A CLOUD of steam engulfed the Hopetown area of Darlington today as a 100-year-old traction engine helped test a 21st Century device that will be fitted on a new generation of steam locomotives.
A railway engine generates its own electricity as it goes along through an alternator but most of these now date from the 1960s, so the A1 Trust has designed a modern version to go onto its famous Tornado engine and the P2 which is under construction.
“The only way we could think of to generate the necessary power to test it was to call in a traction engine,” said Mark Allatt of the trust. “It’s all very Titfield Thunderbolt, but great fun.”
The engine was built in 1920 by John Fowler and Company in Leeds – Mr Fowler having married into Darlington’s Pease family. It now works out of Houghton-le-Spring.
“This is another step towards the completion of the P2 and it shows how we are constantly finding new ways to ensure we can continue to operate steam on a modern railway,” said Mark.
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