AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES COMING TO DARLINGTON!

The big one!  With No. 2007 on display, this is the roadshow you can't afford to miss!  The project to build Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive will be holding the fifth in a series of roadshows at Darlington Locomotive Works, Hopetown Lane, Darlington, on Saturday 13th May 2017. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is organising a number of presentations on the project to build new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales along the route of the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh and all the way to Aberdeen during 2017.

The next Roadshow is at Darlington Locomotive Works, Hopetown Lane, Darlington DL3 6RQ. Each presentation will feature key Trust personnel including P2 Project Director Mark Allatt and Director of Engineering David Elliott and will cover the background to the project, progress to-date, future plans and details of how to get involved. The presentation will run from 11:00hrs to 13:00hrs on each of the days listed below and are open to existing supporters and interested members of the public:

•         Saturday 13^th May 2017 – Darlington Locomotive Works, Darlington

•         Saturday 17^th June 2017 – Newcastle Mining Institute, Newcastle

•         Saturday 1^st July 2017 – Edinburgh Jury’s Inn, Edinburgh

•         Saturday 14^th October 2017 – Dundee Heritage Trust Discovery Point, Dundee

•         Saturday 25^th November 2017 – Aberdeen Jury’s Inn, Aberdeen.

Public interest in seeing a new Gresley class P2 become a reality sooner rather than later is high and over 800 people have already signed up to the ‘P2 for the price of a pint of beer per week’ (£10 per month or more) covenant scheme since its launch.  In addition to this core scheme, funds have been raised through The Founders Club (over 360 people have donated £1,000 each – target 100 people, now closed), The Boiler Club (well over 115 people have pledged £2,000 each - target of 300 people), The Mikado Club (over 145 people have pledged £1,000 each – target 160 people/£200,000), Dedicated Donations (over £200,000 from existing supporters sponsoring a variety of components) and the sponsorship of the locomotive’s distinctive front-end by The Gresley Society Trust. This means that the project has already received pledges almost 50% (including Gift Aid) of the £5m needed to complete the new locomotive by 2021.

Mark Allatt, P2 Project Director, The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, commented, “The past three years have seen dramatic progress toward our aim of completing new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales by 2021. No. 2007 is already at the stage Tornado was eight years into the project. We are holding a series of free roadshow presentations in 2017, the next one being at Darlington, to promote the £5m project and at each we will cover the background to the project, our progress to-date, future plans and details of how to get involved. These presentations are open to anyone interested in the project and we are encouraging our existing supporters to bring along interested family and friends.

“Now is the time to get on board this ground-breaking project and help the Trust to raise the £5 million needed to ensure its completion in 2021.”

Visitors admire Prince of Wales on 6th May having been brought to Darlington on 'The Talisman', hauled by Tornado - Mandy Grant