An image of "Winifred" produced with laser technology - Date/Photographer unknown.

23 November 2012

Entire Steam Locomotive Scanned
and Recorded with Lasers

A restoration project for Bala Lake Railway has seen an entire steam locomotive scanned and recorded using lasers.
 
The project, led by consultancy firm Jaggeree, hopes to record as much data as possible about the current condition of the locomotive, including any damage and wear and tear, to create a timeless snapshot of the engine, as well as enabling her reconstruction as each piece undergoes restoration and repair.
 
The locomotive, known as "Winifred", was originally built in 1885 and used for slate transportation at the Penrhyn Slate Quarry in north Wales. Eventually the engine was acquired by an American dealer and shipped to the US where, after two years on display, she spent 40 in storage. She has now been returned to the UK under the promise of "sensitive restoration".
 
The scanning which forms part of this restoration was conducted by Digital Surveys, a firm with a specialism in measuring and surveying similarly complex structures and interpreting complex point cloud data sets.
 
"I can't even begin to describe how it makes me feel," said Jaggeree's Chris Thorpe of the results. "It's so much better than we could have ever expected, and expectations were already fairly high."
 
The next steps for the project are to use gigapixel photography to record each part as it comes off the locomotive, and to scan as many of those parts as possible. The team could also potentially build a 1:1 scale 3D printed replica of the engine.
 
Philippa Warr.

Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada