A GROUP of young engineering apprentices have been sharpening their skills working on a new locomotive engine.

As part of an ongoing sponsorship deal the apprentices get to work in the Darlington Locomotive Works, where Peppercorn class A1 No. 60163 Tornado was completed in 2008 and No. 2007 Prince of Wales is now under construction.

The third group of apprentices, Ondre Brooks, James Henshaw and David Harrison from Virgin Trains’ Bounds Green depot in London, have just completed a two-week-long stint with the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust.

Mark Allatt, Trustee and P2 project director, said: "We are delighted that apprentices from Virgin Trains are now working with us to build No. 2007 Prince of Wales at our Darlington Locomotive Works, true inheritors to the LNER’s combination of speed and style.”

During their time in the workshop, the apprentices helped with the shaping and fabrication of the locomotive’s distinctive boiler cladding.