WMG’s SME Team has been supporting 3D Heritage and The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) in their quest to revive steam rail travel.

3D Heritage and The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s (A1SLT) plan was to build a brand new Gresley class P2 steam locomotive, No. 2007 Prince of Wales at its Darlington Locomotive Works (DLW). The original class P2s were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to haul trains on the arduous Edinburgh to Aberdeen route, however sadly the design was never fully developed to its full potential.

With new technology and expertise, they decided to resurrect the class P2s and bring their dream to life. However, there were some design and materials challenges, specifically with the original Lentz valve gear and cambox, that needed to be resolved.

WMG’s Innovation Manager, Dr Paul Lansdell, worked with the 3D Heritage and the Trust to create a CAD model that could be tested and amended. He also recommended the use of 3D printing in ABS plastic to create a one-third scale model of the cambox for the team to see if any changes were required before committing to manufacture. The box also featured a series of windows that enabled the engineering team to see what was happening with the valve mechanism on the inside.

Following the creation of the model, Dr Lansdell went on to explore the material grades, surface coatings and heat treatment which previously caused issues. This work has been extremely transformative, giving the project huge advantage for making reliable and durable valve gear. He has gone on to explore the use of 3D printing to create sand moulds to manufacture various parts of the locomotive. Developing patterns for sand casted metal parts can be extremely expensive and if there is an issue with the casting of the part it can be costly to start the process again.

Martin Shepherd, Director of 3D Heritage said: “WMG’s support on this project has been invaluable. The advice we have received from Dr Lansdell has enabled us to look at options that we never would have considered before that have the potential to save the project tens of thousands of pounds.”

Dr Paul Lansdell, explained: “I have been honoured to work on this prestigious project which has allowed us to apply leading edge research and new techniques on a real-world business case.”

To find out more about the project contact Paul Lansdell: wmgsme@warwick.ac.uk