LNER Class P2 No. 2007 Prince Of Wales

LNER Class P2 No. 2007 "Prince Of Wales" is a new build locomotive that is currently being built. In 2013, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust announced their plans to build a brand new LNER Class P2 steam locomotive which would be given the number 2007. It was announced two months later that following talks with the royal family the completed engine was to be named after The Prince of Wales with the engines two "Prince of Wales" nameplates being attached to the engines front smoke deflectors, the announcement being made on the day of the prince's 65th birthday.
As of 2023 the engine is still under construction at Darlington Locomotive Works.
== Background ==
The original six Gresley P2's were built at Doncaster Works between 1934 & 1936, with the first engine 2001 Cock o' the North emerging in May 1934 and the final engine 2006 Wolf of Badenoch in Sept 1936. The locomotives were designed by Nigel Gresley to haul express trains over the difficult Edinburgh to Aberdeen section of the London and North Eastern Railway. The first member of the class 2001 was built with Lentz-type rotary-cam actuated poppet valve-gear supplied by the Associated Locomotive Equipment Company, and a double-chimney Kylchap exhaust, each chimney using four nozzle blastpipes. The chimney system was designed to take different fittings to allow experimentation with exhaust arrangements.
The second locomotive of the class, No.2002 Earl Marischal was completed by 1935 but unlike 2001 was fitted with Walschaerts valve gear, as was used on most Gresley Pacifics. The engine also had a greater superheater heating area of 776.5 sq ft (72.14 m2) which was obtained by using larger diameter fire tubes. At low cutoffs smoke clearance on No.2002 was unsatisfactory: wind tunnel experiments led to an additional second pair of smoke deflectors being fitted inward of the first.
No. 2002 proved to be more efficient than 2001, due to a lower cylinder clearance volume and because the stepped-cam cutoff modifications made to No. 2001 reduced economical working relative to the infinitely variable cutoff of No. 2002. Consequently, the following four locomotives were built with piston valves.
Owing to the restrictions in-place during World War II The class would later suffer mechanical problems during the 1940s and a decision was taken to rebuild the entire class into LNER Thompson Class A2/2's, the first member of the original P2's to be rebuilt was 2005 Thane of Thife which was rebuilt in January 1943 and the last to be rebuilt was 2003 Lord President which was rebuilt in December 1944. These rebuilt engines would later all be withdrawn from November 1959 with the last engine (2002/60502 Earl Marischal) being withdrawn in July 1961 with not one surviving to preservation.
Work on the project commenced in 2014 and is expected to take seven years with 2007 rolling out of the works in 2021. The A1 Trust have projected that the final tally will be £5 million. The estimated completion date is currently scheduled for around 2023.
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