Gresley V4 drawings being scanned for new build
MARKING THE 80th anniversary of the unveiling of the first V4 2-62, 3401 Bantam Cock, by Sir Nigel Gresley at York on February 11, 1941 – his last public appearance before his sudden death seven weeks later – the first of 366 drawings for a new-build V4 have been scanned. Northumberland-based document management company Cleardata is scanning the drawings from microfiche for uploading onto the A1 Trust’s CAD system. The drawings were acquired from Malcolm Barlow, who launched the now-defunct Gresley V4 Society in 1994 to build a new example of the class.
Although fundraising by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) to build the third V4 (3403) has yet to begin, “significant progress” has been made in the pre-launch phase. The project will be launched once new-build P2 2-8-2 2007 Prince of Wales is nearing completion.
Intended for mixed-traffic use, only two LNER V4s were built because Gresley’s successor, Edward Thompson, produced the Class B1 4-6-0s instead. Both V4s were scrapped in 1957 when their boilers needed replacing.