The Mallard…. I’m not used to these names. I’m used to names like the Big Boy or the Challenger.
The Mallard, below, is known for being the worlds fastes steam engine. It recorded a speed of 126 mph (203 km/h) set on July 3, 1938.
C was a treasure and agreed to visit the National Railway Museum in York, England. Later in the day, we would go into the city center, and she would show me a bunch of fun things. I’ll show those in later posts. We caught an early train from Leeds and arrived just as it was starting to rain… sorry, it was always raining that day. I really like the British rail system, it’s so differnt that what I’m used to with Metra. Metra’s not bad, just different.
I was in heaven. All that British industry, big, heavy and Victorian. There are a lot of similarities to the American rail system,m but you can tell that there are distinct differences in how the machinery is treated.
I know that both of these systems are intended for heavy industry and moving of people, but I felt like these engines were more like race horses or fast cars. I realize that this is a museum and these are the clean versions with fresh paint and not too many grease smudges. But when I visit a rail museum at home, I feel like I’m looking at machines that are all about brute strength and industrial utility. Heck, you can see it in the names The Flying Scotsman, The Mallard, and The Duchess of Hamilton, as opposed to Big Boy, Hudson, and Challenger. The Duchess of Hamilton is a beautiful maroon engine with gold racing stripes and an aerodynamic cowling around the front of the engine
I’ve since learned that the engines were mostly designed for different needs. American engines were designed for raw power, longer runs, and easier maintenance over greater distances. This led to a large locomotive that had more exposed machinery for easier maintenance at distant locations. The British designs were built for speed on a narrower rail width with a cleaner and more compact design.
Do you remember that old song, One of these things is not like the others….? There was one engine in the collection that was definitely not British – it was vaguely American.
It was a British engine that was built for the Chinese in the 1930s by Vulcan Foundry. It incorporated many American locomotive features that made the engine suitable for heavy use in China. This engine was quite a catch for the museum. Not many things went into communist China, and for it to be in such good condition (I’m sure it took a lot of hard work to get it looking like this)… Well, that’s something.