago. Thanks to our supporters’ continued generosity, £1.6m has been spent on construction, £1.9m donated and over £2.9m pledged.

“We are confident that we will have completed the rolling chassis for No. 2007 Prince of Wales in summer 2018 and we remain on-track for completion of the new locomotive in 2021. However, to maintain this rate of progress we need to raise more than £700,000 per year, which given the nature of the regular donation scheme becomes more challenging as each year passes. We would encourage all steam enthusiasts who haven’t yet contributed to this exciting project to help us to meet these deadlines by becoming a monthly covenantor or joining The Mikado Club. It’s time to get on board! This year will see further major announcements as the construction of new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales continues to gather pace.”

• Visit the P2 Steam Locomotive Trust website
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