Apprentices hone CAD skills for return to steam

The Clan Project is building a British Railways Standard Class 6 locomotive using original drawings

A project to build a steam locomotive fit for the 21st century is getting a helping hand from apprentices at the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre.

The Clan Project is building an 80-tonne British Railways Standard Class 6 locomotive using original drawings. BR built 10 of the locomotives in the 1950s, but plans to build 15 more were abandoned after a switch from steam to diesel.

None of the locomotives survived, but the project team has 900 microfilmed drawings for the next engine, which it intends to turn into modern CAD files.

“It’s an ideal challenge for the AMRC Training Centre apprentices,” said Phil Yates, a project engineer with the AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group. “Taking the microfilmed drawings, constructing the parts in CAD, validating them and seeing how they fit together involves reading and interpreting the drawings and designing the parts – it’s an essential skill.”

CAD data is needed for the modern machine tools that will make the components and because the project team needs to comply with modern safety standards and wants to make the locomotive more efficient. Enhancements will include dual circuit braking, which has to be shoehorned into space in the existing design. The best way to do that will be to use a virtual reality model generated from the CAD drawings.

Up to 10 apprentices will gain vital CAD skills by working on the project.