LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard

Mallard was designed by Sir Nigel Gracley as a locomotive specifically designed for high-speed train driving. The contours of its fairing were tested in a wind tunnel at speeds above 100 mph (160 km / h). Mallard was used in train work until his retirement in 1963 . During the operation, he walked almost one and a half million miles (2.4 million kilometers).

In the 1980s, Mallard was restored to operational condition, but was only used to drive several sightseeing trains between York and Scarborough in July 1986 and a pair of runs between York and Harrogate / Leeds on Easter 1987. Mallard is the only remaining A4 type locomotive painted in LNER brand colors and restored to its original side cowls (although A4 replicas also have side cowls).

Mallard is currently part of the National Collection at the United Kingdom's National Railroad Museum in York.

The locomotive along with the tender has a length of 70 feet (21 meters) and weighs 165 imperial tons (168.3 tons). It is painted in LNER colors - blue body, red wheels and steel drawbars.

Mallard holds the world steam locomotive speed record of 126 mph (202.7 km / h). Record speed was reached on July 3, 1938 on a slight slope of the Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line. The highest speed was recorded at the post 90¼, between Little Bytham (Little Bytham) and Essendine (Essendine). The engine broke the previous speed record set by the German steam locomotive No. 002 class ( DRG Class 05 ) in 1936, amounting to 124 miles per hour (200.4 km / h).

Mallard was an excellent revolutionary vehicle. Class A4 streamlined locomotives were designed for long trips at speeds above 100 mph (160 km / h). They were one of the few equipped with a double chimney, double Kylchap blastpipe, which significantly increased traction and the speed of steam at high speed. Class A4 three-cylinder steam locomotives were designed for stable running at high speeds and the huge drive wheels with a diameter of 6 feet, 8 inches (2.032 m) made the maximum number of revolutions per minute allowed at that time. At the time the record was reached, Mallard was 5 months old. This means that he was run-in enough, but not yet too worn out. The locomotive team chosen for the record trip consisted of driver Joseph Duddington (a person new enough to LNER to adequately assess risk) and stoker Thomas Bray.

The locomotive had previously had problems with the connecting rod of the middle cylinder, so the oil that smelled strongly of anise, placed inside the connecting rod, easily splashed out when it overheated. Shortly after reaching a record speed, Mallard suffered from internal overheating of the crank pin bearing and, after setting a record, hobbled back to Peterborough. He was then sent to Doncaster for repairs. The PR department had anticipated such problems in advance and made sure there were enough photos for the press in case Mallard couldn’t get back to Kings Cross. An Ayvette-type Atlantic steam locomotive that replaced the Mallard in Peterborough only appeared in the distance when the head of the public relations department began to hand out photographs. Inaccurate manufacturing and tuning of the Gresley-Holcroft derived motion distribution mechanism, which coordinated the operation of the inner cylinder with the other two, avoiding rigid coupling inside the frame, led to the fact that the A4 inner cylinder did much more work at high speed than two external cylinder. It was this overload that served as the main cause of the breakdown.

The Stoke Bank section has slopes between 1: 178 and 1: 200. Mallard, with six passenger and one dynamo wagons, climbed Stoke Summit at 75 mph (121 km / h) and began to accelerate on a slope. Speeds at the end of every mile (1.6 km) from the summit were recorded as: 87½, 96½, 104, 107, 111½, 116 and 119 mph (141, 155, 167, 172, 179, 187 and 192 km / h); further half-mile (800 m) records look like 120¾, 122½, 123, 124¼ and finally 125 mph (194, 197, 198, 200 and 201 km / h). The highest instantaneous speed recorded by the instruments in the dynamometer car was 126 mph (203 km / h).

The world record set by Mallard was never officially closed by a steam locomotive, although German locomotives came close to it (in 1936, two years before the Mallard record, a DRG Class 05 steam locomotive reached a speed of 200.4 km / h (124.5 mph) between Hamburg and Berlin). There are many rumors and legends about higher speeds, but the Mallard record is the only one correctly recorded. Perhaps other steam locomotives were capable of such speed. Stoke Bank, a long and straight section with a slight slope, where LNER set its records, also played a role in setting the record. The trip of the German locomotive of 1936 took place on a horizontal section, although speed was gained in the previous segment with a slope.

It is noteworthy that, unlike world speed records for cars, for locomotives there are no requirements for averaging the results of two trips in both directions. For this reason, the influence of slopes and wind is not taken into account.

Other locomotives that could exceed 126 mph (203 km / h) are the prototype of the powerful Pennsylvania Railroad S1 , rumored to drive 140 mph (225 km / h) and the F7 class Milwaukee roads (Milwaukee Road). Milwaukee Road operated the fastest scheduled steam passenger train in the world. Both roads, as well as the Chicago North-West Railway (Chicago & North Western) had schedules requiring speeds of more than 100 mph (160 km / h). It is known that the locomotives of both roads often exceeded the speed of 120 miles per hour.

They say that this continued until several legal proceedings were instituted over the excessive riskiness of such trips. Frightened by this, U.S. railroad companies began to avoid attempts to achieve records in the 1930s - 1940s, which contrasted with constant claims to records in previous decades.

The fact that is often ignored when discussing claims for records is that Gracley and LNER made only one serious attempt to set a record, which was very far from regular trips with constant checks conducted by Gratha (Grantha). Despite this, a record was set. It is known that Gresley planned to make another attempt in 1939, but it did not take place due to the outbreak of World War II. Judging by the public statements of Gracley, he believed that speeds over 130 miles per hour were possible.

Thus, Mallard still holds the lead. Feat-like signs are affixed to each side of the locomotive.

In 1948, shortly after the creation of the British Railways, a decision was made to test locomotives from all the railways of the former Big Four to find the best indicators of speed, power and efficiency of coal and water consumption. There were two ways to test and compare locomotives: either at the Rugby test site, which was not fully ready until the end of 1948, or right in the field. The results of these tests should have been used to help develop standard British Railroad locomotives.

Passenger locomotives were compared: the Princess Coronation of the London Midland Region, A4 Eastern Region, the Merchant Navy of the Southern Region and the King of the Western Region.

Three Gresley-style A4 locomotives were selected to represent the Eastern Region: E22 Mallard, 60033 Seagull, 60034 Lord Farringdon. All of these locomotives had a Kilchap double duct and were prepared in Doncaster. Mallard emerged from Doncaster in a fresh post-war blue color with impeccable numbers “22” and small letters “E” mounted above them (Eastern Region). The steam locomotive was equipped with a new boiler (the fourth in his life) and the third tender in his career.

On June 8, 1948, E22 Mallard found on the Waterloo-Exeter route. Driver Marrable drove the famous A4 with an empty train weighing 481 imperial tons, the same one that had been used on a previous trip with the Merchant-Navi class steam train No. 35018. Mallard proceeded through Clapham Junction after 6 minutes 57 seconds, Woking after 28 minutes 47 seconds. In the Hook, restrictive signals were set that made Mallard literally crawl. Despite this, to Axminster he reached a speed of 82 mph. Salisbury was reached 108 minutes 28 seconds after departure. Despite the previously met signal, the train arrived late only five and a half minutes. The working time of the trip was 95.5 minutes.

Mallard did not pass the tests and Seagull class No. 60033 took the upper hand. On June 10, Seagull completed the route in 96 minutes 22 seconds, but it departed 3 minutes later, which meant following the route with the same load for 3.5 minutes faster. For Mallard , the 1948 trials were completed, but he later returned to the Waterloo-Exeter line during a Locomotive Club of Great Britain (LCGB) tour in 1963.

The first time Mallard was released on line in March 1938. It was the first A4 equipped with a Kilchap double air duct. This was one of the features that led her to gain the world speed record in June of that year.

Throughout his career, Mallard has been repainted a lot. Under number 4468 it was sky blue (garter colors), from June 1942 - black for military time, later - black with a tender marked "NE", from October 21, 1943 - with number 22, printed on the screen, again blue after wars with white and red lines, from March 1948 with metal overhead numbers “22” on the sides of the booth, from September 16, 1949 at number 60022 - the dark blue color of the British Railways, from July 4, 1952 - the colors of Braunschweig green. In 1963, he returned to his original blue LNER coloration for conservation.

Like all 35 Gresley Class A4 locomotives, Mallard , when built, was equipped with side cowls for the drawbar mechanism. Later it turned out that they complicate the maintenance of the chassis and were removed from the steam locomotives of the entire series. Machine No. 4468 ( Mallard ) lost its fairings during repairs on June 13, 1942 and received them when it was set up for storage in 1963.

Mallard , during his 25-year life, replaced 12 boilers. Boiler numbers: 9024 (under construction), 8959 (from 4496 Golden Shuttle , June 12, 1942), 8907 (from 2511 Silver King , August 1, 1946), 8948 (from 31 Golden Plover , March 5, 1948), 8957 (from 60009 Union of South Africa , September 16, 1949), 29282 (from 60028 Walter K Whigham , January 10, 1951), 29301 (from 60019 Bittern , July 4, 1952), 29315 (from 60014 Silver Link , April 23, 1954), 29328 (specially built boiler June 7, 1957), 29308 (from 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower , August 27, 1958), 29310 (from 60009 Union of South Africa , March 9, 1960) and 27965 (from 60009 Union of South Africa , August 10, 1961).

During his career, Mallard worked with seven tenders. It began with a corridor-less in 1938, had corridor tenders during the British Railways, and was again equipped with a corridor-less tender in 1963 to restore its original appearance. Tender numbers: 5642 (March 3, 1938 - March 14, 1939), 5639 (May 5, 1939 - January 16, 1948), 5323 (March 5, 1948 - March 12, 1953), 5648 (March 12, 1953 - July 21, 1958), 5330 (27 August 1958 - May 30, 1962), 5651 (May 30, 1962 - April 25, 1963) and 5670 (the existing tender, disguised as the original tender 5642).

Mallard served three depots: Doncaster, Grantham (translated October 21, 1943) and Kings Cross Top Shed, transferred April 11, 1948.

• Allen, Cecil J. The Locomotive Exchanges 1870 - 1948. - Ian Allan Ltd, 1949. A comprehensive book on locomotive exchanges, giving details of each trial and the locomotives involved.

• Clarke, David. Locomotives in Detail: 3 Gresley 4-6-2- A4 Class. - Ian Allan Publishing, 2005. An overall history of the Gresley A4 class, as well as unparalleled details about the class and individual members.

• Yeadon, WB Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives: Volume Two: Gresley A4 and W1 classes. - Booklaw / Railbus is association with Challenger, 2001. Histories of the A4 and W1 classes of locomotive with details of repairs and liveries etc.

• National railway museum
  • Mallard at the museum
  • Museum panoramas including view of Mallard footplate
• A4 Pacific Page in the LNER Encyclopedia