Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen recently visited Darlington Locomotive Works where No. 2007 Prince of Wales is currently under construction.  During the visit Mr Houchen was given a briefing on a The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s progress to-date and its ambitious plans for expansion.

The Mayor heard first-hand the Trust’s plans for a larger base in Darlington where it would build and maintain its growing fleet of locomotives and rolling stock. The Trust also has ambitions to create a state-of-the-art charter train, from a set of locomotive-hauled Mark 3 carriages, which will be extensively refurbished and overhauled for its new role.

The Trust has over 2,500 supporters who raised the £3m needed to complete Tornado and are now raising £5m to build Prince of Wales. It also has the backing of leading British business including William Cook Cast Products, Cleveland Bridge and Virgin Trains East Coast.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen commented, “This is a wonderful project taking place at the home of the modern passenger railway and we should be getting behind it.  It was exciting to hear the Trust is looking to expand into a larger and better facility.  It will be a fantastic thing to be able to take this project forward to the next level, even beyond completion of Prince of Wales, which is an achievement in itself.”

Mark Allatt, Trustee and P2 Project Director commented, “One of the remarkable things about this project is the amount of money we’re putting back into local industry; around 70 per cent of the £5 million we’re spending on Prince of Wales is going to be spent with businesses in the local area.  We’ve briefed the Mayor on our exciting plans for the future and he is fully supportive of what we are trying to achieve.”

Bert Houchen and Mark Allatt at the works - A1SLT