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Only 11 spaces remaining in The Motion Club!  You don't have to be George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts or Matt Damon to join this gang though! Despite the impact of Covid-19, progress on the construction of our new Gresley class P2 ‘Mikado’ continues to move forward rapidly. The engine has reached the condition where it is recognisably a P2 and the structurally complete tender tank and tender wheelsets are now at Darlington Locomotive Works. Construction and assembly work continues on all fronts, including boiler, wheelsets, tender frames, heavy motion, pipework and electricals. Design work for the extensively modified and improved cylinder block is complete, with the focus now turned to adaptation of the Lentz rotary cam poppet valve gear to overcome deficiencies in the original design.

Our fundraising is also moving forward well:

• The monthly ‘P2 for the price of a pint of beer a week’ Covenant scheme has already attracted over 930 Covenantors
• Our Dedicated Donation scheme has raised over £400,000; The Boiler Club has already recruited over 190 people of its 300 members target; The Mikado Club and The Cylinder Club are now closed having reached their targets and together raised over £375,00; and The Founders Club had a target of 100 members but thanks to the early enthusiasm of our supporters we recruited over 360 members
• The Tender Club has already over 65 members just one year from launch and The Pony (Truck) Club – only launched in mid-April – has already passed its 20 members initial target
• However, The Motion Club – launched in April 2018 - has still yet to reach its 175 members target, with 11 places remaining to be filled!

Altogether this means that almost £2.5m has been spent, almost £3.0m raised and almost £3.75m pledged of the required £5m to complete No. 2007 Prince of Wales within the next three years, if Gift Aid is included. However, to succeed we must raise at least £700,000 every year – a figure we are yet to achieve. The work involved in manufacturing the motion includes:

• Redesign of coupling and connecting rods to use modern material as pre-war nickel chrome steel alloy proved prone to fracture
• Incorporation of late-pattern BR-type continuous white metal lined crank pin bearing bushes
• Use of the late-A1 design of inside connecting rod which overcame the tendency for the original design of inside connecting rods on LNER ‘Pacifics’ to big-end failure
• Open die forging of six coupling rods, two outside connecting rods and the inside connecting rod and strap
• CNC machining of all rods
• Manufacture of oil box lids, coupling rod knuckle pins, nuts & washers and bearing bush keys
• Casting of leaded gunmetal and phosphor bronze castings of crank pin bearing bushes
• Machining and white metalling of bearing bushes
• Fitting oil box tops
• Assembly of bearing bushes to rods
• Polishing rods.

In May 2018 we placed a £181,000 order with Stephenson (Engineering) Ltd of Atherton, Manchester for the heavy motion. The order included the forging, machining and heat treatment of the nine heavy motion rods – intermediate coupling rod LH/RH, trailing coupling rod LH/RH, leading coupling rod LH/RH, outside connecting rod LH/RH and the inside connecting rod assembly (including strap, gluts and strap nuts and washers) – and the combined piston and rod.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95qE4y-7uC4

Unfortunately, a lack of resources at our supplier has been compounded by the social distancing requirements of working during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has prevented the forging of further heavy motion beyond the four coupling rods, which have since been heat treated, and machining of the first coupling rod is now underway. We now anticipate Stephenson (Engineering) Ltd delivering the heavy motion over the next year.

       

In April 2018, we launched a new appeal to raise the funds to manufacture the motion for No. 2007 Prince of Wales. The Motion Club was established with the aim of raising £210,000 from 175 supporters each donating £1,000 (plus Gift Aid) to the project in up to eight payments of £125 by standing order. The appeal started well and in just seven weeks it had already reached over a quarter of its target. Within three months, we had recruited over 140 members, with around £170,000 pledged. However, more than two years after launch, we have yet to achieve our target of recruiting 175 members of The Motion Club. In return for supporting this appeal, special benefits for members of The Motion Club include:

• Opportunity to buy ticket (seat already reserved) on one of the first trains hauled by No. 2007 Prince of Wales
• Reasonable access to No. 2007 at all times
• Opportunity to buy exclusive Motion Club badge
• Opportunity to join one of the teams building No. 2007
• First choice of other components to sponsor
• Special supporters’ day with Tornado
• Special limited-edition version (signed/numbered) of Stuart Black’s drawing of No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

Join The Motion Club by making a single donation. This form confirms your personal data and your £1,000 donation – please DOWNLOAD, print out, complete and return it to us with a cheque for £1,000 made payable to “A1 SLT – P2 Construction Fund” at the address shown. To pay by credit card, please contact the office on 01325 460163 or email enquiries@a1steam.com. Joining The Motion Club by making multiple donations by Standing Order. This first form confirms your personal data and the amount that you would like to donate – please DOWNLOAD, print out, complete and return it to us at the address shown. This second form confirms your bank details, please DOWNLOAD, complete in full and return it along with the monthly donation form, we will then forward it to your bank. May we also draw your attention to the Trust’s privacy policy which details the manner in which we treat any personal data that you send us. Please also print this out and read carefully. This club is funds for the manufacture of the motion for the new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales. If there are surplus funds left over following the manufacture of the motion, we will use the money to purchase or manufacture other components for the Gresley class P2 that the charity would not otherwise have.