Steam Trains and Engines

On the previous page we saw one of the original Gresley Pacifies designed in 1922, which proved the mainstay of L.N.E.R. express motive power until the mid-1930s. In 1935, however, there appeared the first of the streamlined ' A4 ' class 4-6-2s which were Gresley's crowning achievement and whose feats have since become almost legendary.

Basically an ' A3 ' with 250 Ib. boiler pressure, the thirty-five ' A4s' had three 18i in. x 26 in. cylinders and 6 ft. 8 in. driving wheels; their streamlined exterior was a highly successful publicity feature as well as saving power at speeds above 80-90 m.p.h., and until the outbreak of war these magnificent engines almost daily reached three-figure speeds with such trains as the ' Coronation' and ' Silver Jubilee.' Most of them were named after birds, and in July 1938 one of these, ' Mallard,' achieved a
speed of 126 m.p.h. which still stands as the world record for steam.

But it was not only in the realm of speed in which the ' A4s ' excelled. During the war they were called upon to haul trains far heavier than any ever handled before or since in this country. Twenty-two and twenty-three-coach loads became common, and in April 1940 ' Silver Link ' headed no fewer than twenty-five coaches, about 850 tons gross, from King's Cross to Newcastle.

Our picture shows two of the ' A4s,' ' Falcon ' and ' Dominion of New Zealand,' ready to head expresses out of King's Cross; today the principal trains are handled by diesel locomotives, but when an ' A4 ' is called upon to replace a diesel it is still possible to record 100 m.p.h. behind steam.