80 years ago today the A4 mallard broke the steam record near Grantham on the ECML. The record still stands and the locomotive still steams today. Quite an achievement Mr Gresley!
Beautiful locomotive indeed. The Commemorative Plaque celebrating the speed achievement. Ron would not let me take Mallard back to Australia when I visited the NRM last year... But Ron agreed to take a pic of me with Mallard ! Cheers, Gary.
Yup Ron LNER at it very very best, to me that is a livery which should be revived to be worn by modern main line stock running up and down the East Coast currently.
And just in case you missed it, almost 30 years to the day later England won the world cup - ribs feeling sore Toto ? The A4's were certainly the better looking of the Streamliners, but the LMS Crimson and Gold was the better looking livery. Paul
Sorry to disappoint, but if I were after a Pacific in O gauge, it would have to be a Merchant Navy in Malachite Green ! Cheers, Gary.
Shhh don't let Mr Pulham hear you say that Dundee Paul That's not disappointing Gary, those Southern Merchant Navy locos are nice looking, I do however much prefer the rebuilt ones and as a youngster have vivid memories of seeing Ellerman Lines at Waterloo. Well that was the only one I got a good close up look at.
Hello All, remarkable that the world steam speed is , and as magnificent as the A4s are , the real transformation of the ECML was the introduction of regular 4 hour service from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh by the Deltic diesels from 1962 , as this really did transform BR and show the possibilities of regular high speed service and timings on multiple trains though out each and every day.The next transformation was the HST, as that could maintain an increased frequency and schedule at a cheaper cost than the horrendously expensive to maintain Deltics. Regards ,Echidna
Here's a couple of photos I took of Mallard on display at York station in 1977 (or possibly 1978 - unfortunately I didn't record the date) and a couple of other photos of what was on display:
