The LNWR George the Fifth Steam Loco Trust has issued an update on its project to construct the only newly built pre-World War 1 locomotive for mainline operation – the LNWR (London and North Western Railway) George the Fifth Class No. 2013 Prince George.

The Boro Foundry in Stourbridge has now completed making the patterns and castings for the Motion Plate and Frame Stretcher for the new-build locomotive.

The patterns, which were made of polystyrene, no longer exist, as they were burnt out of the mould before casting. The pattern for the Motion Plate was slightly more complex and is shown below.

The castings were then cleaned and fettled, the results of which are shown in the picture below.

The paper sheet is wedged into the projection on the stretcher, in preparation for being cut off for destructive testing. The tests include assessing mechanical strength and chemical composition.

Once the testing was completed, the castings received a coat of red oxide primer, and now await transfer to the machine shop for machining.

New Orders Placed

The LNWR George the Fifth Steam Loco Trust has ordered the manufacture of the dragbox, from TCL Seal of Sheffield.

The process will be a heavy fabrication. The dragbox needed some redesign to eliminate troublesome aspects of the LNWR brake cylinder and linkages, and the redesign meets Group Standard requirements for mainline operation. Work has already begun with metal cutting.

The Trust has placed an order with Goodman Metal Works of Nottingham for machining and drilling the front frame plates, and the work will start very soon.

These two orders represented the major items needed for the final assembly of the Locomotive’s main frames. Once completed, this will be an important step towards creating a unique new-build pre-World War 1 locomotive for the main line.

Last year, the part-built loco went on display at the Crewe Heritage Centre.