A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in Darlington start work on new engine which was Sir Nigel Gresley's last design

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT), which built the world-famous 100mph Tornado and Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive No.2007 Prince of Wales, announced that the first components have been acquired for its third new locomotive, a Gresley class V4 engine.

It is expected to be ready within five years and will be built at its Darlington works.

The style of locomotive was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway and was his last design before his death in 1941.

Two of his engines were built by LNER’s Doncaster Works in 1941 and tried out on the Great Eastern Section.

They were well received and it was expected many more would be produced, but after Gresley’s sudden death no more were commissioned.

The two locomotives worked on the West Highland Line before being scrapped in 1957 when their boilers became due for renewal.

The A1SLT announced at its Silver Jubilee Convention in 2015 that it would build three extinct LNER steam locomotives, a Gresley class V4 2-6-2, a Gresley class V3 2-6-2T and a Gresley class K3 2-6-0.

And in September the Trust confirmed it had started work identifying and scanning the original drawings for the V4 at the National Railway Museum in York to create a design book for the new locomotive within 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD).

Now a full set of tyres has been bought and delivered to Darlington, along with a chimney, generators and air pumps.

Mark Allatt, Trustee, the A1SLT, said: “We want to be ready to start building our new Gresley class V4 as soon as our new class P2 is completed. If we’re in our new and much larger base at Whessoe Road by then – and there’s a good chance we will be – we could even start work on No. 3403 before No. 2007 Prince of Wales steams in 2021.

“Our new Gresley class V4 is an ideal locomotive for regional main line tours, repeat main line itineraries and the longer, main line connected heritage railways.”