A VIRTUAL reality tour will allow visitors from around the world to view progress on the construction of a new steam locomotive.

The project to build Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive has announced that C3Sixty, a North-East based company who scan and capture various buildings and projects, has completed a virtual reality 3D tour of Darlington Locomotive Works.

This will allows visitors to the project’s website to visit the works and see new Gresley class P2 steam locomotive No. 2007 Prince of Wales under construction.

The class P2 2-8-2 ‘Mikado’ locomotives were the most powerful passenger steam locomotives to operate in the UK, 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 in 1943/44 and scrapped by 1961.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (registered charity, builders and operators of famous new 100mph steam locomotive No. 60163 Tornado) is building the seventh member of this class over seven years at an estimated cost of £5m.

The project will demonstrate how the design can be fully realised through use of modern computer design techniques, enabling the new locomotive to deliver its full potential hauling passenger trains at high speed across today’s national network.

Adam Pomeroy, Director of C3Sixty approached The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, following a family visit to Darlington Locomotive Works. Having a virtual tour online is perfect for The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust as it allows its supporters across the globe to look at the construction progress on No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

The virtual tour can be accessed via the project’s website at www.p2steam.com. This allows supporters to click through the workshop, look at various videos relating to components and find out more about No. 2007 and its six predecessors.

For those with 3D headsets/glasses, the tour can be accessed via the Google icon in the bottom right hand while viewing the tour and following the simple instructions.

Public interest in seeing a new Gresley class P2 become a reality sooner rather than later is high and over 860 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 (almost 160 people have pledged £2,000 each - target of 300 people), The Mikado Club and The Cylinder Club are now closed having raised over £375,000 combined, The Motion Club (over 70 people have pledged £1,000 each – target 175 people), Dedicated Donations (over £225,000 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 of over £3m (including Gift Aid) of the £5m needed to complete the new locomotive by 2021.

Mr Poeroy said: “C3Sixty is delighted to be able to work with The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and provide a 3D virtual reality tour of Darlington Locomotive Works and No. 2007 Prince of Wales. This is such an exciting local project and we are delighted that we are able to help promote how excellent it really is!

“We are looking forward to working together further with The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust to create further 3D virtual tours as the build progresses and a 360-degree video of a footplate ride on No. 60163 Tornado”

Mark Allatt, of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, said: “We are pleased that C3Sixty approached us with this idea as it enables us to give our supporters a feel for what goes on in Darlington Locomotive Works, no matter where in the world they are.

“We are extremely grateful for their sponsorship of the 3D tour of No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

“We are delighted with the level of support that the project to build Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive has received since construction started only three years ago. Thanks to our supporters’ continued generosity, almost £2m has been spent on construction, over £2.4m donated and over £3m pledged.