60163 Tornado Reaches 100 Mph....

[Lucky13]

 

[Lucky13]

Who's next, the French, the Germans, the Yanks?

 

[Lucky13]

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[mikewint]

Mallard is one of 35 Class A4s built between 1935 and 1938, setting its speed record, which still stands to this day, almost 80 years ago. In addition this very locomotive traveled almost 2.4 million miles during its 30 years of service. It is currently on display at the National Railway Museum in York, England, and is one of six surviving Class A4 locomotives in the world.

 

[pbehn]

Mallard is one of 35 Class A4s built between 1935 and 1938, setting its speed record, which still stands to this day, almost 80 years ago. In addition this very locomotive traveled almost 2.4 million miles during its 30 years of service. It is currently on display at the National Railway Museum in York, England, and is one of six surviving Class A4 locomotives in the world.

I have seen the Mallard once and the "Sir Nigel Gresley" many times, even been on a train it pulled once. The speed record was mixed up in pre war politics. The Mallard is credited with the record but setting the record left it in need of a re build which its German rival didnt need.

from wiki
Rival claims
Mallard's world record has never been officially exceeded by a steam locomotive, though the German Class 05 was at least very close: in 1936, two years before Mallard's run, 05 002 had reached 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) between Hamburg and Berlin. Stoke Bank is long, straight and slightly downhill, whereas the 1936 run of 05 002 took place on a horizontal stretch of track. Unlike world records for cars and aircraft, there is no requirement for an average of two runs in both directions, and assistance from gradient or wind has always been acceptable in rail speed records. Also, unlike Mallard, 05 002 survived the attempt undamaged: on the other hand, its train was only four coaches long (197 tons), whereas Mallard's train was seven coaches (240 tons).[8] In terms of rival claims, Gresley and the LNER had just one serious attempt at the record, which was far from a perfect run with a 15 mph (24 km/h) permanent way check just North of Grantham. Despite this a record was set.[9] Gresley planned to have another attempt in September 1939, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II.[10] Before the record run on 3 July 1938, it was calculated that 130 mph (210 km/h) was possible, and in fact Driver Duddington and LNER Inspector Sid Jenkins both said they might well have achieved this figure had they not had to slow for the Essendine junctions.[9]

From my understanding of things the speed reached is the limit of direct coupled steam locos. There were 35 A4 pacifics built while only three of is German rival 005. Their actual service speeds were about the same at circa 90MPH.

 

[Wayne Little]