A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (LNER design) 2-8-2 No. 2007 'Prince of Wales'
Darlington, Durham, UK 		Location: Darlington Locomotive Works
Status: Under Construction
Posted: Apr 23, 2025 @ 15:04:05 by Russell Newman
Construction of new-build (LNER Design) P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales", is continuing on as the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has been concerned about the condition of the cannon box castings, and has reviewed the castings’ patterns to investigate what improvements could be made to make them more robust on the locomotive. Proposed improvements included increasing the thickness of the walls or flanges to increase their strength, increasing the thickness of the walls around the mounting bolts, and ensuring the internal web positions matched those on the design drawings. The project team are also looking at what allowance had been made during machining to clean up the mating faces and bearing locations, as well as the diameters of the castings. The castings are the same as will be used on the new-build Class B17 4-6-0 No. 61673 "Spirit of Sandringham", so an extra pair of castings will be ordered by the B17 Trust to provide an economy of scale. A meeting will now be arranged with the pattern designers and William Cook Cast Products, which is producing the castings, to determine the feasibility, timing, and cost of the proposed modifications. The next major item to arrive at Darlington Locomotive Works will be the boiler, which has been delayed because of the pandemic. Further checks are also being made to make sure its quality is up to standard, which was a concern after issues had been discovered with the overhauled boiler on No. 60163 "Tornado". Although frustrating, it is necessary to ensure that the boiler is constructed in line with the requisite standards and approved by TÜV Thuringen, the independent certification body. It also protects the Trust’s investment, and is doubly critical when a pressure vessel is moved to another country. Further complications have arisen because there have been changes in legislation since Tornado’s boiler was first built, and there have been further changes since Brexit. DB Meiningen and TÜV Thuringen have now agreed on a way forward, with just a few items to be completed. Although that should take no more than two weeks, there will be a further delay because of new cranes being installed in the boiler shop at DB Meiningen, which will delay completion by another two weeks. The Trust expects to receive the boiler at Darlington sometime this month. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust recently received a donation of a pair of Stones Lamps to be fitted on the rear of 2007’s tender. These were fitted at the front and rear of most ex-LNER express locomotives.
Posted: Mar 29, 2025 @ 10:03:46 by Russell Newman
The newly built boiler which is one of two built for the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust for both "Tornado" and the new-build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales", is expected to arrive in the UK from the Dampflokwerk Meiningen works in Germany during April 2025.
Posted: Jun 20, 2024 @ 12:06:21 by Russell Newman
More progress has been made on the construction of new-build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales", as work on building the tender for the locomotive has entered the next stage of construction. Recently, the tender frames for No. 2007 started the first leg of its journey to Darlington Locomotive Works. The frames were sent from the works of Ian Howitt in Wakefield for final gritblasting, preparation and painting in primer. This was chosen to be done externally to save cost and mess at Darlington Locomotive Works. The frames are scheduled to arrive at Darlington Works by the end of the month, which will mark a major milestone in the construction of the P2 2-8-2, as futher work on fitting all the pipework and conduits will get underway soon along with discussions surrounding fitting ETCS (European Train Control System) are ongoing.
Posted: Oct 21, 2023 @ 10:10:20 by Russell Newman
In another milestone in the construction of New-build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" has seen the Monobloc cylinder, the first monobloc produced since the 1940s, manufactured at Howco in Irvine, Scotland, now fully completed has arrive at Darlington Locomotive Works for fitment to the locomotive. Its the first of three major components due to arrive by the new year.
Posted: Sep 30, 2023 @ 14:09:45 by Russell Newman
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has announced that the first of the two new boilers being built at Dampflokwerk Meiningen works in Germany for New-build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" will be arriving at Darlington Locomotive Works this Autumn.
Posted: May 28, 2023 @ 15:05:47 by Russell Newman
In a major big development the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust now have a brand new Darlington Locomotive Works home built that is rail connected to the National rail network of the UK which is their new home and new base for New-build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" and famous New-build LNER (Peppercorn designed) A1 Pacific No. 60163 "Tornado". It is at the new Darlington Locomotive Works that No. 2007 will be completed and steamed for the first time hopefully in 2025, as the delivery of the boiler, monobloc cylinders and tender frame will arrive later in 2023.
Posted: Jun 22, 2022 @ 06:06:18 by Russell Newman
A big milestone has been reached in the construction of new build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" as the construction of its of the Monobloc cylinder block has been completed. The cylinder block has been fabricated in three sections, the centre cylinder and the two outside cylinders. The mating faces have been machined to create a good fit and dowels added to control vertical and front to back movement. This is the first time since the 1940s that a Monobloc cylinder for a steam locomotive has been built in the UK. This new construction method is obviously vital for the P2 and their next build project the planned LNER V4 2-6-2 which will also require a fabricated monobloc cylinder. This method could also be applied to heritage locomotives as well such as LNER V2 No. 4771 "Green Arrow".
Posted: Jan 15, 2022 @ 09:01:48 by Russell Newman
A tarket date for the first steaming of new build LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" has been set for mid 2023. As the construction of the locomotive progresses with the boiler arriving from Dampflokwerk Meiningen works in East Germany during 2022 and work is underway on the fabrication of the monobloc cylinders which are currently being welded and the outside motion is being forged and machined.
Posted: Jun 21, 2019 @ 12:06:36 by Russell Newman
The boiler for the A1 Steam Locomotive Trusts new build LNER P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" is to be built at Dampflokwerk Meiningen works in East Germany the same place where the boiler for "Tornado" was built. Along with a spare boiler also to be built for use on both 2007 "Prince of Wales" and 60163 "Tornado". It is hoped the boiler will be completed and fitted to 2007 in July 2021.
Posted: Jul 28, 2018 @ 08:07:19 by Russell Newman
The LNER P2 No. 2007 "Prince of Wales" has reached a milestone in its construction as the locomotive has been placed on its 8 pair of driving wheels for the very first time. This is a big step for completion of No. 2007 in 2021 but there is still a lot to do till then.
Posted: Aug 25, 2014 @ 16:08:32 by Steve Frost
Following the success of the A1 class 'Tornado', the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust have now embarked on a new challenge - to build the seventh member of the P2 class originally designed in 1934 for the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route of the LNER.

Experience with 'Tornado' and developments since the original locos were operating will lead to changes and improvements to the design. Thus it is not a replica, but a genuine addition to the class.

Reflecting this, it will carry the number 2007, the next number in the sequence after the original build. HRH Prince Charles has permitted the use of his title for the name of the loco.

Construction has begun at Darlington, with the main frame plates cut and set up in the workshops. Full details can be found on the P2steam website in the link.