The P2 Steam Locomotive Company (P2SLC) have announced that over 10% of funds required to produce the cylinder block for their new build steam locomotive, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) P2 Class No.2007 “Prince of Wales”, has been raised.
Only a couple months ago, in July 2021, the P2SLC created The Cylinder Manufacturing Club in order to raise £250,000 towards the cost of manufacturing the cylinders for “Prince of Wales”. After just two months, already £27,000 has been pledged towards the Club, ensuring good progress can be made in meeting the current Spring 2022 delivery date.
The engineering team at the P2SLC have spent many hours in developing the cylinder block design to correct flaws in the original six class members, and ensure 2007 has a cylinder block which is efficient and reliable. Redesigning work has aimed to:
- Reducing clearance volume by improving the layout of the valves
- Checking structural integrity of welded fabrication block – through Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Re-routing steam and exhaust passages – preventing exhaust from being heated by steam
- Improving internal streamlining
- Reducing overall width to increase route availability
Howco Group PLC based in Irvine, Scotland, have been contracted to fabricate the new cylinder block, with William Cook Cast Products Ltd (WCCP) of Sheffield supplying the steel castings. To date, Howco has progressed well with preparation work, with the cast steel outside cylinder steam ports completed.
To help ensure great progress continues, you can join The Cylinder Manufacturing Club, where you will receive many unique benefits. For full details, please visit the P2 Steam Locomotive Company here
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust Trustee, Mark Allatt commented: “Over the past eight years, the project to build Britain's most powerful steam locomotive has spent more than £4m on design & construction and raised over £4m of the estimated £6m required to complete No. 2007 within the next two years.
The commencement of the fabrication of the redesigned and improved cylinder block for our new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales is a very significant milestone in the project to build Britain's most powerful steam locomotive. We are delighted that Howco Group Plc is manufacturing the new cylinder block using steel castings supplied by our principal sponsor William Cook Cast Products Ltd, with delivery scheduled for spring 2022.
We launched The Cylinder Manufacturing Club in July 2021 to raise £250,000 from 250 generous supporters each donating £1,000 and have already raised £27,000 – if you would like to see a new Gresley class P2 sooner rather than later, I would encourage potential supporters to get on-board The Cylinder Manufacturing Club.”
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