NEW-BUILD NEWS
Sixth major funding push as Gresley ‘Mikado’s’ tender tank is ordered for autumn delivery.
Tender club launched for ‘P2’ No. 2007
A£450,000 ‘Tender Club’ has been launched to build the tender for LNER ‘P2’ No. 2007 Prince of Wales.
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has placed an order for the tender tank with North View Engineering Solutions of Darlington, while I.D. Howitt of Crofton, Wakefield, is constructing the tender frames. Delivery of both components is anticipated this autumn.
The ‘Tender Club’ aims to sign up 250 supporters each donating £1,500 plus Gift Aid in up to 15 payments of £100 by standing order, in return for incentives including a reserved seat on one of the ‘P2’s’ first trains, a special ‘Tender Club’ day with ‘A1’ No. 60163 Tornado, and a limited edition print of Stephen Bainbridge’s painting ‘Locomotives of the Future’.
It is the sixth fund-raising club to be created for the ‘P2’, with three having already reached their targets and closed – the £460,000 ‘Founders Club’ for the cutting of the frames, the £250,000 ‘Mikado Club’ to wheel
the engine and tender, and the £100,000 ‘Cylinder Club’ for the three-cylinder ‘monobloc’.
Still open are the ‘Motion Club’, in which 130 of the 175 places have been filled, and the ‘Boiler Club’, which has recruited 173 members towards its target figure of 300. The ‘Dedicated Donations’ component sponsorship scheme has also raised over £325,000 towards its £560,000 target.
The all-welded tender tank will be made of weathering steel, as used on the ‘Angel of the North’ sculpture and motorway bridges, to provide increased resistance to corrosion. The design is based closely on Tornado’s tender, with the main visual differences being the half-round beading and the curving of the side sheets to match the ‘P2’s’ cab. Like Tornado, the water capacity will be increased from the 5,000 gallons of the original design.
Other recent progress on the ‘P2’ has included the completion of the Finite Element Analysis study for the pony truck crosshead, which “has emphasised that it is satisfyingly over-engineered.”
Machining of the superheater header is virtually complete and two sets of regulator castings have been ordered – one for the ‘P2’ and the other as a spare for the ‘Mikado’ and ‘A1’ No. 60163 Tornado.
For details of the Tender, Boiler and Motion Clubs, Dedicated Donations, and other ways to support the project, see www. p2steam.com or call 01325 460163.