Virtual Railfan Tour UK - The P2 Project at Darlington

 

We have some time to spare at Darlington waiting for a connection to York, our final destination.  There is a railhead treatment train in a stub platform, top and tailed by grimy class 68 diesels. The spraying process send up a lot of dirt which quickly covers the locomotives.

Before travelling sough however, we will take a look at the Gresley P2 project.  Following completion of the new build Pacific class A1 Tornado, a brand new 2-8-2 passenger locomotive is being built from scratch in Darlington. The Gresley class P2 2-8-2 ‘Mikados’ were the most powerful express passenger locomotives to operate in the UK. They were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to haul 600 ton trains on the arduous Edinburgh to Aberdeen route. Sadly, the design was never fully developed and they were rebuilt by his successor Edward Thompson into ungainly 4-6-2s in 1943/4, and scrapped by 1961.
Details of the project can be found here:  https://www.p2steam.com/
On 22 August 2018 Brian Ward visited the project and has supplied these pictures.
Frames for the Mikado

How the "Prince of Wales" will look from the front.

The driving wheels are 6' 2"

"How do we get in there?"

Driving wheels up close
Brian- many thanks indeed for these pictures and also those from Newton Aycliffe

This concludes out visit to Darlington and we will take this train back to York.

This short video gives a good background to the P2 project

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