Британский паровоз «Mallard»: рекорд скорости и сохранение истории.

Preserved British steam locomotive

LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard is a 4 6 2 ("Pacific") steam locomotive built in 1938 for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. Its streamlined, wind tunnel tested design allowed it to haul long distance express passenger services at high speeds. On 3 July 1938, Mallard broke the world speed record for steam locomotives at , which still stands today. While in British Railways days regular steam hauled rail services in the UK were officially limited to a 'line speed', before the war, the A4s had to run significantly above just to keep schedule on trains such as the Silver Jubilee and The Coronation, with the engines reaching 100 mph on many occasions. Mallard covered almost one and a half million miles (2.4 million km) before it was retired in 1963. The locomotive is 70 feet (21 m) long and weighs 165 long tons (168 tonnes, 369,600 lbs), including the tender. It is painted LNER garter blue with red wheels and steel rims. Mallard is now part of the National Collection and preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.

In 1936, Nigel Gresley, the chief mechanical engineer of the LNER, ordered a new batch of six 4 6 2 "Pacific" Class A4 engines to be built at Doncaster Works. The A4s were known for their distinct streamlined and aerodynamic design, and designed for hauling long distance express passenger services at high speeds. The first batch comprised four locomotives which entered service in 1935, and had "Silver" in their names as they were to haul the non stop The Silver Jubilee service between London King's Cross and Newcastle. The six new A4s were named after a bird, influenced by Gresley's fondness of breeding wild birds, and incorporated some modifications to maximise the possibilities of the original streamlined design. Upon arrival at London King's Cross, driver Duddington and inspector Sid Jenkins were quoted as saying that they thought a speed of would have been possible if the train did not need to slow for a set of junctions at Essendine. There was also a permanent speed restriction of just north of Grantham station, which slowed the train as they sought to build up maximum speed for the descent of Stoke Bank. The A4 class previously had problems with the big end bearing for the middle cylinder, so the big end was fitted with a "stink bomb" of aniseed oil which would be released if the bearing overheated. After attaining the record speed, the middle big end on Mallard did overheat reduced speed, running at onwards to Peterborough, and was sent to Doncaster Works for repair. This had been foreseen by the publicity department, who had many pictures taken for the press, in case Mallard did not make it back to Kings Cross. The (Edwardian period) Ivatt Atlantic that replaced Mallard at Peterborough was only just in sight when the head of publicity started handing out the pictures. Mallard topped Stoke Bank at and accelerated downhill. The speeds at the end of each from the summit were recorded as: , , , , , and ; half mile (800 m) readings after that gave 120, 122, 123, 124 and finally 125 mph (194, 197, 198, 200 and 201 km/h). However, the dynamometer car tracks the current speed every half second on a paper roll moving for every mile travelled. Speeds could be calculated by measuring the distance between the timing marks. Immediately after the run staff in the dynamometer car calculated the speed over five second intervals, finding a maximum of Although was seen for a single second, Gresley would not accept this as a reliable measurement and an hour was the figure published. Gresley planned to have another attempt in September 1939, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. In 1948, plaques proposed and designed by Harry Underwood, a headmaster and keen steam enthusiast, were fixed onto the locomotive which stated , and this became the generally accepted speed. Despite this, some writers have commented on the implausibility of the rapid changes in speed. A recent analysis has claimed that the paper roll was not moving at a constant rate, and the peaks and troughs in the speed curve resulting in claims of held for 5 seconds and for one second were just a result of this measuring inaccuracy. It concluded that a verifiable maximum speed being a sustained for almost a mile. On 3 July 2013, the 75th anniversary of the speed record, all six surviving A4 locomotives were brought together at the National Railway Museum.

Mallards record has never been officially exceeded by a steam locomotive, although a German DRG Class 05 reached in 1936 on a horizontal stretch of track, unlike Stoke Bank, which is slightly downhill. However, the Class 05 hauled a four coach train of 197 tons, whereas Mallards seven coach train weighed 240 tons. Several speed claims are tied to the Pennsylvania Railroad and their various duplex locomotive classes. The S1 class during its lifetime was attributed to having reached anywhere from to Speed claims tied to the T1 class state the locomotive reached speeds up to New build project Pennsylvania Railroad 5550 which is constructing a brand new T1, has stated their desire to test the locomotive when completed to see if it can claim the speed record from Mallard.

In 1948, shortly after the formation of British Railways, the decision was taken to test locomotives from all of the former 'Big Four' companies to find the best attributes of speed, power and efficiency with coal and water. There were two ways of testing and comparing locomotives: either at the Rugby Locomotive Testing Station, which was not ready until late 1948 or by testing in the field itself. The results of the 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials would be used to help design the British Railways Standard locomotives. The express passenger locomotive designs which would be compared were: London Midland Region (former LMS) Princess Coronation class, Eastern Region (former LNER) Class A4, Southern Region (former Southern) Merchant Navy class and Western Region (former GWR) King class. Three Gresley A4 locomotives were chosen to represent the Eastern Region: E22 Mallard, 60033 Seagull and 60034 Lord Faringdon. All of the locomotives had the Kylchap double blastpipe chimney arrangement and were fresh from Doncaster works. Mallard had emerged from Doncaster with a fresh coat of post war garter blue livery, stainless steel numbers 22 with a small 'E' painted above them (for Eastern region), new boiler (its fourth) and third tender of its career. E22 Mallard was used on 8 June 1948 on the London Waterloo to Exeter route. Driver Marrable took the famous A4 with a load of 481 tons tare, 505 tons full, the same that had been used on the previous trip by 35018 British India Line. Mallard reached Clapham Junction in 6 minutes 57 seconds and Woking in 28 minutes 47 seconds. At Hook there were adverse signals, causing Mallard to slow to a crawl. Even so, Salisbury was reached in 108 minutes and 28 seconds. Despite the signals earlier, the train was only 5 and a half minutes late. The net time was 95.5 minutes. Mallard failed after this trial and 60033 Seagull took over. On 10 June Seagull achieved the run in 96 minutes 22 seconds, but had departed 3 minutes late, meaning Seagull had arrived with the same load 3.5 minutes early. For Mallard, the trials were over, but Mallard returned to the Waterloo Exeter line for a Locomotive Club of Great Britain (LCGB) railtour on 24 February 1963.

The Elizabethan Express was a flagship express that ran non stop over the 393 mile (632 km) between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley from 1953 to the mid 1960s. Until September 1961 it was steam hauled. In its day it was the longest non stop run in the world. Two crews were needed for the six and a half hour run. They were able to change over mid journey by using a corridor tender. Only a few locomotives other than Mallard had such a tender. In December 1961, Mallard hauled the final steam hauled northbound Elizabethan train. It then ran a series of special trains, including a run from Doncaster via Nottingham Victoria to Clapham Junction. In July 2003, Mallard was put on display outside the National Railway Museum as part of the 150th anniversary of Doncaster Works. The same six A4s were displayed together at the National Railway Museum Shildon for a short time. In June 2010, Mallard was taken to Shildon where it remained a static exhibit until July 2011, when it returned to York. In July 2019, it made its first outside appearance since 2014 when it was displayed at York station alongside a Class 800 Azuma as part of the latter's launch by the London North Eastern Railway.

Hornby Dublo first produced a model of Mallard in BR loco green for their 3 rail OO gauge system in 1958. Bachmann and Hornby have subsequently released models of Mallard several times in Garter Blue. Hornby released a model of Mallard in BR Express Passenger Blue and a limited edition model in BR Dark Loco Green. Hornby has also released a limited edition model of 4468 in LNER form along with the other five surviving A4s in 2013. In 2023 Hornby released a TT120 scale model of "Mallard" in LNER garter blue livery along with "Silver King" in BR Brunswick green livery and "Falcon" in BR garter blue livery with white lining. A Corgi 1:120 scale model in Garter Blue as part of a series entitled "Rail Legends" is available.

A painting of Mallard in her immediate post war condition features on the 1993 Blur album Modern Life Is Rubbish. The painting was a stock image that Stylorouge—Blur's design consultants—obtained from a photo library in Halifax. According to Design Week magazine, the painting "evoked the feel of a Just William schoolboy's pre war Britain". The 2013 song "East Coast Racer" by British progressive rock band Big Big Train tells the story of Mallards record breaking run. On the popular US TV crime drama NCIS, the Hornby model of Mallard is a usual feature in some of the scenes that take place within the autopsy department. The model can usually be seen above the desk at the end of the room, and belongs to Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (played by David McCallum). A brick sculpture of Mallard, known as the Brick Train and created by David Mach in 1997, can be found alongside the A66 road on the eastern outskirts of the town of Darlington, County Durham.