70 Years ago today, LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard set a record.

[Notebook]

and it aint been beat, probably never will either...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard_(locomotive)

N.

 

[jedidia]

126 mph?? holy crap, that's one hell of a tshoo-ga-tshoo-train... :blink:

 

[Notebook]

Yes a big steamer, mind you, the record is controversial, some say this engine's speed wasn't broken:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_05

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, if it was broken or not, who cares? The difference between the two is only 5 km/h. The measurement methods at this time had been less accurate as they are today for world records, which also makes this record some sort of a shared crown IMHO.

The German Class 05 could maybe have been as fast or faster as the Mallard, maybe not. Testing the speed on a standardized track or driving the track in both directions would have been better to find the real winner.

Also steam trains are not like cars - how you operate the train has a very large effect on the top speed. I think the real record is the average speed for a train on his route everyday. And at that time, nothing beat the Flying Hamburger in this discipline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_SVT_877

Also, it would be pretty cool to see a PRR S1 or a Union Pacific Big Boy in action once again.

And now somebody should say spaceflight is complicated.

 

[Notebook]

Nice pic, I assume the red painted handles are the dangerous ones....?

N.

 

[tblaxland]

And now somebody should say spaceflight is complicated.

Yeah, spaceflight is easy - at least the Shuttle has labels on its panels.

 

[Urwumpe]

Nice pic, I assume the red painted handles are the dangerous ones....?

N.

I think they are just red so they can be seen at all. And not all black surfaces are a good thing to touch in a steam train. :lol:

 

[Andy44]

The Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited and the New York Central's 20th Century Limited both traveled from Chicago to New York, and though they followed different routes, the routes were parallel for the first few miles east of Chicago due to the geography of the lake shore, and since these two railroad companies were huge rivals, of course they used to race each other out of Chicago. The NYC had the famous "water level rout" which hugged the lake shores and followed river valleys, and the PRR had to fight its way across the mountains of Pennsylvania, so the 20th Century Limited had a bit of an edge on speed, but it was an overnight trip either way. How I would have loved to ride the train back in those days! NYC trains featured the 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive, and the Pennsy featured the famous K4s 4-6-2 Pacific, two of the prettiest and fasted locomotives.

 

[Pilot7893]

I got to see it in person at the York railway museum twice

 

[pattersoncr]

The Mallard is the exact opposite of the locomotives used by the railroad my grandfather worked for, the Lehigh Valley RR. Rather than hauling passengers at 126mph, they hauled coal at 15mph!

 

[Notebook]

Well, 5 years on:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-23158389

Six steam locomotives have been gathered in York in a "major celebration" to mark the 75th anniversary of a world speed record.

The A4 Class locomotives, including the record-breaker, Mallard, are being displayed together in the city's National Railway Museum.

Mallard broke the world speed record for steam in 1938 at 126mph (203km/h) near Grantham, in Lincolnshire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23149181

N.

 

[PennyBlack]

Yeah, spaceflight is easy - at least the Shuttle has labels on its panels.

That's because Shuttle pilots can read.

 

[Codz]

Those Class A4's for beautiful pieces of engineering.