STEAM enthusiasts can sponsor a piece of the region’s railway history as fundraising for a multi-million pound locomotive reaches more than £1m.

The team that built Tornado, Britain’s first new steam engine in a generation, at Darlington Locomotive Works, is offering people the opportunity to sponsor a driving wheel spoke on its current project – the Gresley class P2 locomotive named Prince of Wales.

Construction of the engine, which will be the seventh member of the P2 class, is expected to be completed by 2021 at a cost of about £5m.

The new fundraising drive was launched at a ceremony to dedicate the loco’s steel frames at Darlington Locomotive Works, in Hopetown Lane.

More than 200 supporters and sponsors attended the event, as well as Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, and the town’s mayor, Councillor Gerald Lee.

Mark Allatt, chairman of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the charity behind the project, said: “We are delighted with the level of support that the project to build Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive has received since its launch less than ten months ago.

“With over £1m pledged we are now at the stage we were with Tornado some five years into the project.

“We are hopeful that we will have completed the rolling chassis for No. 2007 Prince of Wales towards the end of 2015 and we remain on-track for completion in 2021.

“However, to maintain this progress we need to continue to raise in excess of £700,000 per year.”

The new fundraising initiative will allow supporters to sponsor one or more of the loco’s 18 spokes on the 6ft 2in driving wheels for either £600 or £25 per month for 24 months.

New components will be available for sponsorship as the project progresses.

All sponsors will have their names inscribed on the official roll of honour at Darlington Locomotive Works, and will receive a certificate recording the sponsorship and a copy of the drawing of the component.

Mr Allatt said: “Just as with the similar scheme that helped to fund the construction of Tornado, supporters who subscribe to the scheme will have the satisfaction of pointing to the part of the locomotive they paid for when No. 2007 enters service.

“With the dedication of No. 2007’s frames, the ordering of all of the wheels and the casting of the first driving wheel, no-one can now doubt that we really mean business.”

For more information about the project visit p2steam.com