A record-breaking Gathering of steam
This February saw the engine sheds outside the National Railway Museum’s “Locomotion” hall in Shildon, County Durham, once again reverberating to the spine-tingling sound of half a dozen chime whistles as six of the most powerful – and the most beautifully designed – steam locomotives in the world gathered together for one final farewell. This was the culmination of an 8-month long series of events designed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a landmark event in steam locomotion: the world record-breaking 126mph run of the streamlined LNER A4 Pacific steam locomotive Mallard.
Billed as “The Great Goodbye”, 15th-23rd February 2014 was the final gathering of the six surviving A4 Pacifics. In a welcome return to Blighty, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Dominion of Canada had been shipped over from the National Railroad Museum USA and the Canadian Railway Museum in September 2012. Both were given a thorough and well-deserved cosmetic restoration by a specialist team at Shildon before being displayed alongside UK-based engines Mallard, Union of South Africa, Sir Nigel Gresley and Bittern. Over 120,000 people lined up over the nine days to witness the arresting sight of six A4s together for possibly the last time (regrettably I was not among them!).
The celebrations had begun on 3rd July 2013, seventy-five years to the day of the record attempt. On that date in 1938, this handsome engine left London King’s Cross for Grantham in Lincolnshire, without fanfare, ostensibly for a braking test run. However during the return journey, on a section of track just south of Grantham, Mallard topped out at a remarkable 126mph. No other steam-powered locomotive has exceeded that speed since and so to this day Mallard still holds the World Speed Record for steam.
The idea behind the aerodynamic A4-class locomotives and the desire for ever-increasing speeds that led to their creation have their roots in one of our favourite periods – a decade noted for its technological advancements, manifested in the Streamline Moderne style so strikingly redolent of the era – the early 1930s. The A4’s creator Sir Nigel Gresley, who had been with the London & North Eastern Railway since 1923, had travelled to Europe in 1933-34 and seen the impressive power and curvaceous designs of the German Railways’ diesel-electric streamliner the Hamburg Flyer as well as a French railcar designed by famous motor manufacturer Ettore Bugatti. Recognising the technical applications of streamlining Gresley, like any right-thinking chap would, no doubt thought “we should have streamlined locomotives too” and returned to Britain ready to set about designing and testing a new class of engine: the A4.
The first of this new A4 class, Silver Link, was completed in 1935 and promptly broke the British speed record on its very first run on the 29th September, reaching 112.5mph not once but twice! Passenger services quickly followed, with Silver Link hauling the newly-created Silver Jubilee train from King’s Cross to Newcastle in only four hours. A further three A4s – Quicksilver, Silver King and Silver Fox – were built in that first year, as a result of that successful inauguration. In the following three years a total of 35 A4 Pacifics were constructed to capitalise on their speed and technical capability. New services, pulled by A4s, were introduced on LNER lines around the country.
During this period there was a strong rivalry between the LNER and its main competitor, the London Midland & Scottish Railway. The appearance on the scene of the A4 led the two companies to trade blows in an ever-increasing speed war. LMS quickly designed its own streamlined engine, Coronation, in 1937. Sporting an equally stunning streamlined design courtesy of Chief Draughtsman Tom Coleman, Coronation bested the 113mph previously set by Silver Fox in 1936 by clocking a speed of 114mph just outside Crewe. As if to drive home the fact that speed record breaking is a dangerous business, Coronation struggled to slow enough to meet the 20mph limit through Crewe station and rattled past at a frightening 57mph! The consequent buffeting and the destruction of a large quantity of crockery caused much consternation among the passengers, as one might imagine, and although no-one was hurt both LMS and LNER quietly agreed to suspend any further high-speed record attempts.
LNER obviously weren’t content to let LMS keep the record, though, and so it was that the newly-constructed Mallard, barely 4 months old but already suitably “run in”, steamed out of London King’s Cross early on the morning of 3rd July 1938. Pulling a dynamometer car and six coaches weighing a total of 240 tons, Mallard carried no fare-paying passengers (I’d have sneaked aboard somehow!) but rather engineers and representatives from LNER and the Westinghouse Brake Company. The latter had provided Mallard with a new high speed braking system and it was this that was purportedly being tested, amid much secrecy so that LMS would not be aware. It was only after the train had left the station that those on board were told that an attempt was going to be made to break not only Coronation’s British record but also the world record, set the previous year by a German locomotive at 124.5mph.
On the outward run all the braking tests went without a hitch. At Barkston Junction, north of Grantham, Mallard was turned around and prepped for her record-breaking run. The Westinghouse people, naturally as excited as anyone as to what was in the offing, all steadfastly refused the offer of taxis back to Peterborough and chose to remain on board for the attempt. And who can blame them, by Jove!
Veteran engine driver Joseph Duddington – one of LNER’s best and no stranger to railway record-breaking (having previously held the record for the highest average speed maintained by steam of 74mph over 144 miles on the Scarborough Flyer) climbed into the cab, along with fireman Tommy Bray and inspector Sid Jenkins, to begin the return journey that they hoped would cement Mallard’s name in the record books.
Even seventy-five years ago it seems that the railways were still subject to that bane of modern train travel, engineering works. The most magnificent steam engine of any age and the pride of LNER, attempting the world speed record nearly ended up being stymied by a 15mph speed restriction at Grantham station, but within a few miles the speed began to build up rapidly – 24, 74, 116, 120mph. Then, on the straight length of track known as Stoke Bank, running ever so slightly downhill south of Grantham, Mallard accelerated past 120mph, the dynamometer car registering 125mph for a quarter of a mile and a 126mph maximum for a few seconds. Mallard had indeed raced into history as the fastest steam-powered locomotive anywhere in the world, although it did damage a main bearing and had to be pulled in to King’s Cross by another engine.
The engine identified as ‘The Coronation’ is, in fact, Dominion of Canada
Both Duddington and Jenkins later opined that if it had not been for the speed restriction at Grantham, 130mph may well have been possible. What an achievement that would have been!
Either way the record had been broken and Mallard was repaired and back in service only nine days later. The looming war put paid to any further record attempts, although Mallard and its siblings continued to provide limited services and were often required to pull loads far in excess of what they’d been designed for, a further testament to Gresley’s original design and engineering genius. The A4 Pacifics also survived the British Rail nationalisation in 1948, with the London-Edinburgh East Coast service also resuming that same year.
For another eighteen years A4s pulled passenger-carrying services, including the flagship Elizabethan Express from King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. This service, hauled by A4 Pacifics from 1953 until 1961, was remarkably then the longest non-stop railway journey in the world – 393 miles in 6½ hours. Even though the average speed was 60mph, the A4s still showed glimpses of their heyday of power: on the last steam-powered Elizabethan Express in September 1961, Mallard at one point ran at an indicated 78mph. Two years later, with a frankly astonishing 415 tons of train behind it, it was measured going up Stoke Bank at 80mph when 50-60mph was considered the norm, a feat which has been likened to the record-breaking downward run in ’38. Once again this just goes to show how far ahead Gresley’s designs were, proving that steam locomotives still had (have?) their place on the main line.
Mallard was finally retired from service in 1963, twenty-five years after its construction and subsequent record-breaking run, although other A4s continued to pull the Aberdeen-Glasgow Express (where they still managed to shorten the journey time by half an hour!) until their eventual withdrawal in 1966. Mallard was thankfully restored to steam in 1986 and provided special commemorative runs for a few years. A mere five other A4s from the original thirty-five were saved from the scrapheap – Sir Nigel Gresley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Union of South Africa, Dominion of Canada and Bittern.
Alas, although it has since been restored, with pride of place at the NRM in York, Mallard can no longer move under its own power – the boiler certificate having sadly expired following the 50th anniversary celebrations in 1988. Let’s hope that the success of the recent anniversary celebrations encourages the NRM to consider a boiler renovation – then perhaps we may one day get to see Mallard itself chuffing down the East Coast Main Line again!
As part of the exciting 75th anniversary celebrations to mark Mallard’s long-standing achievement, we were treated to the thrilling spectacle of one of its sister engines – Bittern, exceeding the usual 75mph limit for steam trains on a British Main Line, while undertaking special London to York jaunts during June and July 2013. Striking a blow for steam locomotion and proving beyond doubt that there’s life in the old A4s yet, its highest speed was recorded at 92.8mph on the 29th June, which is a new speed record for a heritage steam locomotive on a Main Line. It allowed its passengers the chance to experience high speed steam travel, even if it was nearly 40mph slower than that momentous day three-quarters of a century ago. It begs the question, though – why bother with HS2 when you could just recommission the A4 Pacifics? What about it, Mr Cameron?
“The Great Gathering”, the official start of the celebrations, took place on the 3rd July with all six engines lined up side by side for the first time in nearly 60 years. In a never-to-be-forgotten sight, the sextet of locomotives were posed together in an impressive gathering around the turntable in the NRM’s Great Hall in York, to the delight of everyone (myself included!). Over 10,000 visitors a day and half a million people in total went to see these rare events.
Following the end of the commemorations the functioning British-based A4s returned to heritage railway service, while the North American locomotives remained on display at Shildon until 20th April. After that, these two engines travelled back across the Atlantic, drawing the curtain down on a wonderful series of tributes for a truly magnificent and triumphant piece
of British engineering. Hopefully it will not be another 25 years before Gresley’s gorgeous Pacifics, and the fantastic achievement of Mallard in particular, are celebrated in such style again.
