What is the name of the steam locomotive which set the world speed record in July 1938 by reaching 126 mph on the East Coast Mainline  in England?
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Steam locomotive East Coast Main Line LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard LNER Class A4
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its pulling power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning combustible material—usually coal/coke, wood, or oil—to produce steam in a boiler. The steam moves reciprocating pistons which are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels (drivers). Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons (tenders) pulled behind.
The first steam locomotive, made by Richard Trevithick, first operated on 21 February 1804, three years after the road locomotive he made in 1801.

Steam locomotives were first developed in Great Britain during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th century. From the early 1900s they were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives, with full conversions to electric and diesel power beginning from the 1930s. The majority of steam locomotives were retired from regular service by the 1980s, though several continue to run on tourist and heritage lines.

Origins

United Kingdom

The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along railway tracks.  In 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive.  An early working model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794.  His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus.  The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick. 

The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was also built by Richard Trevithick, called the 'Puffing Devil,' in the United Kingdom and, on 21 February 1804, the world's first railway journey took place as Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales.   Accompanied by Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated a number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency. Trevithick visited the Newcastle area in 1804 and had a ready audience of colliery owners and engineers. The visit was so successful that the colliery railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation and development of the steam locomotive.  Trevithick continued his own steam propulsion experiments through another trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808. Four years later, the successful twin-cylinder locomotive Salamanca by Matthew Murray for the edge railed rack and pinion Middleton Railway debuted in 1812. Another well known early locomotive was Puffing Billy built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley.  It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display in the Science Museum, London. George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north-east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains.

United States

Many of the earliest locomotives for American railroads were imported from Great Britain, including the first the Stourbridge Lion and later the John Bull (still the oldest operable engine-powered vehicle in the United States of any kind, as of 1981) but a domestic locomotive manufacturing industry was quickly established. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Tom Thumb in 1830, designed and built by Peter Cooper,  was the first US-built locomotive to run in America, although it was intended as a demonstration of the potential of steam traction, rather than as a revenue-earning locomotive. The DeWitt Clinton was also built in the 1830s.

The first US patent, US1, was obtained in 1836 by John Ruggles for a Locomotive steam-engine for rail and other roads. Ruggles' proposed locomotive had a two-speed gear and a rack mechanism which was only engaged when climbing steep hills.  It is not known whether it was actually built.

Continental Europe

The first railway service in Continental Europe (or for that matter, anywhere outside the UK and the US) was opened on 5 May 1835 in Belgium, between Mechelen and Brussels. The name of the locomotive used was The Elephant.

In Germany the first working steam locomotive was a rack-and-pinion engine, similar to the Salamanca, designed by the British locomotive pioneer John Blenkinsop. Built in June 1816 by Johann Friedrich Krigar in the Royal Berlin Iron Foundry (Königliche Eisengießerei zu Berlin), the locomotive ran on a circular track in the factory yard. It was the first locomotive to be built on the European mainland and the first steam-powered passenger service, because curious onlookers could ride in the attached coaches for a fee. It is portrayed on a New Year's badge for the Royal Foundry dated 1816. Another locomotive was built using the same system in 1817. They were to be used on pit railways in Königshütte and in Luisenthal on the Saar (today part of Völklingen), but neither could be returned to working order after being dismantled, moved and reassembled. On 7 December 1835 the Adler ran for the first time between Nuremberg and Fürth on the Bavarian Ludwig Railway. It was the 118th engine from the locomotive works of Robert Stephenson and stood under patent protection.

In 1837 the first steam railway started in Austria on the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway between Vienna-Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram. The oldest continually working steam engine in the world also runs in Austria: the GKB 671 built in 1860, has never been taken out of service, and is still used for special excursions.

In 1838 the third steam locomotive to be built in Germany, the Saxonia, was manufactured by the Maschinenbaufirma Übigau near Dresden, built by Prof. Johann Andreas Schubert. The first independently designed locomotive in Germany was the Beuth built by August Borsig in 1841. In 1848 the first locomotive produced by Henschel-Werke in Kassel, the Drache, was delivered.

The first railway line over Swiss territory was the Strasbourg–Basle line opened in 1844. Three years later, in 1847, the first fully Swiss railway line, the Spanisch Brötli Bahn, from Zürich to Baden was opened.

Basic form

Boiler

Although other types of boiler have been tried both historically and latterly with steam locomotives, their use did not become widespread, and the firebox fire-tube boiler has been the dominant source of power in the age of steam locomotion from the Rocket in 1829 to the Mallard in 1938 and beyond.

The steam locomotive, when fired up, typically employs a steel firebox fire-tube boiler that contains a heat source to the rear, which generates and maintains a head of steam within the pressurised partially water filled area of the boiler to the front.

The heat source, contained within the firebox, is the energy released by the combustion, typically of a solid or liquid fuel, with the by-product of hot combustion gases. If wood, coal or coke is used as the combustion material it is introduced through a door, typically by a fireman, onto a set of grates where ashes fall away from the burning fuel. If oil is used a door provides for adjusting the air flow, maintenance or for cleaning the oil jets.

The fire-tube boiler is characterised by internal tubes connected to the firebox that guide the smoke and hot combustion gases through the pressurised wet area of the boiler. These tubes greatly increase the contact area between the hot and the wet areas of the boiler and this increases the efficiency of the thermal conduction and thermal radiation processes of heat transfer between the two. The combustion gases emerge from the ends of the fire-tubes at the front of the boiler and are discharged via the smokebox to the chimney (stack or smokestack in the US).
Surrounding the boiler are layers of insulation or lagging to minimize heat loss to the surroundings.

The amount of pressure in the boiler can be monitored by a gauge mounted in the cab and excessive steam pressure can be released manually by the driver or fireman. Alternatively in conditions of high boiler pressure, a safety valve may be triggered to reduce pressure  and prevent the boiler violently bursting, which had previously resulted in injuries and fatalities to nearby individuals, as well as extensive damage to the locomotive and nearby structures.

At the front of the boiler is the smokebox, into which used exhaust steam is injected to increase the draught of smoke and combustion gases through the fire tubes in the boiler and out through the chimney. The quest for thermal efficiency greater than that of the typical fire-tube boiler led such engineers as Nigel Gresley to consider such innovations as the water-tube boiler: although he tested the concept on the LNER Class W1, the difficulties during development exceeded the will to proceed with the problem at the time.

The steam generated in the boiler not only propels the locomotive, but also energizes such other devices as whistles, brakes, pumps, and passenger car heating systems. The constant demand for steam requires a continuous supply of water to the boiler, usually pumped into it automatically. The source of this water is an unpressurised tank that is usually part of the locomotive's tender or is wrapped around the boiler in the case of a tank locomotive. Periodic stops are required to refill the water.

During operation, the boiler's water level is constantly monitored, normally via a transparent tube referred to as a sight glass, or with a gauge. Maintaining a proper water level is central to the efficient and safe operation of the boiler. If the water level is too high, steam production is decreased, efficiency is lost and in extreme cases, water will be carried out with the steam into the cylinders, possibly causing mechanical damage. More seriously, if the water level gets too low, the crown (top) and/or side sheets of the firebox may become exposed. Without sufficient water to absorb the heat of combustion, the firebox sheets may soften and melt, with the possible result of high-pressure steam being ejected with tremendous force through the firebox and into the locomotive's cab. The development of the fusible plug to release pressure in conditions of excessively high temperature and low water levels was designed to protect against this occurrence.

Scale may build up in boiler and prevent proper heat transfer, and corrosion will eventually degrade the boiler's materials to the point where it needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Start-up on a large engine may take hours of preliminary heating of the boiler water before sufficient steam is available.

Although the boiler is typically placed horizontally, for locomotives designed to work in locations with steep slopes it may be more appropriate to consider a vertical boiler or one mounted such that the boiler remains horizontal but the wheels are inclined to suit the slope of the rails.

Steam circuit 

The steam generated in the boiler fills the steam space above the water in the partially filled boiler. Its maximum working pressure is limited by spring-loaded safety valves. It is then collected either in a perforated tube fitted above the water level or from a dome that often houses the regulator valve, or throttle, the purpose of which is to control the amount of steam leaving the boiler. The steam then either travels directly along and down a steam pipe to the engine unit or may first pass into the wet header of a superheater, the role of the latter being to improve thermal efficiency and eliminate water droplets suspended in the "saturated steam", the state in which it leaves the boiler. On leaving the superheater, the steam exits the dry header of the superheater and passes down a steam pipe entering the steam chests adjacent to the cylinders of a reciprocating engine. Inside each steam chest is a sliding valve that distributes the steam via ports that connect the steam chest to the ends of the cylinder space. The role of the valves is twofold: admission of each fresh dose of steam and exhaust of the used steam once it has done its work.

The cylinders are double acting, with steam admitted to each side of the piston in turn. In a two-cylinder locomotive, one cylinder is located on each side of the locomotive. The cranks are set 90° out of phase. During a full rotation of the driving wheel, steam provides four power strokes; each cylinder receives two injections of steam per revolution. The first stroke is to the front of the piston and the second stroke to the rear of the piston; hence two working strokes. Consequently, two deliveries of steam onto each piston face in two cylinders generates a full revolution of the driving wheel. Each piston is connected to the driving axle on each side by a connecting rod, the driving wheels are connected together by coupling rods to transmit power from the main driver to the other wheels. Note that at the two "dead centres", when the connecting rod is on the same axis as the crankpin on the driving wheel, the connecting rod applies no torque to the wheel. Therefore, if both cranksets could be at "dead centre" at the same time, and the wheels should happen to stop in this position, the locomotive could not be started moving. Therefore, the crankpins are attached to the wheels at a 90° angle to each other, so only one side can be at dead centre at a time.

Each piston transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to a crank on a driving axle. The movement of the valves in the steam chest is controlled through a set of rods and linkages called the valve gear, actuated from the driving axle or from the crankpin; the valve gear includes devices that allow reversing the engine, adjusting valve travel and the timing of the admission and exhaust events. The cut-off point determines the moment when the valve blocks a steam port, "cutting off" admission steam and thus determining the proportion of the stroke during which steam is admitted into the cylinder; for example a 50% cut-off admits steam for half the stroke of the piston. The remainder of the stroke is driven by the expansive force of the steam. Careful use of cut-off provides economical use of steam and, in turn, reduces fuel and water consumption. The reversing lever (US: Johnson bar), or screw-reverser (if so equipped), that controls the cut-off therefore performs a similar function to a gearshift in an automobile—maximum cut-off, providing maximum tractive effort at the expense of efficiency, is used to pull away from a standing start, whilst a cut-off as low as 10% is used when cruising, providing reduced tractive effort with lower fuel/water consumption.

Exhaust steam is directed upwards to the atmosphere through the chimney, by way of a nozzle called a blastpipe that gives rise to the familiar "chuffing" sound of the steam locomotive. The blastpipe is placed at a strategic point inside the smokebox that is at the same time traversed by the combustion gases drawn through the boiler and grate by the action of the steam blast. The combining of the two streams, steam and exhaust gases, is crucial to the efficiency of any steam locomotive, and the internal profiles of the chimney (or, more strictly speaking, the ejector) require careful design and adjustment. This has been the object of intensive studies by a number of engineers (and almost totally ignored by others with sometimes catastrophic effect). The fact that the draught depends on the exhaust pressure means that power delivery and power generation are automatically self-adjusting. Among other things, a balance has to be struck between obtaining sufficient draught for combustion whilst giving the exhaust gases and particles sufficient time to be consumed. In the past, fierce draught could lift the fire off the grate, or cause the ejection of unburnt particles of fuel, dirt and pollution for which steam locomotives had an unenviable reputation. Moreover, the pumping action of the exhaust has the counter effect of exerting back pressure on the side of the piston receiving steam, thus slightly reducing cylinder power. Designing the exhaust ejector has become a specific science in which Chapelon, Giesl and Porta were successive masters, and it was largely responsible for spectacular improvements in thermal efficiency and a significant reduction in maintenance timeSee section of the LNER Class A1/A3 article on the sharp increase in availability brought about in this respect by the application of the Kylchap exhaust to Gresley Pacifics in the early 1960s and pollution.  A similar system was used by some early gasoline/kerosene tractor manufacturers (Advance-Rumely/Hart-Parr)–the exhaust gas volume vented through a cooling tower meant that the steam exhaust helped draw more air past the radiator.

Running gear

This includes the brake gear, wheel sets, axleboxes, springing and the motion that includes connecting rods and valve gear. The transmission of the power from the pistons to the rails and the behaviour of the locomotive as a vehicle, able to negotiate curves, points and irregularities in the track, is of paramount importance. Because reciprocating power has to be directly applied to the rail from 0 rpm upwards, this poses unique problems of adhesion of the driving wheels to the smooth rail surface. Adhesive weight is the portion of the locomotive's weight bearing on the driving wheels. This is made more effective if a pair of driving wheels is able to make the most of its axle load, i.e. its individual share of the adhesive weight. Locomotives with equalising beams connecting the ends of plate springs have often been deemed a complication but locomotives fitted with them have usually been less prone to loss of traction due to wheel-slip.

Locomotives with total adhesion, i.e. where all the wheels are coupled together, generally lack stability at speed. This makes desirable the inclusion of unpowered carrying wheels mounted on two-wheeled trucks or four-wheeled bogies centred by springs that help to guide the locomotive through curves. These usually take the weight of the cylinders in front or of the firebox at the rear end when the width of this exceeds that of the mainframes. For multiple coupled wheels on a rigid chassis a variety of systems for controlled side-play exist.

Railroads typically wanted a locomotive with fewer axles, to reduce the cost of maintenance. The number of axles required was dictated by the maximum axle loading of the railroad in question. A builder would typically add axles until the maximum weight on any one axle was acceptable to the railroad's maximum axle loading. A locomotive with a wheel arrangement of two lead axles, two drive axles, and one trailing axle was in actuality a high-speed machine. Two lead axles were necessary to have good tracking at high speeds. Two drive axles had a lower reciprocating mass than three, four, five or six coupled axles. They were thus able to turn very high speeds due to the lower reciprocating mass. A trailing axle was able to support a huge firebox, hence most locomotives with the wheel arrangement of 4-4-2 (American Type Atlantic) were called free steamers and were able to maintain steam pressure regardless of throttle setting.

Chassis

The chassis or locomotive frame is the principal structure onto which the boiler is mounted and which incorporates the various elements of the running gear. The boiler is rigidly mounted on a "saddle" beneath the smokebox and front of the boiler barrel, but the firebox at the rear is allowed to slide forward and back, to allow for expansion when hot.

European locomotives usually use "plate frames", where two vertical flat plates form the main chassis, with a variety of spacers and a buffer beam at each end to keep them apart. When inside cylinders are mounted between the frames, these are a single large casting that forms a major support to the frames. The axleboxes slide up and down to give some sprung suspension, against thickened webs attached to the frame, called "hornblocks".

American practice for many years was to use built-up bar frames, with the smokebox saddle/cylinder structure and drag beam integrated therein. In the 1920s, with the introduction of "superpower", the cast-steel locomotive bed became the norm, incorporating frames, spring hangers, motion brackets, smokebox saddle and cylinder blocks into a single complex, sturdy but heavy casting. André Chapelon developed a similar structure but of welded construction with around 30% saving in weight for the stillborn 2-10-4 locomotives, the construction of which was begun then abandoned in 1946.

Fuel and water

Generally, the largest locomotives are permanently coupled to a tender that carries the water and fuel. Often, locomotives working shorter distances do not have a tender and carry the fuel in a bunker, the water is carried in tanks placed next to the boiler either in two tanks alongside (side tank and pannier tank), one on top (saddle tank) or one underneath (well tank); these are called tank engines and usually have a 'T' suffix added to the Whyte notation, e.g., 0-6-0T.

The fuel used depended on what was economically available to the railway. In the UK and other parts of Europe, plentiful supplies of coal made this the obvious choice from the earliest days of the steam engine. Until 1870,  the majority of locomotives in the United States burned wood but, as the Eastern forests were cleared, coal gradually became more important. Thereafter, coal became and remained the dominant fuel worldwide until the end of general use of steam locomotives. Bagasse, a waste by-product of the refining process, was burned in sugar cane farming operations. In the US, the ready availability of oil made it a popular steam locomotive fuel after 1900 for the southwestern railroads, particularly the Southern Pacific. In Victoria, Australia after World War 2, many steam locomotives were converted to heavy oil firing. German, Russian, Australian and British railways experimented using coal dust to fire locomotives.

During World War 2, a number of Swiss steam shunting locomotives were modified to use electrically heated boilers, consuming around 480 kW of power collected from an overhead line with a pantograph. These locomotives were significantly less efficient than electric ones; they were used because Switzerland had access to plentiful Hydroelectricity, yet suffered from a shortage of coal because of the war. 

A number of tourist lines and heritage locomotives in Switzerland, Argentina and Australia have been using light diesel-type oil.

Water was supplied at stopping places and locomotive depots from a dedicated water tower connected to water cranes or gantries. In the UK, the USA and France, water troughs (US track pans) were provided on some main lines to allow locomotives to replenish their water supply without stopping, from rainwater or snowmelt that filled the trough due to inclement weather. This was achieved by using a deployable 'water scoop' fitted under the tender or the rear water tank in the case of a large tank engine; the fireman remotely lowered the scoop into the trough, the speed of the engine forced the water up into the tank, and the scoop was raised again once it was full.

Water is an essential element in the operation of a steam locomotive; because as Swengel argued:

it has the highest specific heat of any common substance; that is, more thermal energy is stored by heating water to a given temperature than would be stored by heating an equal mass of steel or copper to the same temperature. In addition, the property of vapourising (forming steam) stores additional energy without increasing the temperature... water is a very satisfactory medium for converting thermal energy of fuel into mechanical energy

Swengel went on to note that "at low temperature and relatively low boiler outputs" good water and regular boiler washout was an acceptable practise, even though such maintenance was high. As steam pressures increased, however, a problem of "foaming" or "priming" developed in the boiler, wherein dissolved solids in the water formed "tough-skinned bubbles" inside the boiler, which in turn were carried into the steam pipes and could blow off the cylinder heads. To overcome the problem, hot mineral concentrated water was deliberately wasted (blowing down) from the boiler from time to time. Higher steam pressures required more blowing down of water out of the boiler. Oxygen generated by boiling water attacks the boiler and with increased steam pressures the rate of rust (iron oxide) generated inside the boiler increases. One way to help overcome the problem was water treatment. Swengel suggested that the problems around water contributed to the interest in electrification of railways.

In the 1970s, L.D. Porta developed a sophisticated heavy duty chemical water treatment (Porta Treatment) that not only keeps the inside of the boiler clean and prevents corrosion, but modifies the foam in such a way as to form a compact "blanket" on the water surface that filters the steam as it is produced, keeping it pure and preventing carry-over into the cylinders of water and suspended abrasive matter.  

Crew

A steam locomotive is normally controlled from the boiler's backhead and the crew is usually protected from the elements by a cab. A crew of at least two people is normally required to operate a steam locomotive. One, the train driver, is responsible for controlling the locomotive's starting, stopping and speed, and the fireman is responsible maintaining the fire, regulating steam pressure, and monitoring boiler and tender water levels. Due to the historical loss of operational infrastructure and staffing, preserved steam locomotives operating on the mainline will often have a support crew travelling with the train.

Fittings and appliances

All locomotives are fitted with a variety of appliances. Some of these relate directly to the operation of the steam engine; while others are for signalling, train control or other purposes. In the United States the Federal Railroad Administration mandated the use of certain appliances over the years in response to safety concerns. The most typical appliances are as follows:

Steam pumps and injectors

Water (feedwater) must be delivered to the boiler to replace that which is exhausted as steam after delivering a working stroke to the pistons. As the boiler is under pressure during operation, feedwater must be forced into the boiler at a pressure that is greater than the steam pressure, necessitating the use of some sort of pump. Early engines used pumps driven by the motion of the pistons (axle pumps). Later steam injectors replaced the pump, while some engines use turbopumps. Standard practice evolved to use two independent systems for feeding water to the boiler. Vertical glass tubes, known as water gauges or water glasses, show the level of water in the boiler and are carefully monitored at all times while the boiler is being fired.

Boiler lagging

Large amounts of heat are wasted if a boiler is not insulated. Early locomotives used shaped wooden battens fitted lengthways along the boiler barrel and held in place by metal bands. Improved insulating methods included: applying a thick paste containing a porous mineral, such as kieselgur, or shaped blocks of insulating compound such as magnesia blocks  were attached. In the latter days of steam, "mattresses" of stitched asbestos cloth were fixed stuffed with asbestos fibre (but on separators so as not quite to touch the boiler); however in most countries, asbestos is nowadays banned for health reasons. The most common modern day material is glass wool, or wrappings of aluminium foil.

The lagging is protected by a close-fitted sheet-metal casing known as  boiler clothing or cleading.

Effective lagging is particularly important for fireless locomotives; however in recent times under the influence of L.D. Porta, "exaggerated" insulation has been practised for all types of locomotive on all surfaces liable to dissipate heat, such as cylinder ends and facings between the cylinders and the mainframes. This considerably reduces engine warmup time with marked increase in overall efficiency.

Safety valves

Early locomotives were fitted with a valve controlled by a weight suspended from the end of a lever, the steam outlet being stopped by a cone-shaped valve. As there was nothing to prevent the weighted lever from bouncing when the locomotive ran over irregularities in the track, thus wasting steam, the weight was replaced by a more stable spring-loaded column, often supplied by Salter, a well-known spring scale manufacturer. The danger of all these devices was that the driving crew could be tempted to add weight to the arm to increase pressure. Most boilers were from early times fitted with a tamper-proof "lockup" direct-loaded ball valve protected by a cowl. In the late 1850s, John Ramsbottom introduced a safety valve that became popular in Britain during the latter part of the 19th century. Not only was this valve tamper-proof, but tampering by the driver could only have the effect of easing pressure. George Richardson's safety valve was an American invention introduced in 1875 and was so designed as to release the steam only at the moment when the pressure attained the maximum permitted. This type of valve is in almost universal use at present. Britain's Great Western Railway was a notable exception to this rule retaining the direct loaded type until the end of its separate existence because it was considered that such a valve lost less pressure between opening and closing.

Pressure gauge

The earliest locomotives did not show the pressure of steam in the boiler, but it was possible to estimate this by the position of the safety valve arm which often extended onto the firebox back plate; gradations marked on the spring column gave a rough indication of the actual pressure. The promoters of the Rainhill trials urged that each contender have a proper mechanism for reading the boiler pressure and Stephenson devised a nine-foot vertical tube of mercury with a sight-glass at the top, mounted alongside the chimney, for the Rocket. The Bourdon tube gauge, in which the pressure straightens an oval-section, coiled tube of brass or bronze connected to a pointer, was introduced in 1849 and quickly gained acceptance. This is the device used today. Some locomotives have an additional pressure gauge in the steam chest. This helps the driver avoid wheel-slip at startup, by warning if the regulator opening is too great.

Spark arrestors and smokeboxes

;Spark arrestor and self-cleaning smokebox

Wood-burners emit large quantities of flying sparks which necessitate an efficient spark arresting device generally housed in the smokestack. Many types were fitted, the most common early type being the Bonnet stack that incorporated a cone-shaped deflector placed before the mouth of the chimney pipe plus a wire screen covering the wide stack exit; more efficient was the Radley and Hunter centrifugal type patented in 1850, (generally known as the diamond stack) incorporating baffles so oriented as to induce a swirl effect in the chamber that encouraged the embers to burn out and  fall to the bottom as ash. In the self-cleaning smokebox the opposite effect was achieved: by allowing the flue gasses to strike a series of deflector plates, angled in such a way that the blast was not impaired, the larger particles were broken into small pieces that would be ejected with the blast, rather than settle in the bottom of the smokebox to be removed by hand at the end of the run. As with the arrestor, a screen was incorporated to retain any large embers. 

Locomotives of the British Railways standard classes fitted with self-cleaning smokeboxes were identified by a small cast oval plate marked "S.C.", fitted at the bottom of the smokebox door. These engines required different disposal procedures and the 'S.C.' plate highlighted this need to depot staff.

Stokers

A factor that limits locomotive performance is the rate at which fuel is fed into the fire. In the early 20th century some locomotives became so large that the fireman could not shovel coal fast enough. In the United States, various steam-powered mechanical stokers became standard equipment and were adopted and used elsewhere including Australia and South Africa.

Feedwater heating

Introducing cold water into a boiler reduces power, and from the 1920s a variety of heaters were incorporated. The most common type for locomotives was the exhaust steam feedwater heater that piped some of the exhaust through small tanks mounted on top of the boiler or smokebox or into the tender tank; the warm water then had to be delivered to the boiler by a small auxiliary steam pump. The rare economiser type differed in that it extracted residual heat from the exhaust gases. An example of this is the pre-heater drum(s) found on the Franco-Crosti boiler.

The use of live steam and exhaust steam injectors also assists in the pre-heating of boiler feed water to a small degree, though there is no efficiency advantage to live steam injectors. Such pre-heating also reduces the thermal shock that a boiler might experience when cold water is introduced directly. This is further helped by the top feed where water is introduced to the highest part of the boiler and made to trickle over a series of trays. G.J. Churchward fitted this arrangement to the high end of his domeless coned boilers. Other British lines such as the LBSCR fitted a few locomotives with the top feed inside a separate dome forward of the main one.

Condensers and water re-supply

Steam locomotives consume vast quantities of water because they operate on an open cycle, expelling their steam immediately after a single use rather than recycling it in a closed loop as stationary and marine steam engines do. Water was a constant logistical problem, and for use in some desert areas condensing engines were devised. These engines had huge radiators in their tenders and instead of exhausting steam out of the funnel it was captured and passed back to the tender and condensed. The cylinder lubricating oil was removed from the exhausted steam to avoid a phenomenon known as priming, a condition caused by foaming in the boiler which would allow water to be carried into the cylinders causing damage because of its incompressibility. The most notable engines employing condensers (Class 25, the "puffers which never puff" ) worked across the Karoo desert of South Africa, from the 1950 until the 1980s.

Some British and American locomotives were equipped with scoops which collected water from "water troughs" (US: "track pans") while in motion, thus avoiding stops for water. In the U.S., small communities often did not have refilling facilities. During the early days of railroading, the crew simply stopped next to a stream and filled the tender using leather buckets. This was known as "jerking water" and led to the term "jerkwater towns" (meaning a small town, a term which today is considered derisive). In Australia and South Africa, locomotives in drier regions operated with large oversized tenders and some even had an additional water wagon, sometimes called a "canteen" or in Australia (particularly in New South Wales) a "water gin".

Steam locomotives working on underground railways (such as London's Metropolitan Railway) were fitted with condensing apparatus to prevent steam from escaping into the railway tunnels. These were still being used between King's Cross and Moorgate into the early 1960s.

Braking

Locomotives have their own braking system, independent from the rest of the train. Locomotive brakes employ large shoes which press against the driving wheel treads. With the advent of air brakes, a separate system also allowed the driver to control the brakes on all cars. These systems require steam-powered compressors, which are mounted on the side of the boiler or on the smokebox front. Almost all of these compressors were of the Westinghouse single-stage or cross-compound variety. Such systems operated in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

An alternative to the air brake is the vacuum brake, in which a steam-operated ejector is mounted on the engine instead of the air pump, to create vacuum and release the brakes. A secondary ejector or crosshead vacuum pump is used to maintain the vacuum in the system against the small leaks in the pipe connections between carriages and wagons. Vacuum systems existed on British, Indian, Western Australian and South African railway networks.

Steam locomotives are nearly always fitted with sandboxes from which sand can be delivered to the rails to improve traction and braking in wet or icy weather. On American locomotives the sandboxes, or sand domes, are usually mounted on top of the boiler. In Britain, the limited loading gauge precludes this, so the sandboxes are mounted just above, or just below, the running plate.

Lubrication

The pistons and valves on the earliest locomotives were lubricated by the enginemen dropping a lump of tallow down the blast pipe.

As speeds and distances increased, mechanisms were developed that injected thick mineral oil into the steam supply. The first, a displacement lubricator, mounted in the cab, uses a controlled stream of steam condensing into a sealed container of oil. Water from the condensed steam displaces the oil into pipes. The apparatus is usually fitted with sight-glasses to confirm the rate of supply. A later method uses a mechanical pump worked from one of the crossheads. In both cases, the supply of oil is proportional to the speed of the locomotive.

Lubricating the frame components (axle bearings, horn blocks and bogie pivots) depends on capillary action: trimmings of worsted yarn are trailed from oil reservoirs into pipes leading to the respective component. The rate of oil supplied is controlled by the size of the bundle of yarn and not the speed of the locomotive, so it is necessary to remove the trimmings (which are mounted on wire) when stationary. However, at regular stops (such as a terminating station platform) oil finding its way onto the track can still be a problem.

Crank pin and crosshead bearings carry small cup-shaped reservoirs for oil. These have feed pipes to the bearing surface that start above the normal fill level, or are kept closed by a loose-fitting pin, so that only when the locomotive is in motion does oil enter. In United Kingdom practice the cups are closed with simple corks, but these have a piece of porous cane pushed through them to admit air. It is customary for a small capsule of pungent oil (aniseed or garlic) to be incorporated in the bearing metal to warn if the lubrication fails and excess heating or wear occurs. 

Blower

When the locomotive is running under power, a draught on the fire is created by the exhaust steam directed up the chimney by the blastpipe. Without draught, the fire will quickly die down and steam pressure will fall. When the locomotive is stopped, or coasting with the regulator closed, there is no exhaust steam to create a draught, so the draught is maintained by means of the blower. This is a ring placed either around the base of the chimney, or around the blast pipe orifice, containing several small steam nozzles directed up the chimney. These nozzles are fed with steam directly from the boiler, controlled by the blower valve. When the regulator is open, the blower valve is closed; when the driver intends to close the regulator, he will first open the blower valve. It is important that the blower be opened before the regulator is closed, since without draught on the fire, there may be backdraught—air from the atmosphere blows down the chimney, causing the flow of hot gases through the boiler tubes to be reversed, with the fire itself being blown through the firehole onto the footplate, with serious consequences for the crew. The risk of backdraught is higher when the locomotive enters a tunnel because of the pressure shock. The blower is also used to create draught when steam is being raised at the start of the locomotive's duty; at any time when the driver needs to increase the draught on the fire; and to clear smoke from the driver's line of vision. 

Blowbacks were fairly common. In a 1955 report on an accident near Dunstable, the Inspector wrote, "In 1953 twenty-three cases, which were not caused by an engine defect, were reported and they resulted in 26 enginemen receiving injuries. In 1954 the number of occurrences and of injuries were the same and there was also one fatal casualty."  They remain a problem, as evidenced by the 2012 incident with BR standard class 7 70013 Oliver Cromwell.

Buffers

In British and European (except former Soviet Union countries) practice, the locomotive usually had buffers at each end to absorb compressive loads ("buffets"Oxford English Dictionary: Buff 1). The tensional load of drawing the train (draft force) is carried by the coupling system. Together these control slack between the locomotive and train, absorb minor impacts and provide a bearing point for pushing movements.

In Canadian and American practice all of the forces between the locomotive and cars are handled through the coupler — particularly with types of the Janney coupler long standard on American railroad rolling stock — and its associated draft gear, which allows some limited slack movement. Small dimples called "poling pockets" at the front and rear corners of the locomotive allowed cars to be pushed on an adjacent track using a pole braced between the locomotive and the cars.  In Britain and Europe, North American style 'buckeye' and other couplers that also handle forces between items of rolling stock have become increasingly popular.

Pilots

A pilot was usually fixed to the front end of locomotives, although in European and a few other railway systems, such as New South Wales, they were considered unnecessary. Plough-shaped, and called cow catchers, they were quite large and were designed to remove obstacles from the track such as cattle, bison, other animals or tree limbs. Though unable to "catch" stray cattle these distinctive items remained on locomotives until the end of steam. Switching engines usually replaced the pilot with small steps, known as footboards. Many systems used the pilot and other design features to produce a distinctive appearance.

Headlights

When night operations began, railway companies in some countries equipped their locomotives with lights to allow the driver to see what lay ahead of the train or to enable others to see the locomotive. Originally headlights were oil or acetylene lamps, but when electric arc lamps became available in the late 1880s, they quickly replaced the older types.

Britain did not adopt bright headlights as they would affect night-adapted vision and so could mask the low-intensity oil lamps used in the semaphore signals and at each end of trains, increasing the danger of missing signals especially on busy tracks. In any case, trains' stopping distances were normally much greater than the range of headlights, and the railways were well-signalled and fully fenced to prevent livestock and people from straying onto them. Thus low-intensity oil lamps continued to be used, positioned on the front of locomotives to indicate the class of each train. Four 'lamp irons' were provided (brackets on which to place the lamps): one below the chimney and three evenly spaced across the top of the buffer beam. The exception to this was the Southern Railway and its constituents, who added an extra lamp iron each side of the smokebox, and the arrangement of lamps (or in daylight, white circular plates) told railway staff the origin and destination of the train. (In all cases, equivalent lamp irons were also provided on the rear of the locomotive or tender for when the locomotive was running tender- or bunker-first.)

In some countries heritage steam operation continues on the national network. Some railway authorities have mandated powerful headlights on at all times, including during daylight. This was to further inform the public or track workers of any active trains.

Bells and whistles

Locomotives used bells and steam whistles from earliest days. In the United States, India and Canada, bells warned of a train in motion. In Britain, where all lines are by law fenced throughout,  bells were only a requirement on railways running on a road (i.e., not fenced off), for example a tramway along the side of the road or in a dockyard. Consequently, only a minority of locomotives in the UK carried bells. Whistles are used to signal personnel and give warnings. Depending on the terrain the locomotive was being used in the whistle could be designed for long distance warning of impending arrival, or more for localised use.

Early bells and whistles were sounded through pull-string cords and levers. Automatic bell ringers came into widespread use in the U.S. after 1910. 

Automatic control

From early in the 20th century operating companies in such countries as Germany and Britain began to fit locomotives with in-cab signalling (AWS) which automatically applied the brakes when a signal was passed at "caution". In Britain these became mandatory in 1956. In the United States, the Pennsylvania Railroad also fitted their locomotives with such devices.

Booster engines

In the United States and Australia the trailing truck was often equipped with an auxiliary steam engine which provided extra power for starting. This booster engine was set to cut out automatically at a certain speed. On the narrow gauged New Zealand railway system, six Kb 4-8-4 locomotives had boosters, the only  gauge engines in the world to have such equipment.

Variations

Numerous variations to the simple locomotive occurred as railways attempted to improve efficiency and performance.

Cylinders

Early steam locomotives had two cylinders, one either side, and this practice persisted as the simplest arrangement. The cylinders could be mounted between the main frames (known as 'inside' cylinders), or mounted outside the frames and driving wheels ('outside' cylinders). Inside cylinders are driven by cranks built into the driving axle; outside cylinders are driven by cranks on extensions to the driving axles.

Later designs employed three or four cylinders, mounted both inside and outside the frames, for a more even power cycle and greater power output.  This was at the expense of more complicated valve gear and increased maintenance requirements. In some cases the third cylinder was added 'inside' simply to allow for smaller diameter outside cylinders, and hence reduce the width of the locomotive for use on lines with a restricted loading gauge, for example the SR K1 and U1 classes.

Most British express passenger locomotives built from about 1930 to 1950 were 4-6-0 or 4-6-2 types with three or four cylinders (e.g., GWR 6000 Class, LMS Coronation Class, SR Merchant Navy Class, LNER Gresley Class A3). From 1951, all but one of the 999 new British Rail standard class steam locomotives of all types from express passenger and heavy freight to smaller mixed traffic tank locomotives used 2-cylinder configurations for easier maintenance.

Valve gear

Numerous technological advances improved the steam engine. Early locomotives used simple valve gear that gave full power in either forward or reverse. Soon Stephenson valve gear allowed the driver to control cut-off; this was largely superseded by Walschaerts valve gear and similar patterns. Early locomotive designs using slide valves and outside admission were relatively easy to construct, but inefficient and prone to wear. Eventually, slide valves were superseded by inside admission piston valves, though there were attempts to apply poppet valves (common by then on stationary engines) in the 20th century. Stephenson valve gear was generally placed within the frame and was difficult to access for maintenance; later patterns applied outside the frame, were readily visible and maintained.

Compounding

From 1876, compound locomotives came on the scene, which expanded the steam twice, or more, through separate cylinders, reducing thermal losses caused by cylinder cooling. There were many compound locomotives especially where long periods of continuous efforts were needed. Compounding was an essential ingredient of the quantum leap in power achieved by André Chapelon's rebuilds from 1929. A common application was to articulated locomotives, the most common being that of Anatole Mallet in which the high-pressure stage was attached directly to the boiler frame; in front of this was pivoted a low-pressure engine on its own frame, taking the exhaust from the rear engine.

Articulated locomotives

More powerful locomotives also tend to be longer, but long, rigid-framed designs are impractical for the tight curves frequently found on narrow gauge railways. Various designs of articulated locomotives were developed to overcome this problem. The Mallet and the Garratt were the two most popular, both using a single boiler and two engines (sets of cylinders and driving wheels)—the Garratt having two power bogies, the Mallet having one. There were also a few examples of "triplex" locomotives that had a third engine under the tender. Both the front and tender engines were low-pressure compounded, though they could be operated simple (high-pressure) for starting off. Other, less common, variations included the Fairlie locomotive, which had two boilers back-to-back on a common frame, with two separate power bogies.

Duplex types

Duplex locomotives with two engines in one rigid frame were also tried, but were not notably successful. For example, the 4-4-4-4 Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 class, designed for very fast running, suffered recurring and ultimately unfixable slippage problems throughout their careers. 

Geared locomotives

For uses where a high starting torque and low speed were required, the conventional direct drive approach was inadequate. "Geared" steam locomotives, such as the Shay, the Climax and the Heisler, were developed to meet this need on industrial, logging, mine and quarry railways. The common feature of these three types was the provision of reduction gearing and a drive shaft between the crankshaft and the driving axles. This arrangement allowed the engine to run at a much higher speed than the driving wheels, compared to the conventional design, where the ratio is 1:1.

Cab forward

In the United States on the Southern Pacific Railroad a series of cab forward locomotives had the cab and the firebox at the front of the locomotive and the tender behind the smokebox, so that the engine appeared to run backwards. This was only possible by using oil-firing. Southern Pacific selected this design to provide air free of smoke for the engine driver to breathe as they went through the SP's numerous mountain tunnels and snow sheds. Another variation was the Camelback locomotive with the cab halfway along the boiler. In England, Oliver Bulleid developed the SR Leader class locomotive during the nationalisation process in the late 1940s. The locomotive was heavily tested but several design faults (like coal firing and sleeve valves) meant this locomotive and the other part-built locomotives were scrapped. The cab-forward design was taken by Bulleid to Ireland when he moved to after nationalisation where he developed the 'turfburner'. This locomotive was more successful but was scrapped with the dieselisation of the Irish railways.

The only preserved cab forward locomotive is Southern Pacific 4294 in Sacramento, California, US.

In France, the three Heilmann locomotives were a cab forward design.

Steam turbines

Steam turbines were one of the experiments in improving the operation and efficiency of steam locomotives. Experiments with steam turbines using direct-drive and electrical transmissions, in different countries, proved mostly unsuccessful. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway also built Turbomotive, a largely successful attempt to prove the efficiency of steam turbines. Had it not been for the outbreak of World War II, more may have been built. The Turbomotive ran from 1935 to 1949, when it was rebuilt into a conventional locomotive because replacement of many parts was required, an uneconomical proposition for a 'one-off' locomotive. In the United States the Union Pacific, Chesapeake and Ohio and Norfolk & Western (N&W) railways all built turbine-electric locomotives. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) also built turbine locos but with a direct-drive gearbox. However, all designs failed due to dust, vibration, design flaws or inefficiency at lower speeds. The last one in service was the N&W's, retired in January 1958. The only truly successful design was the TGOJ MT3, used for hauling iron ore from Grängesberg to the ports of Oxelösund. Technically well-working, only three were built. Two of them are saved in working order at museums in Sweden.

Hybrid power

Mixed power locomotives, utilising steam and diesel propulsion, have been produced in Russia, Britain and Italy.

Under severely unusual conditions (lack of coal, plenty of hydroelectricity) some locomotives in Switzerland were modified to use electricity to heat the boiler, making them electric-steam locomotives. 

Fireless locomotive

In a fireless locomotive the boiler is replaced by a steam accumulator which is charged with steam (actually water at high temperature well above the boiling point, 212 °F/100 °C) from a stationary boiler. Fireless locomotives were used where there was a high fire risk (e.g., in oil refineries), where cleanliness was important (e.g., in food factories) or where steam is readily available such as in processes where steam is either a by-product or is cheaply available e.g. paper mills and power stations. The water vessel ("boiler") is heavily insulated as is a fired locomotive. Until all the water has boiled away, the steam pressure does not drop except as the temperature drops.
Another class of fireless locomotive is a compressed air locomotive.

Steam-electric locomotive

A steam-electric locomotive is similar in concept to a diesel-electric locomotive, except that a steam engine instead of a diesel engine is used to drive a generator. Three such locomotives were built by the French engineer  in the 1890s.

Manufacture

Most manufactured classes

The largest single class of steam locomotive in the world is the 0-10-0 Russian locomotive class E steam locomotive with around 11,000 manufactured both in Russia and other countries such as Czechoslovakia, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Poland. The Russian locomotive class O numbered 9,129 locomotives built between 1890 and 1928. The German DRB Class 52 2-10-0 Kriegslok which consisted of approximate 7,000 units.
The British GWR 5700 class numbered about 863 units. The DX class of the London and North Western Railway numbered 943 units, including 86 engines built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. 

United Kingdom

Before the 1923 Grouping Act, the picture in the UK was mixed. The larger railway companies built locomotives in their own workshops but the smaller ones and industrial concerns ordered them from outside builders. A large market for outside builders was abroad because of the home-build policy exercised by the main railway companies. An example of a pre grouping works was the one at Melton Constable that maintained and built some of the locomotives for the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. Other works included one at Boston (an early GNR building) and Horwich works.

Between 1923 and 1947, the "Big Four" railway companies (the Great Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, and the Southern Railway) all built most of their own locomotives. Generally speaking, they only bought locomotives from outside builders when their own works were fully occupied (or as a result of government-mandated standardisation during wartime). 

From 1948, British Railways allowed the former "Big Four" companies (now designated as "Regions") to continue to build their own designs, but also created a range of standard locomotives which supposedly combined the best features from each region. Although a policy of "dieselisation" was adopted in 1955, BR continued to build new steam locomotives until 1960 (the last being named Evening Star).

Some independent manufacturers produced steam locomotives for a few more years, the last British-built industrial steam locomotive being constructed by Hunslet in 1971. Since then, a few specialised manufacturers have continued to produce small locomotives for narrow gauge and miniature railways, but as the prime market for these is the tourist and heritage railway sector, the demand for such locomotives is limited. In November 2008, a new build main line steam locomotive, 60163 Tornado, was tested on UK mainlines for eventual charter and tour use.

Australia

In Australia, Clyde Engineering of Sydney and also the Eveleigh Workshops built steam locomotives for the New South Wales Government Railways. These include the C38 class 4-6-2; the first five were built at Clyde with streamlining, the other 25 locomotives were built at Eveleigh (13) in Sydney, and Cardiff Workshops (12) near Newcastle. In Queensland, steam locomotives were locally constructed by Walkers. Similarly the South Australian state government railways also manufactured steam locomotives locally at Islington Railway Workshops in Adelaide. The Victorian Railways constructed most of their locomotives at their Newport Workshops and Bendigo while in the early days locomotives were built at the Phoenix Foundry in Ballarat. Locomotives constructed at the Newport shops ranged from the nA class 2-6-2T built for the narrow gauge, up to the H class 4-8-4, the largest conventional locomotive ever to operate in Australia, which weighed 260 tons. However, the title of largest locomotive in Australia goes to the 263-ton NSWGR AD60 class 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt,  which were built by Beyer-Peacock in the United Kingdom. Most steam locomotives used in Western Australia were built in the United Kingdom, though some examples were designed and built locally at the Western Australian Government Railways' Midland Railway Workshops. The 10 WAGR S class locomotives (introduced in 1943) were the only class of steam locomotive to be wholly conceived, designed and built in Western Australia,  while the Midland workshops notably participated in the Australia-wide construction program of Australian Standard Garratts - these wartime locomotives were built at Midland in Western Australia, Clyde Engineering in New South Wales, Newport in Victoria and Islington in South Australia and saw at least some service in all Australian states.

Sweden

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, most Swedish steam locomotives were manufactured in Britain. But later on, most steam locomotives were built by local factories including NOHAB in Trollhättan and ASJ in Falun. One of the most successful types was the class "B" (4-6-0), inspired by the Prussian class P8. Many of the Swedish steam locomotives were preserved during the Cold War in case of war. During the 1990s, these steam locomotives were sold to non-profit associations or abroad, which is why the Swedish class B, class S (2-6-4) and class E2 (2-8-0) locomotives can now be seen in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada.

United States

Railroad locomotive engines in the United States have nearly always been built in and for United States railroads with very few imports, except in the earliest days. This is because of the basic differences of markets in the United States which initially had many small markets located large distances apart, very different from Europe's much higher density markets. Locomotives that were cheap and rugged and could go over large distances over cheaply built and maintained tracks were the early requirements. Once the manufacture of engines was established on a wide scale there was very little advantage to buying an engine somewhere else that would have to be customized anyway to fit the local requirements and track conditions. Improvements in engine design of both European and U.S. origin could be and were incorporated by manufacturers when they could be justified in a generally very conservative and slow-changing market. With the notable exception of the USRA standard locomotives, set during World War I, in the United States, steam locomotive manufacture was always semi-customised. Railroads ordered locomotives tailored to their specific requirements, though basic design features were always present. Railroads developed some specific characteristics; for example, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Great Northern had a preference for the Belpaire firebox,.  In the United States, large-scale manufacturers constructed locomotives for nearly all rail companies, although nearly all major railroads had shops capable of heavy repairs and some railroads (for example, the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had two erecting shops) constructed complete locomotives in their own shops. Companies manufacturing locomotives in the US included Baldwin Locomotive Works, American Locomotive Company (Alco), and Lima Locomotive Works. Altogether, between 1830 and 1950, over 160,000 steam locomotives were built in the United States. 

Steam locomotives required regular, and compared to a diesel-electric engine, frequent service and overhaul (often at government-regulated intervals in Europe and the U.S.) Many alterations and upgrades regularly occurred during overhauls. New appliances were added, unsatisfactory features removed, cylinders improved or replaced. Almost any part of the locomotive, including boilers, was replaced or upgraded. When the service or upgrades got too expensive the locomotive was traded off or retired. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad two 2-10-2 locomotives were dismantled; the boilers were placed onto two new Class T 4-8-2 locomotives and the residue wheel machinery made a pair of Class U 0-10-0 switchers with new boilers. Union Pacific's fleet of 3-cylinder 4-10-2 engines were converted into two-cylinder engines in 1942, because of high maintenance problems.

Categorisation

Steam locomotives are categorised by their wheel arrangement. The two dominant systems for this are the Whyte notation and UIC classification.

The Whyte notation, used in most English speaking  and Commonwealth countries, represents each set of wheels with a number. These numbers typically represented the number of un-powered leading wheels, followed by the number of driving wheels (sometimes in several groups), followed by the number of un-powered trailing wheels. For example, a yard engine with only 4 drive wheels would be shown as a "0-4-0" wheel arrangement. A locomotive with a 4-wheel leading truck, followed by 6 drive wheels, and a 2-wheel trailing truck, would be classed as a "4-6-2". Different arrangements were given names which usually reflect the first usage of the arrangement; for instance the "Santa Fe" type (2-10-2) is so called because the first examples were built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. These names were informally given and varied according to region and even politics.

The UIC classification is used mostly in European countries apart from the United Kingdom. It designates consecutive pairs of wheels (informally "axles") with a number for non-driving wheels and a capital letter for driving wheels (A1, B
2, etc.) So a Whyte 4-6-2 designation would be an equivalent to a 2-C-1 UIC designation.

On many railroads, locomotives were organised into classes. These broadly represented locomotives which could be substituted for each other in service, but most commonly a class represented a single design. As a rule classes were assigned some sort of code, generally based on the wheel arrangement. Classes also commonly acquired nicknames, such as 'Pugs', representing notable (and sometimes uncomplimentary) features of the locomotives.  

Performance

Measurement

In the steam locomotive era, two measures of locomotive performance were generally applied. At first, locomotives were rated by tractive effort. This can be roughly calculated by multiplying the total piston area by 85% of the boiler pressure (a rule of thumb reflecting the slightly lower pressure in the steam chest above the cylinder) and dividing by the ratio of the driver diameter over the piston stroke. However, the precise formula is:

Tractive Effort is defined as the average force developed during one revolution of the driving wheels at the rail head. This is expressed as:

t = \frac {cPd^2s} {D}.

where d is bore of cylinder (diameter) in inches,
s is cylinder stroke, in inches,
P is boiler pressure in pound per square inch,
D is driving wheel diameter in inches,
c is a factor that depends on the effective cut-off.  In the U.S. "c" is usually set at 0.85, but lower on engines that have maximum cutoff limited to 50–75%.

It is critical to appreciate the use of the term 'average', as not all effort is constant during the one revolution of the drivers for at some points of the cycle only one piston is exerting turning moment and at other points both pistons are working. Not all boilers deliver full power at starting and also the tractive effort decreases as the rotating speed increases.

Tractive effort is a measure of the heaviest load a locomotive can start or haul at very low speed over the ruling grade in a given territory.

However, as the pressure grew to run faster goods and heavier passenger trains, tractive effort was seen to be an inadequate measure of performance because it did not take into account speed.

Therefore, in the 20th century, locomotives began to be rated by power output. A variety of calculations and formulas were applied, but in general railways used dynamometer cars to measure tractive force at speed in actual road testing.

British railway companies have been reluctant to disclose figures for drawbar horsepower and have usually relied on continuous tractive effort instead.

Relation to wheel arrangement

Whyte classification is connected to locomotive performance, but through a somewhat circuitous path. Given adequate proportions of the rest of the locomotive, power output is determined by the size of the fire, and for a bituminous coal-fuelled locomotive, this is determined by the grate area. Modern non-compound locomotives are typically able to produce about 40 drawbar horsepower per square foot of grate. Tractive force, as noted earlier, is largely determined by the boiler pressure, the cylinder proportions, and the size of the driving wheels. However, it is also limited by the weight on the driving wheels (termed "adhesive weight"), which needs to be at least four times the tractive effort.

The weight of the locomotive is roughly proportional to the power output; the number of axles required is determined by this weight divided by the axleload limit for the trackage where the locomotive is to be used. The number of driving wheels is derived from the adhesive weight in the same manner, leaving the remaining axles to be accounted for by the leading and trailing bogies. Passenger locomotives conventionally had two-axle leading bogies for better guidance at speed; on the other hand, the vast increase in the size of the grate and firebox in the 20th century meant that a trailing bogie was called upon to provide support. On the European continent, some use was made of several variants of the Bissel bogie in which the swivelling movement of a single axle truck controls the lateral displacement of the front driving axle (and in one case the second axle too). This was mostly applied to 8-coupled express and mixed traffic locomotives and considerably improved their ability to negotiate curves whilst restricting overall locomotive wheelbase and maximising adhesion weight.

As a rule, "shunting engines" (US "switching engines") omitted leading and trailing bogies, both to maximise tractive effort available and to reduce wheelbase. Speed was unimportant; making the smallest engine (and therefore smallest fuel consumption) for the tractive effort paramount. Driving wheels were small and usually supported the firebox as well as the main section of the boiler. Banking engines (US "helper engines") tended to follow the principles of shunting engines, except that the wheelbase limitation did not apply, so banking engines tended to have more driving wheels. In the U.S., this process eventually resulted in the Mallet type with its many driven wheels, and these tended to acquire leading and then trailing bogies as guidance of the engine became more of an issue.

As locomotive types began to diverge in the late 19th century, freight engine designs at first emphasised tractive effort, whereas those for passenger engines emphasised speed. Over time, freight locomotive size increased, and the overall number of axles increased accordingly; the leading bogie was usually a single axle, but a trailing truck was added to larger locomotives to support a larger firebox that could no longer fit between or above the driving wheels. Passenger locomotives had leading bogies with two axles, fewer driving axles, and very large driving wheels in order to limit the speed at which the reciprocating parts had to move.

In the 1920s the focus in the United States turned to horsepower, epitomised by the "super power" concept promoted by the Lima Locomotive Works, although tractive effort was still the prime consideration after World War I to the end of steam. Goods trains were to run faster; passenger locomotives needed to pull heavier loads at speed. In essence, the size of grate and firebox increased without changes to the remainder of the locomotive, requiring the addition of a second axle to the trailing truck. Freight 2-8-2s became 2-8-4s while 2-10-2s became 2-10-4s. Similarly, passenger 4-6-2s became 4-6-4s. In the United States this led to a convergence on the dual-purpose 4-8-4 and the 4-6-6-4 articulated configuration, which was used for both freight and passenger service. Mallet locomotives went through a similar transformation and evolved from bank engines into huge mainline locomotives with gargantuan fireboxes; their driving wheels being increased in size in order to allow faster running.

The end of steam in general use

The introduction of electric locomotives at the turn of the 20th century and later diesel-electric locomotives spelled the beginning of the end for steam locomotives, although that end was long in coming.  As diesel power, more especially with electric transmission, became more reliable in the 1930s it gained a foothold in North America. The full changeover took place there during the 1950s. In continental Europe large-scale electrification had displaced steam power by the 1970s. Steam had in its favour familiar technology, adapted well to local facilities. It also consumed a wide variety of fuels; this led to its continued use in many countries to the end of the 20th century.

Steam engines have considerably less thermal efficiency than modern diesels, requiring constant maintenance and labour to keep them operational.  Water is required at many points throughout a rail network and becomes a major problem in desert areas, as are found in some regions within the United States, Australia and South Africa. In places where water is available, it may be hard, which can cause "scale", composed mainly of calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, and calcium sulfate.  Calcium and magnesium carbonates tend to be deposited as off-white solids on the inside surfaces of pipes and heat exchangers. This precipitation (formation of an insoluble solid) is principally caused by thermal decomposition of bicarbonate ions but also happens in cases where the carbonate ion is at saturation concentration.  The resulting build-up of scale restricts the flow of water in pipes. In boilers, the deposits impair the flow of heat into water, reducing the heating efficiency and allowing the metal boiler components to overheat.

The reciprocating mechanism on the driving wheels of a two-cylinder single expansion steam locomotive tended to pound the rails (see "hammer blow"), thus requiring more maintenance. Raising steam from coal took a matter of hours which brought serious pollution problems. Coal-burning locomotives required fire cleaning and ash removal between turns of duty.  Diesel or electric locomotives, by comparison, drew benefit from new custom built servicing facilities. Finally, the smoke from steam locomotives was deemed objectionable; in fact, the first electric and diesel locomotives were developed to meet smoke abatement requirements, although this did not take into account the high level of less visible pollution in diesel exhaust smoke, especially when idling. It should also be remembered that the power for electric trains is, for the most part in some countries, derived from steam generated in a power station—often fueled with coal, though with significantly higher efficiency.

United States decline

Diesel locomotives began to appear in mainline service in the United States in the mid-1930s.  The diesel reduced maintenance costs dramatically, while increasing locomotive availability. On the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad the new units delivered over 350000 mi a year, compared with about 120,000–150,000 for a mainline steam locomotive. World War II delayed dieselisation in the U.S. The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad was the first large mainline railroad to convert to all Diesel locomotives in 1949 and Life magazine ran an article Dec 5, 1949 subtitled The GM&O puts all its steam engines to torch, becomes first major U.S. railroad to dieselize 100%.  The pace picked up in the 1950s.  The last steam locomotive manufactured for general service was a Norfolk and Western 0-8-0, built in its Roanoke shops in December, 1953.  1960 is normally considered the last year for regular Class 1 main line standard gauge steam operations in the United States, with operations on the Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central, Norfolk and Western, and Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroads,  as well as Canadian Pacific operations in the state of Maine. 

However, the Grand Trunk Western used some steam on regular passenger trains into 1961, the last occurring unannounced on trains 56 and 21 in the Detroit area on September 20, 1961 with 4-8-4 6323, one day before its flue time expired.  The last standard gauge regular freight service steam by a class 1 railroad was on the isolated Leadville branch of the Colorado and Southern (Burlington Lines) October 11, 1962 with 2-8-0 641.  Narrow gauge steam was used for freight service by the Denver and Rio Grande Western on the 250 mi run from Alamosa, Colorado to Farmington, New Mexico via Durango until service ceased December 5, 1968. The Union Pacific is the only Class I railroad in the U.S. to have never completely dieselized, at least nominally. It has always had at least one operational steam locomotive, Union Pacific 844, on its roster.  Some U.S. shortlines continued steam operations into the 1960s, and the Northwestern Steel and Wire mill in Sterling, Illinois, continued to operate steam locomotives until December 1980. Two surviving sections of the Denver and Rio Grande Western's Alamosa to Durango narrow gauge line mentioned above, now operating separately as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, continue to use steam locomotives and operate as tourist railroads.

By the end of the 20th century, about 1,800 of the over 160,000 steam locomotives built in the United States between 1830 and 1950 still existed, with only a small fraction of that number in operating condition. 

British decline

Trials of diesel locomotives and railcars began in Britain in the 1930s but made only limited progress. One problem was that British diesel locomotives were often seriously under-powered, compared with the steam locomotives against which they were competing.

After 1945, problems associated with post-war reconstruction and the availability of cheap domestic-produced coal kept steam in widespread use throughout the two following decades. However the ready availability of cheap oil led to new dieselisation programmes from 1955 and these began to take full effect from around 1962. Towards the end of the steam era, steam motive power was allowed to fall into a dire state of repair. The last steam-hauled service trains on the British Railways network ran in 1968, but the use of steam locomotives in British industry continued into the 1980s. In June 1975 there were still 41 locations where steam was in regular use, and many more where engines were held in reserve in case of diesel failures. Gradually, the decline of the ironstone quarries, steel, coal mining and shipbuilding industries—and the plentiful supply of redundant British Rail diesel shunters as replacements—led to the disappearance of steam power for commercial uses.

Several hundred rebuilt and preserved steam locomotives are still used on preserved volunteer-run 'heritage' railway lines in the UK. A proportion of the locomotives are regularly used on the national rail network by private operators where they run special excursions and touring trains. A new steam locomotive, the LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado has been built (began service in 2009), and more are in the planning stage.

Russia

 In the USSR, although the first mainline diesel-electric locomotive was built in USSR in 1924, the last steam locomotive (model П36, serial number 251) was built in 1956; it is now in the Museum of Railway Machinery at former Warsaw Rail Terminal, Saint Petersburg. In the European part of the USSR, almost all steam locomotives were replaced by diesel and electric locomotives in the 1960s; in Siberia and Central Asia, state records verify that L-class 2-10-0s, and LV-class 2-10-2s were not retired until 1985. Until 1994, Russia had at least 1,000 steam locomotives stored in operable condition in case of "national emergencies".   

South Africa

In South Africa, the last new locomotives purchased were 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratts from Hunslet Taylor for the 2 ft gauge lines in 1968. 
Another class 25NC locomotive, No. 3454, nicknamed the "Blue Devil" because of its colour scheme, received modifications including a most obvious set of double side-by-side exhaust stacks. In southern Natal, two former South African Railway  gauge NGG16 Garratts operating on the privatised Port Shepstone and Alfred County Railway (ACR) received some L. D. Porta modifications in 1990 becoming a new NGG16A class.VidRail Productions, South African end of Steam: Orange Free State, Part 4, Vols. 3, 4 and 5 and Natal, Part 3, Vol. 1, in The Best of Southern African Steam, 1983–1990

By 1994 almost all commercial steam locomotives were put out of service, although many of them are preserved in museums or at railway stations for public viewing. Today only a few privately owned steam locomotives are still operating in South Africa, namely the ones being used by the 5-star luxury train Rovos Rail, and the tourist trains Outeniqua Tjoe Choo, Apple Express and (until 2008) Banana Express.

China

China continued to build mainline steam locomotives until late in the century, even building a few examples for American tourist operations. China was the last main-line user of steam locomotives, such use ending officially on the Ji-Tong line at the end of 2005. Some steam locomotives are still (2016) in use in industrial operations in China. Some coal and other mineral operations maintain an active roster of China Railways JS (建设, "Jiànshè") or China Railways SY (上游, "Shàngyóu") steam locomotives bought secondhand from China Railway. The last steam locomotive built in China was 2-8-2 SY 1772, finished in 1999. As of 2011, at least six Chinese steam locomotives exist in the United States – 3 QJ's bought by Rail Development Corporation (Nos. 6988 and 7081 for IAIS and No. 7040 for R.J. Corman), a JS bought by the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad, and two SYs. No. 142 (ex-#1647) is owned by the NYSW for tourist operations, re-painted and modified to represent a 1920s era U.S. locomotive; No. 58 is operated by the Valley Railroad and modified to represent New Haven Railroad number 3025.

Japan

Owing to the destruction of most of the nation's infrastructure during the Second World War and the cost of electrification and dieselisation, new steam locomotives were built in Japan until 1960. The number of Japanese steam locomotives reached a peak of 5,958 in 1946. 

With the booming post-war Japanese economy, steam locomotives were gradually withdrawn from main line service beginning in the early 1960s, and were replaced with diesel and electric locomotives. They were relegated to branch line and sub-main line services for several more years until the late 1960s, when electrification/dieselisation began in earnest. From 1970 onwards, steam locomotion was abolished on the JNR:
* Shikoku (April 1970)
* Kanto area (Tokyo) (October 1970),
* Kinki (Osaka, Kyoto area) (September 1973)
* Chubu (Nagoya, Nagano area) (April 1974),
* Tohoku (November 1974),
* Chugoku (Yamaguchi area) (December 1974)
* Kyushu (January 1975)
* Hokkaido (March 1976)

The last steam passenger train, pulled by a C57-class locomotive built in 1940, departed from Muroran railway station to Iwamizawa on 14 December 1975. It was then officially retired from service, dismantled and sent to the Tokyo Transportation Museum, where it was officially inaugurated as an exhibit on 14 May 1976. It was moved to the Saitama Railway Museum in early 2007. The last Japanese main line steam train, D51-241, a D51-class locomotive built in 1939, left Yubari railway station on 24 December 1975. That same day, all steam main line service ended. D51-241 was retired on 10 March 1976, and destroyed in a depot fire a month later, though a few parts were preserved.

On 2 March 1976, the final steam locomotive still operating on the JNR, 9600-39679, a 9600-class locomotive built in 1920, made its final journey from Oiwake railway station, ending 104 years of steam locomotion in Japan. 

South Korea

The first steam locomotive in South Korea (Korea at the time) was the Moga (Mogul), which first ran on 9 September 1899 (Gyeong-In Line) 2-6-0, followed by Sata, Pureo, Ame, Sig, Mika (USRA Heavy Mikado), Pasi (USRA Light Pacific), Hyeogi (Narrow gauge), Class 901, Mateo, Sori and Tou. Used until 1967, the Moga is now in the Railroad Museum.

Germany

After the Second World War, Germany was divided into the Federal Republic of Germany, with the Deutsche Bundesbahn (founded in 1949) as the new state-owned railway, and the German Democratic Republic, where railway service continued under the old pre-war name Deutsche Reichsbahn.

For a short period after the war, both Bundesbahn (DB) and Reichsbahn (DR) still placed orders for new steam locomotives. They needed to renew the rolling stock, mostly with steam locomotives designed for accelerated passenger trains. Many of the existing predecessors of those types of steam locomotives in Germany had been lost in the battles or simply reached the end of their lifetime, e.g. the famous Prussian P 8. There was no need for new freight train engines, however, because thousands of the Classes 50 and 52 had been built during the Second World War.

Because the concept of the so-called "Einheitslokomotiven", the still widely used standard locomotives from the 1920s and 1930s, was already outdated in the pre-war era, a whole new design for the new steam locomotives was developed by DB and DR, called "Neubaudampflokomotiven" (new build steam locomotives). In particular the steam locomotives made by the DB in West Germany, under the guidance of Friedrich Witte, represented the latest evolution in steam locomotive construction, including all-welded frames, high performance boilers and roller bearings on all moving parts. But although these new DB classes (10, 23, 65, 66, 82) were said to be among the finest and best performing German steam locomotives ever built, none of those machines exceeded 25 years in service. The last one, 23 105 (still preserved), went into service in 1959.

The DR in East Germany placed a similar procurement plan, including engines for narrow gauge. The DR-Neubaudampflokomotiven were the classes 23.10, 25.10, 50.40, 65.10, 83.10, 99.23-24 and 99.77-79. The purchase of new-build steam locomotives by the DR ended in 1960 with 50 4088, the last standard gauge steam locomotive built in Germany to date. No locomotive of the classes 25.10 and 83.10 was in service for more than 17 years. The last engines of the classes 23.10, 65.10 and 50.40 were retired in the late 1970s, various units become older than 25 years. Some of the narrow gauge locomotives are still in service for tourism purposes. Later, during the early 1960s, the DR found a way to reconstruct older locomotives to conform with contemporary requirements. The high-speed locomotive 18 201 and the class 01.5 are some remarkable designs from that programme.

About 1960, the Bundesbahn in West Germany decided to phase out all steam-hauled trains in ten years, but still had about 5,000 of them in running condition. Even though DB were very assertive in continuing the electrification on the main lines (in 1963 they reached 5000 km of electrified routes) and dieselisation with new developed stock, they did not reach that goal. But the steam services declined more and more. In 1972, the Hamburg and Frankfurt departments of the DB rail networks became the first ones that no longer operated steam locomotives in their areas. The remaining steam locomotives began to gather in rail yards like Rheine, Tübingen, Hof, Saarbrücken, Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck and some others, which soon became well known to rail enthusiasts.

In 1975, DB's last steam express train took its final run on the Emsland-Line from Rheine to Norddeich in the upper north of Germany. Two years later, on 26 October 1977, the heavy freight engine 44 903 (computer-based new number 043 903-4) made her final run at the same railway yard. After this date, no regular steam service took place on the network of the DB until their privatisation in 1994.

In East Germany, the Reichsbahn had to continue steam operation until 1988 on standard gauge because of many economic and political reasons, even though there had been strong efforts to phase out steam since the 1970s. The last locomotives in service where of the classes 50.35 and 52.80, which hauled goods trains on rural main and branch lines. Unlike with the DB, up to the very end there was never such a concentration of steam locomotives in just a few yards in the East, because throughout the DR network the infrastructure for steam locomotives remained intact until the end of the GDR in 1990. This was also the reason that there was never a real strict "final cut" at steam operations, so the DR used steam locomotives as well from time to time until they merged with the DB in 1994.

But on their narrow-gauge lines, steam locomotives continued to be used on a daily year-round basis, mainly for tourist reasons. The largest of these is the Harzer Schmalspurbahn (Harz Narrow Gauge Railways) network in the Harz Mountains, but the lines in Saxony and on the coast of the Baltic Sea are also notable. Even though every former DR narrow gauge railway has undergone privatisation, the daily steam operations are still commonplace there.

India

New steam locomotives were built in India through the early 1970s; the last broad-gauge steam locomotive to be manufactured, Last Star, a WG-class locomotive (#10560) was built in June 1970, followed by the last meter-gauge locomotive in February 1972.  Steam locomotion continued to dominate on the Indian Railways through the early 1980s; in 1980-81, there were 7,469 steam locomotives in regular service, as opposed to 2,403 diesels and 1,036 electrics.  Subsequently, steam locomotion was gradually phased out from regular service, beginning with the Southern Railway Zone in 1985; the number of diesel and electric locomotives in regular service surpassed the number of steam locomotives in service from 1987-88.  All regular broad-gauge steam service in India ended in 1995, with the final run made from Jalandhar to Ferozepur on 6 December.  Two broad-gauge locomotives continued in limited service until they were retired in 2000. The last meter-gauge and narrow-gauge steam locomotives in regular service were retired in 2000. As they were withdrawn from service, most steam locomotives were scrapped, though several have been preserved; as of 2014, there are 43 steam locomotives still in service on tourist and heritage lines.

In 2002, a steam locomotive celebration run was organised between Thane and Mumbai to commemorate the 150th year of railways in India. A few steam yards are also reserved for steam engines, and steam trains are still going strong on the few meter gauge and narrow gauge lines that are left (30 and 13, respectively, as of 2013-14). 

Other countries

In other countries, the dates for conversion from steam varied.

On the contiguous North American standard gauge network including Canada, Mexico and the United States, standard gauge main line steam with 1946-built 4-8-4s handling freight between Mexico City and Irapuato lasted until 1968 (Eagleson, Ziel, 1973 The Twilight of World Steam). The Mexican Pacific, a standard gauge short line in the state of Sinaloa, was reported in August 1987 (World Steam Magazine #101) to still be using steam, with a roster of one 4-6-0, two 2-6-2s and one 2-8-2.

By March 1973 in Australia, steam had vanished in all states. Diesel locomotives were more efficient and the demand for manual labour for service and repairs was less than steam. Cheap oil had cost advantages over coal.

Steam traction in New Zealand ended in 1968 in the North Island when AB 832 (now stored at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, Auckland, but owned by MOTAT) hauled a Farmer's 'Santa Special' from Frankton Junction to Claudelands. Due to the inability of the new DJ class diesel locomotives to provide in-train steam heating, steam operations continued using the J and JA class 4-8-2 tender locomotives on the overnight Christchurch-Invercargill expresses, Trains 189/190, until 1971. By this time sufficient FS steam-heating vans were available, thus allowing the last steam locomotives to be withdrawn. Two AB class 4-6-2 tender locomotives, AB 778 and AB 795, were retained at Lyttelton to steam-heat the coaches for the Boat Trains between Christchurch and Lyttelton until they were restored for the Kingston Flyer tourist train in 1972.

In Finland, the first diesels were introduced in the mid-1950s and they superseded steam locomotives during the early 1960s. The State Railways (VR) operated steam locomotives until 1975.

In the Netherlands, the first electric trains made their appearance in 1908 from Rotterdam to The Hague. The first diesels were introduced in 1934. As electric and diesel trains performed so well, the decline of steam started just after World War II and in 1958 steam traction ended.

In Poland, on non-electrified tracks steam locomotives were superseded almost entirely by diesels by the 1990s. A few steam locomotives, however, operated in regular scheduled service from Wolsztyn until March 31, 2014. They are maintained operational as a means of preserving railway heritage and as a tourist attraction. Apart from that, numerous railway museums and heritage railways (mostly narrow gauge) own steam locomotives in working condition.

In France, steam locomotives have not been used for commercial services since 24 September 1975. 

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, some steam locomotives are still used for industrial purposes, for example at coal mineyard in Banovići  and ArcelorMittal factory in Zenica. 

In Sri Lanka, one steam locomotive is maintained for private service to power the Viceroy Special.

Indonesia also has experience with steam locomotives since 1876. The last batch of E10 0-10-0 rack tank locomotives were purchased as late as 1967 (Kautzor, 2010) from Nippon Sharyo. The last locomotives—the D 52 class, manufactured by the German firm Krupp in 1954—operated until 1994, when they were replaced by diesel locomotives. Indonesia also purchased the last batch of mallet locomotives from Nippon Sharyo, to be used in the Aceh Railway. In Sumatra Barat (West Sumatra) and Ambarawa one can find rack railways (with a maximum gradient of 6% in mountainous areas), now operated for tourism only. There are two museums, Taman Mini and Ambarawa (Ambarawa Railway Museum). 

Pakistan still has a regular steam locomotive service; a line operates in the North-West Frontier Province and Sindh. It has been preserved as a "nostalgia" service for tourism in exotic locales;  indeed, it is specifically advertised as being for "steam buffs".

In Thailand all steam locomotives were withdrawn from service between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most were scrapped in 1980. However, there are about 20 to 30 locomotives preserved for exhibit in important or end-of-the-line stations throughout the country. During the late 1980s, six locomotives were restored to running condition. Most are JNR built 4-6-2 steam locomotives with the exception of a single 2-8-2.

Revival

Dramatic increases in the cost of diesel fuel prompted several initiatives to revive steam power.   However none of these has progressed to the point of production and, in the early 21st century, steam locomotives operate only in a few isolated regions of the world and in tourist operations.
In Germany, a small number of fireless steam locomotives are still working in industrial service, e.g., at power stations, where an on-site supply of steam is readily available.

The Swiss company Dampflokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik DLM AG delivered eight steam locomotives to rack railways in Switzerland and Austria between 1992 and 1996. Four of them are now the main means of traction on the Brienz Rothorn Bahn; the four others were for the Schafbergbahn in Austria, where they run 90% of the trains.

The same company rebuilt a German 2-10-0 locomotive to new standards with modifications such as roller bearings, light oil firing and boiler insulation. 

Several heritage railways in the UK have built new steam locomotives in the 1990s and early 21st century. These include the narrow gauge Ffestiniog and Corris railways in Wales. The Hunslet Engine Company was revived in 2005 and is now building steam locomotives on a commercial basis.  A standard gauge LNER Peppercorn Pacific "Tornado" was completed at Hopetown Works, Darlington, England and made its first run on 1 August 2008.   It entered main line service later in 2008, to great public acclaim. Demonstration trips in France and Germany have been planned.  As of 2009 over half-a-dozen projects to build working replicas of extinct steam engines are going ahead, in many cases using existing parts from other types to build them. Examples include BR Class 6MT Hengist ,  BR Class 3MT no. 82045, BR Class 2MT no. 84030,  Brighton Atlantic Beachy Head ,  the LMS "Patriot 45551 The Unknown Warrior" project, GWR "47xx 4709, BR "Class 6 72010 Hengist, GWR "Saint" 2999 Lady of Legend, 1014 "County" of Glamorgan and 6880 Betton "Grange" projects.

In 1980 American financier Ross Rowland established American Coal Enterprises to develop a modernised coal-fired steam locomotive. His ACE 3000 concept attracted considerable attention, but never materialised.  

In 1998, in his book [http://www.5at.co.uk/Red-Devil-book.shtml The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam],  David Wardale put forward the concept of a high speed, high efficiency "Super Class 5 4-6-0" locomotive for future steam haulage of tour trains on British main lines. The idea was formalised in 2001 by the formation of 5AT Project dedicated to developing and building the 5AT Advanced Technology Steam Locomotive, but it never received any major railway backing.

Locations where new builds are taking place include:
* GWR 1014 County of Glamorgan & GWR 2999 Lady of Legend, Both being built at Didcot Railway Centre.
* GWR 6880 Betton Grange, GWR 4709 & LMS 45551 The Unknown Warrior, All being built at Llangollen Railway.
* LNER 2007 Prince of Wales, Darlington Locomotive Works.
* LNER 2001 Cock O' The North, Doncaster.
* BR 72010 Hengist, Great Central Railway.
* BR 77021, TBA.
* BR 82045, Severn Valley Railway.
* BR 84030 & LBSCR 32424 Beachy Head, Both being built at Bluebell Railway.
* MS&LR/GCR 567, Ruddington Great Central Railway, Northern Section.
* VR V499, Victoria, Australia.

In 2012, the Coalition for Sustainable Rail  project was started in the USA with the goal of creating a higher speed, modern steam locomotive incorporating all the improvements proposed for steam locomotion by Livio Dante Porta and others, but using torrefied biomass as solid fuel. The fuel has been recently developed by the University of Minnesota and the project is a collaboration between the university's Institute on the Environment (IonE) and Sustainable Rail International (SRI), an organisation set up to explore the use of steam traction in a modern railway setup. The group have received the last surviving (but non-running) ATSF 3460 class steam locomotive (#3463) via donation from its owner in Kansas, the Great Overland Station Museum, and intend to use it as a platform for developing "the world's cleanest, most powerful passenger locomotive" (sic) capable of speeds up to 130 mph. Named Project 130, it aims to break the world steam train speed record set by LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard in the UK at 126 mph. However, any demonstration of the project's claims is yet to be seen.

Steam locomotives in popular culture

Steam locomotives have been present in popular culture ever since they were first introduced in the 19th century. Folk songs about steam engines from that period including I've Been Working on the Railroad and the Ballad of John Henry are a mainstay of American music and culture.

Over the years, steam locomotives have become a very popular subject for the representation of trains as toys. Many toy trains based on steam locomotives are made, thereby making the image iconic with trains to children. Their popularity has led to steam locomotives being portrayed in fictional works about trains, most notably The Railway Series by the Rev W. V. Awdry and The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. Steam locomotives have also been "stars" in many television shows about trains, such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, based on characters from the books by Awdry.

There is also the Hogwarts Express from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which in the films is portrayed by the GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall steam engine in special Hogwarts livery. The Hogwarts Express is so popular in its own right that it led to the creation of an elaborately-themed funicular railway attraction of the same name in Universal Orlando Resort in Florida, connecting the Harry Potter-themed sections in the Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure theme parks.

The Polar Express children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, and the animated movie of the same name, have inspired numerous Christmas-themed trips among heritage railroads throughout the United States including the North Pole Express pulled by the Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive, which is operated by the Steam Railroading Institute out of Owosso, Michigan.  According to Van Allsburg, this specific locomotive inspired the story and it was used in the production of the movie. Models of that engine are available from Lionel.

One of the earliest computer sim games by noted creator Sid Meier, Railroad Tycoon, was, upon release in 1990, critically hailed as "one of the best computer games of the year". The game centers around early and mid-term rail usage and development, with four geographic segments: Western United States, Northeast United States, Great Britain, or Continental Europe. One constructs different types of stations, lays out railways (paying attention to grades and the capabilities of the available locomotives, which improve steadily as "sim-time" passes) and scheduling and arranging train actions between different resources (mail, passengers, coal, etc.) and sinks for the same resources. Also in effect are some elements of the stock market, leading to you acquiring other railways and competing with noted historical figures (Vanderbilt, Brunel, et al.) for keeping control of your own railway. The game also encourages the user to become familiar with the type, carrying capacity, and wheel layout of different classic locomotives.

Coins

Steam locomotives are a main topic for numerous collectors and bullion coins.

The 1950 Silver 5 Peso coin of Mexico has a steam locomotive on its reverse as the prominent feature.

The recent 20 euro Biedermeier Period coin, minted 11 June 2003, shows on the obverse an early model steam locomotive (the Ajax) on Austria's first railway line, the Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn. The Ajax can still be seen today in the Technisches Museum Wien.

As part of the 50 State Quarters program, the quarter representing the U.S. state of Utah depicts the ceremony where the two halves of the First Transcontinental Railroad met at Promontory Summit in 1869. The coin recreates a popular image from the ceremony with steam locomotives from each company facing each other while the golden spike is being driven. The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393 mi  railway
 link between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington and Newcastle, electrified along the whole route. Services north of Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness use diesel trains. The main franchise on the line is operated by Virgin Trains East Coast.

The route forms a key artery on the eastern side of Great Britain and is broadly paralleled by the A1 trunk road. It links London, the South East and East Anglia, with Yorkshire, the North East Regions and Scotland. It also carries key commuter flows for the north side of London. It is important to the economic health of several areas of England and Scotland. It also handles cross-country, commuter and local passenger services, and carries heavy tonnages of freight traffic.

Route definition and description

The ECML forms part of Network Rail's Strategic Route G which comprises six separate lines: 

* The main line between  and  stations, via , , , , , , , , , , , ,  and . The line crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Marshall Meadows Bay;
* The Doncaster branch of the Wakefield Line, between Doncaster and , via ;
* The Northern City Line from  to ; and
* The Hertford Loop Line from  to Stevenage.
* The branch line to 
* The  loop

The core part of the route is the main line between King's Cross and Edinburgh, with the Hertford Loop used for local and freight services and the Northern City Line only used on weekdays for inner suburban services.

The route has ELRs ECM1 - ECM9.

History

The line was built by three railway companies, each serving their own area, but with the intention of linking up to form the through route that became the East Coast Main Line. From north to south they were

* the North British Railway, from Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed, completed in 1846,
* the North Eastern Railway from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Shaftholme
* the Great Northern Railway from Shaftholme to Kings Cross, completed in 1850.

When first completed, the GNR made an end-on connection at Askern, famously described by the GNR's chairman as, "a ploughed field four miles north of Doncaster", with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, a short section of which was used to reach the NER at Knottingley. In 1871, the route was shortened - NER opened a direct line which ran from an end-on junction with the GNR, at Shaftholme, just south of Askern to Selby and then (once over Selby bridge on the Leeds- Hull Line) direct to York

Realising that through journeys were an important part of their business, the companies established special rolling stock in 1860 on a collaborative basis; it was called the "East Coast Joint Stock".

In 1923 the three companies were grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). This later became part of British Railways in 1948.

Numerous alterations to short sections of the original route have taken place, the most notable being the opening of the King Edward VII Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1906 and the Selby Diversion, built to bypass anticipated mining subsidence from the Selby coalfield and a bottleneck at Selby station. The Selby Diversion was opened in 1983 and diverged from the original ECML at Temple Hirst Junction, north of Doncaster, and joined the Leeds to York Line at Colton Junction south west of York.

The ECML has been the backdrop for a number of famous rail journeys and locomotives. The line was worked for many years by Pacific locomotives designed by Gresley, including the famous steam locomotives "Flying Scotsman" and "Mallard". Mallard achieved a world record speed for a steam locomotive, at 126 mph and this record was never beaten. It made the run on the Grantham-to-Peterborough section, on the descent of Stoke Bank.

Steam locomotives were replaced by Diesel electrics in the early 1960s, when the purpose-built Deltic locomotive was developed by English Electric. The prototype was successful and a fleet of 22 locomotives was built, to handle all the important express traffic. The Class 55s were powered by two engines originally developed for fast torpedo boats, and the configuration of the engines led to the Deltic name. Their characteristic throaty exhaust roar and chubby body outline made them unmistakable. The Class 55 was for a time the most powerful diesel locomotive in service in Britain, at 3300 hp.

Just after the Deltics were introduced, the first sections of the East Coast Main Line were upgraded to allow 100 mph running. The first length to be cleared for the new higher speed was a 17 mi stretch between Peterborough and Grantham on 15 June 1965, the second was 12 mi between Grantham and Newark. 

As the demand for higher speed intensified, the Deltics were superseded by the High Speed Train (HST), introduced between 1976 and 1981, and still in service in 2015 (re-engined, with the original Paxman Valenta power units replaced by MTU engines).

A prototype of the HST, the Class 41 achieved 143 mph on the line in 1973.
  Current UK legislation requires in-cab signalling for speeds of over 125 mph which is the primary reason preventing the InterCity 225 train-sets from operating at their design speed of 140 mph in normal service.

A secondary factor was that the signalling technology of the time was insufficient to allow detection of two broken rails on the line on which the train was operating.

Before the present in-cab regulations came in, British Rail experimented with 140 mph running by introducing a fifth, flashing green signalling aspect on the Down Fast line (signals P487 to P615) and Up Fast line (signals P610 to P494) between New England North and Stoke Tunnel. The fifth aspect is still shown  in normal service and appears when the next signal is showing a green (or another flashing green) aspect and the signal section is clear, which ensures that there is sufficient braking distance to bring a train to a stand from 140 mph. Locomotives have operated on the ECML at speeds of up to  in test runs. The capability to run special test trains in excess of 125 mph is listed as being maintained in the LNE Sectional Appendix 

Electrification

The ECML was electrified using 25 kV AC overhead lines by British Rail in two phases between 1976 and 1991: The first phase between London (Kings Cross) and  was carried out between 1976 and 1978 as part of the Great Northern Suburban Electrification Project using Mk.3A equipment. This included the Hertford Loop Line.  The second phase began in 1984, when authority was given to electrify to Edinburgh and Leeds using Mk.3B equipment. Construction began in 1985, and the section between Hitchin and Peterborough was completed in 1987, Doncaster and York were reached in 1989. By 1990 electrification had reached Newcastle, and in 1991 Edinburgh. At the peak of the electrification project during the late 1980s, it was claimed to be the "longest construction site in the world" at over 250 mi. The current InterCity 225 rolling stock was introduced in 1990 to work the electrified line. 

Infrastructure

The line is mainly four tracks from London to Stoke Tunnel, south of Grantham. However, there are two major  twin-track sections: the first of these is near Welwyn North Station as it crosses the Digswell Viaduct and passes through two tunnels; the second is a section around 'Stilton Fen', between Fletton Junction near Peterborough, and southwards towards Holme  Junction; furthermore, the section between Holme Junction south to Huntingdon is mostly triple track. North of Grantham the route is twin track except for four-track sections at Retford around Doncaster, between Colton Junction (which is south of York), Thirsk and Northallerton, and another at Newcastle.

The main route is electrified along the full route and only the line between Leeds and York (Neville Hill Depot to Colton Junction) is non-electrified. This diversionary route will be electrified as part of the transpennine electrification scheme, to be completed by December 2018.

With most of the line rated for 125 mph operation, the ECML was the fastest main line in the UK until the opening of High Speed 1. These relatively high speeds are possible because much of the ECML travels on fairly straight track on the flatter, eastern regions of England, through Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, though there are significant speed restrictions (due to curvature) particularly north of Darlington and between Doncaster and Leeds. By contrast, the West Coast Main Line has to traverse the Trent Valley and the mountains of Cumbria, leading to many more curves and a lower general speed limit of 110 mph. Speeds on the WCML have been increased in recent years with the introduction of tilting Pendolino trains and now match the 125 mph speeds available on the ECML.

Rolling stock

Most express passenger services use the InterCity 225 rolling stock.

Some diesels still operate on line, including:
* CrossCountry's Class 220 Voyagers, Class 221 Super Voyagers and, occasionally, HST sets that CrossCountry introduced after it took over from Virgin CrossCountry. (Joining the ECML at  York and continuing to Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen)
* Hull Trains Class 180 Adelantes (Kings Cross–Hull)
* Virgin Trains East Coast HST sets work to Inverness and Aberdeen, as well as daily services to Lincoln, Hull and Harrogate .
* East Midlands Trains operates a limited service of HSTs over a portion of the route between Doncaster and Leeds, and a summer Saturday service with Class 222 Meridians from York and Scarborough to London St Pancras, and back.
* Grand Central's HSTs and  Class 180 Zephyrs (Kings Cross–Sunderland/Bradford)

Operators

The line's current principal operator is Virgin Trains East Coast, whose services include regular trains between King's Cross, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East of England and Scotland. Virgin Trains East Coast is jointly operated by Stagecoach Group and Virgin Group and took over from East Coast on 1 March 2015. Other operators of passenger trains on the line are:
* Great Northern: long distance services between King's Cross, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and commuter services between Moorgate and Stevenage via either Welwyn Garden City or the Hertford Loop.
* Hull Trains: operate six trains per day between Kings Cross and Hull and one per day between Kings Cross and Beverley on weekdays, whilst on weekends there are seven trains a day between Kings Cross and Hull.
* East Midlands Trains: local services between Grantham and Peterborough, part of the service that runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich, as well as infrequent services between London-York and Scarborough, extensions of services running to/from Sheffield, Leicester and London St Pancras.
* CrossCountry: cross-country services north of Sheffield are routed via either Leeds or Doncaster. Leeds trains use the ECML between Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and then again north of York.  Doncaster trains use the ECML north of Doncaster. Services run to and beyond Edinburgh. Occasional services run from Doncaster to Leeds before rejoining the ECML at York.
* TransPennine Express: between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle also between Manchester Airport and Middlesbrough before they divert off the ECML to Middlesbrough via Yarm.
* Northern: suburban services from Doncaster to Leeds and Chathill to Newcastle via Morpeth railway station and infrequent services between Newcastle and Darlington that continue to Middlesbrough and Saltburn. Services between  and  also use the line from Hambleton Junction to York.
* Abellio ScotRail: services from  to  and .  The overnight Caledonian Sleeper occasionally uses the ECML when engineering works prevent it from using its normal train path on the WCML.
* Grand Central: intercity operate five daily services between Kings Cross and Sunderland, branching off the main line at Northallerton; and four daily services between Kings Cross and Bradford, branching off at Doncaster.

Eurostar previously held the rights to run five trains a day on the line for services from continental Europe to cities north of London, as part of the Regional Eurostar plan, although such services have never been run. 

DB Schenker, GBRf, Freightliner, Freightliner Heavy Haul and Direct Rail Services operate freight services.

Development

Capacity problems

The ECML is one of the busiest lines on the British rail network and there is currently insufficient capacity on parts of the line to satisfy all the requirements of both passenger and freight operators. 

There are bottlenecks at the following locations:
*The section of twin track within a four-line section at Welwyn North over the Digswell Viaduct and through the Welwyn tunnels
*The twin and triple track sections located between Huntingdon and Peterborough. 
*Just north of Newark station at a flat crossing with the Nottingham to Lincoln Line. 
*The section of double track between Stoke Tunnel and Doncaster.
*Doncaster station has limited facilities for terminating branch trains on the up side of the station. This is to be remedied with the opening of a new platform (platform 0) on the up side so that trains to and from the Thorne direction will be able to de-conflict their arrivals and departures with high speed trains.  
*The north throat of York station including Skelton Bridge Junction. 
*South of Newcastle to Northallerton (which is also predominately double track), leading to proposals to reopen the Leamside line to passenger and freight traffic. 

Railway operations are vulnerable during high winds and there have been several de-wirements over the years due to the unusually wide spacing (up to 75m) between the supporting masts of the overhead lines. The other cost-reduction measure was the use of headspan catenary support systems over the quadruple track sections - as employed in the Weaver Junction to Glasgow Electrification on the WCML during the 1970s. Headspans do not have mechanically independent registration (MIR) of each electrified road and thus are more complex to setup, compared to TTC and portal style support structures, during installation. In the event of a de-wirement of a given road, headspans result  in the need to correctly setup the OLE of adjacent roads before the line can reopen to electric traction. This was a result of extreme pressure from the Department for Transport to reduce avoidable costs when the line was originally electrified between 1985 and 1990. 

Recent developments

* The Allington Chord was constructed near Grantham in 2006, allowing services between Nottingham and Skegness to call at Grantham without having to use the ECML, trains now passing under the line. This provided sufficient extra capacity for 12 additional services between Leeds and London each day.  

* A new platform at London Kings Cross was opened on 20 May 2010. This was originally to be called "Platform Y". Instead it has been named Platform 0 to avoid confusion of lettered and numbered platforms.
* At the southern end of York station a short length of fourth track was installed in early 2011 at Holgate Junction with accompanying OLE and signalling systems. This work helped to remove one of the bottlenecks on the East Coast Main Line. Previously, trains from Leeds would sometimes have to wait before entering the station. The improvement allows for better flow of trains in and out of the station. 
* Provision of a grade-separated junction to the north of  (the Hitchin flyover) enabling down Cambridge trains to cross the main line   The work was completed by 26 June 2013 
* Major remodelling of  station was completed during early 2014 providing three platform faces for services in the up direction towards London and two for ECML services travelling north on the down lines. An additional two platform faces are also available for Cross Country services to and from stations to the east of Peterborough.
* A new flyover just south of Joan Croft level crossing in South Yorkshire to allow freight trains from Immingham to pass over the line on their way to Eggborough and Drax power stations, was completed in very early 2014. The project, known as the North Doncaster Chord, also replaced the level crossing on a minor road with a new overbridge just to the north of the original crossing point. 
* Renewal and gauge enhancement of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Line which runs parallel to the ECML between Peterborough and Doncaster. This removes freight traffic from a heavily congested section of the ECML.
* A new Rail Operating Centre (ROC), with training facilities, opened in early 2014 at the "Engineer's Triangle" in York. The ROC will enable signalling and day-to-day operations of the route to be undertaken in a single location. Signalling control/traffic management using ERTMS is scheduled to be introduced from 2020 on the ECML between London Kings Cross and Doncaster - managed from the York ROC.
* An £8.6 million redevelopment of Newcastle Central Station was completed in 2014 enhancing the existing station and provide a state-of-the-art station for thousands of passengers. 

Planned or proposed developments

Over the years successive infrastructure managers have developed schemes for route improvements. The most recent of which is the £240 million "ECML Connectivity Fund" included in the 2012 HLOS  with the objective of increasing capacity and reducing journey times. Current plans include the following:

* Connection of the ECML to Thameslink as part of the Thameslink Programme (for Thameslink and Great Northern commuter services to be extended to south London).
* Full reversible signalling over the Stilton Fen section
* Power supply upgrades (PSU) between Wood Green and Bawtry (Phase 1) and Bawtry to Edinburgh (Phase 2), including some overhead lines (OLE) support improvements, rewiring of the contact and catenary wires, and headspan to portal conversions (HS2P).
* Re-quadrupling of the route between Huntingdon and Woodwalton which was rationalised in the 1980s (part of the ECML Connectivity programme)
* Power supply enhancement on the diversionary Hertford Loop route
* Level crossing closures between Kings Cross and Doncaster: As of July 2015 this will no longer be conducted as a single closure of 73 level crossings - but conducted on a case-by case basis. 
* Additional down platform and turnback facility at Stevenage (part of the ECML Connectivity programme) - now delayed from CP5 to CP6.
* Additional turnback facility at Gordon Hill (part of the ECML Connectivity programme).
* Provision of a new Up bay platform (Platform 0) at Doncaster station (part of the ECML Connectivity programme). This is currently under construction.
* Enhanced passenger access to the platforms at Peterborough and Stevenage
* Further remodelling at Peterborough and linespeed enhancements on the down slow line in the Fletton area
* Modified north throat at York Station to reduce congestion for services calling at Platforms 9 - 11 (part of the ECML Connectivity programme)
* Kings Cross throat remodelling 
* Increasing maximum speeds on the fast lines between Woolmer Green and Dalton-on-Tees up to 140 mph (225 km/h) in conjunction with the introduction of the Intercity Express Programme, level crossing closures, ETRMS fitments, OLE rewiring and the OLE PSU - est. to cost £1.3 billion. This project is referred to as "L2E4" or London to Edinburgh (in) 4 Hours and is currently (November 2015) under development. L2E4 examines the operation of the IEP at 140 mph on the ECML and the sections of track which can be upgraded to permit this, together with the engineering and operational costs.   
* Remodelling north of Peterborough to provide a new grade separated junction at Werrington to allow freight services to join or be diverted off the ECML to/from the GNGE without crossing all four tracks at level. Network Rail's preferred option is for a dive-under.
* Upgrading of the fast lines at Shaftholme Junction from 100 mph to 125 mph.
* Replacement of the Flat Crossing at Newark with a flyover (scheme developed currently to GRIP Stage 2 by Jacobs) 
* The line between  to the approach of  will be signalled with Level 2 ERTMS. The target date for operational ERTMS services is December 2018 with completion in 2020 
* Darlington station up fast line platform
* Fitment of TASS Balises and Gauging/Structure works proposed by the open operator GNER (Alliance Rail) to support its aspirations for express 3hr43min London to Edinburgh Services. Tilt would be required north of Darlington for Pendolino trains.

Accidents

The ECML has been witness to a number of incidents resulting in death and serious injury:

Passenger volume

Popular culture

The cuttings and tunnel entrances just north of King's Cross make a memorable smoky appearance in the 1955 Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers. Also during the 1950s, the line featured in the 1954 documentary short Elizabethan Express. Later, the 1971 British gangster film Get Carter features a journey from London Kings Cross to Newcastle in the opening credits. The motoring show Top Gear featured a race including LNER A1 60163 Tornado running up this line from London to Edinburgh.

The route has been featured in several train simulator games. Trainz Simulator 2010 features the route between London and York, Trainz Simulator 12 extends the route to Newcastle, and Trainz: A New Era brings it all the way to Edinburgh, allowing the entire 393-mile route to be driven. All three routes take place during the 1970s, around the time the InterCity 125 was introduced. This is reinforced by instructions in the "HST Southbound Express" session not to move until the guard has locked the doors, since the trains did not have pneumatic locks initially; doing so will lead to an automatic failure. Other rolling stock includes Class 37s, Class 47s, and Class 105s, plus Mark 2 coaches. TS12's version added Class 55 Deltics and Class 313s, as well as additional pre-made, pre-scripted sessions.

King's Cross is also known as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express from the books and films in the Harry Potter series. Within the station concourse there is a tourist attraction of the Platform 9¾ sign and a luggage trolley partially embedded in the station wall with an owl cage and suitcases on it. Number 4468 Mallard is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive built at Doncaster, England in 1938. It is historically significant as the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives.

The A4 class was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to power high-speed streamlined trains. The wind-tunnel-tested,  aerodynamic body and high power allowed the class to reach speeds of over 100 mph, although in everyday service it rarely attained this speed. No regular steam-hauled rail service in the UK reached even 90 mph, much less 100. Mallard covered almost one and a half million miles (2.4 million km) before it was retired in 1963.

It was restored to working order in the 1980s, but has not operated since, apart from hauling some specials between York and Scarborough in July 1986 and a couple of runs between York and Harrogate/Leeds around Easter 1987.  Mallard is now part of the National Collection at the United Kingdom's National Railway Museum in York.  On the weekend of 5 July 2008, Mallard was taken outside for the first time in years and displayed beside the three other A4s that are resident in the UK, thus reuniting them for the first time since preservation. It departed the museum for Locomotion, the NRM's outbase at Shildon on 23 June 2010, where it was a static exhibit, until it was hauled back to York on 19 July 2011 and put back on display in its original location in the Great Hall.

The locomotive is 70 ft long and weighs 165 tons, including the tender. It is painted LNER garter blue with red wheels and steel rims.

Record

Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at . The record was achieved on 3 July 1938 on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line, and the highest speed was recorded at milepost 90¼, between Little Bytham and Essendine. It broke the German (DRG Class 05) 002's 1936 record of . The record attempt was carried out during the trials of a new quick acting brake (the Westinghouse "QSA" brake).

Mallard was a very good vehicle for such an endeavour. The A4 class was designed for sustained 100+ mph (160+ km/h) running and Mallard was one of a few of the class that were built with a double chimney and double Kylchap blastpipe, which made for improved draughting and better exhaust flow at speed. (The remainder of the class were retro-fitted in the late 1950s). The A4's three-cylinder design made for stability at speed, and the large 6 ft driving wheels meant that the maximum revolutions per minute was within the capabilities of the technology of the day. Mallard was four months old, meaning that it was sufficiently broken-in to run freely, but not overly worn.  Selected to crew the locomotive on its record attempt were driver Joseph Duddington (a man renowned within the LNER for taking calculated risks) and fireman Thomas Bray. 

In the words of Rob Gwynne, Assistant Curator of Rail Vehicles at the National Railway Museum:

The locomotive had 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. Shortly after attaining the record speed, the middle big end did overheat and Mallard had to limp onwards to Peterborough. It then travelled to Doncaster 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. 

Stoke Bank has a gradient of between 1:178 and 1:200. Mallard, pulling a dynamometer car and six coaches, topped Stoke Summit at 75 mph and accelerated downhill. The speeds at the end of each 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); half-mile (800 m) readings after that gave 120¾, 122½, 123, 124¼ and finally 125 mph (194, 197, 198, 200 and 201 km/h).  The speed recorded by instruments in the dynamometer car reached a momentary maximum of 126 mph.

On arrival at King's Cross (just after the run) driver Joe Duddington and Inspector Sid Jenkins were quoted as saying that they thought a speed of 130 mph would have been possible if the train had not had to slow for the junctions at Essendine. In addition at the time of the run there was a permanent way restriction to 15 mph just north of Grantham which slowed the train as they sought to build up maximum speed before reaching the high speed downhill section just beyond Stoke tunnel. 

On 3 July 2013, Mallard celebrated 75 years since achieving the world speed record, and to help commemorate this date all six surviving Class A4 locomotives were brought together around the turntable in the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum at York for a two-week 'great gathering'. The visitors include three UK based, privately owned engines in 4464 Bittern, 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley and 60009 Union of South Africa (formerly Osprey). Mallard's two internationally based sisters, 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower and 60010 Dominion of Canada, were present after completing extensive transatlantic journeys, and undergoing cosmetic restoration at the NRM's workshops.

Rival claims

Mallard's world record has never been officially exceeded by a steam locomotive, though the German Class 05 was at least very close: in 1936, two years before Mallard's run, 05 002 had reached 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) between Hamburg and Berlin. Stoke Bank is long, straight and slightly downhill, whereas the 1936 run of 05 002 took place on a horizontal stretch of track. Unlike world records for cars and aircraft, there is no requirement for an average of two runs in both directions, and assistance from gradient or wind has always been acceptable in rail speed records. Also, unlike Mallard, 05 002 survived the attempt undamaged: on the other hand, its train was only four coaches long (197 tons), whereas Mallard's train was seven coaches (240 tons).  In terms of rival claims, Gresley and the LNER had just one serious attempt at the record, which was far from a perfect run with a 15 mph permanent way check just North of Grantham. Despite this a record was set. Gresley planned to have another attempt in September 1939, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II.  Before the record run on 3 July 1938, it was calculated that 130 mi/h was possible, and in fact Driver Duddington and LNER Inspector Sid Jenkins both said they might well have achieved this figure had they not had to slow for the Essendine junctions.

Thus, Mallard still officially holds the record; plaques affixed to each side of the locomotive commemorate the feat.

1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials

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 plant, which was not ready until late 1948 or by testing in the field itself. The results of these trials would be used to help design the British Railways Standard design of 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) 6000 Class or 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 Waterloo-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 1948 Locomotive Exchange 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"

The "Elizabethan" was a flagship express that ran non-stop over the 393 mi between Kings 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", a special tender incorporating a narrow tunnel down one side and a corridor connection to the front coach of the train. Only a few locomotives other than Mallard had such a tender.

The last steam-hauled Elizabethans ran on 8 September 1961, the northbound ("Down" in British railway parlance) train was accompanied by photographers, journalists and performance recorders. Their outputs were uncoordinated and have only come to light over many years. Mallard hauled the train, with sister loco 60009 Union of South Africa hauling the corresponding "Up" train. 

The journalists wrote a valedictory piece in the Sunday Telegraph of 10 September 1961. This has recently been reproduced in a compendium of railway-related pieces from the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph over the years. This names the driver and fireman from Kings Cross to York as Harold Birkett and John Thorne. They were replaced north of York by driver Bob Currie and fireman Alec Mackay. Chief Motive Power Inspector Bert Dixon stayed on the footplate for the whole trip.

The photographers appear to have been from British Railway's own photography unit. Some of the photographs of the trip have survived in the "Liverpool Street Collection" at the National Railway Museum. Four of them were reproduced in a minority publication in 1971, one of them - showing Driver Birkett using the corridor tender - has been used in magazines since.

Triangulation occurred in Railway Magazine in 2013 when a log of the run was published, with narrative, taken from Railway Performance Society's archives. The original log was compiled by Mr C. Hudson. The train arrived three minutes early after a run involving several speed checks and was interpreted as a credit to men, system and machine.

Technical specifications

Mallard was released into traffic for the first time on 3 March 1938. It was the first A4 to be fitted with a Kylchap double blast pipe from new. This was one of the factors that led to its selection for the attempt on the world rail speed record in July of that year.

Mallard wore a variety of liveries throughout its career. These were: garter blue as 4468, LNER wartime black from 13 June 1942, later wartime black with the tender marked as "NE" from 21 October 1943 as 22 with yellow small stencilled numbers, post-war garter blue with white and red lining from 5 March 1948 with stainless steel cabside number 22, British railways dark blue as 60022 from 16 September 1949, Brunswick green from 4 July 1952 and its original LNER garter blue for preservation in 1963.

The A4 class was built with streamlined valances, or side skirting, but this was removed during the war to ease maintenance. Mallard lost its valances during a works visit 13 June 1942, regaining them in preservation in 1963.

Mallard was fitted with twelve boilers during its 25-year career. These boilers were: 9024 (from construction), 8959 (from 4496 Golden Shuttle, 13 June 1942), 8907 (from 2511 Silver King, 1 August 1946), 8948 (from 31 Golden Plover, 5 March 1948), 8957 (from 60009 Union of South Africa, 16 September 1949), 29282 (from 60028 Walter K Whigham, 10 January 1951), 29301 (from 60019 Bittern, 4 July 1952), 29315 (from 60014 Silver Link, 23 April 1954), 29328 (new-build boiler, 7 June 1957), 29308 (from 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower, 27 August 1958), 29310 (from 60009 Union of South Africa, 9 March 1960) and 27965 (from 60009 Union of South Africa, 10 August 1961).

Mallard has had seven tenders throughout its career. It started off with a non-corridor tender in 1938, had corridor design tenders during its British Railways days and was fitted with a non-corridor tender in 1963 to recreate its original appearance. The tenders it has been fitted with are: 5642 (3 March 1938 – 14 March 1939), 5639 (5 May 1939 – 16 January 1948), 5323 (5 March 1948 – 12 March 1953), 5648 (12 March 1953 – 21 July 1958), 5330 (27 August 1958 – 30 May 1962), 5651 (30 May 1962 – 25 April 1963) and 5670 (current tender, masquerading as original tender 5642).

The original non-corridor tender 5642 was later coupled to sister locomotive 60026 Miles Beevor when it was withdrawn on 21 December 1965 but later came into the possession of the A4 Preservation Society who had purchased this locomotive from the scrapyard to assist the restoration of classmate 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley. It was scrapped in 1973 as being surplus to requirements, by which time it had also donated parts to the restoration of A3 class locomotive 4472 Flying Scotsman, which had recently returned from America and was being restored at Derby Workshops.

Mallard was allocated to three sheds during its career: Doncaster, transferring on 21 October 1943 to Grantham and on 11 April 1948 to Kings Cross Top Shed.

Class

Two A4s were exported after retirement, one to the USA (No. 60008 (LNER No. 4496) Dwight D. Eisenhower) and the other to Canada (No. 60010 (LNER No. 4489) Dominion of Canada). In October 2012, they came back to prepare for the 75th anniversary celebrations in 2013 of the record run.  They and Mallard were joined at the National Railway Museum by No. 4464 (BR. No. 60019) Bittern, No. 60007 (LNER No. 4498) Sir Nigel Gresley and No. 60009 (LNER No. 4488, formerly Osprey) Union of South Africa. No. 60008 had its BR Brunswick Green livery refreshed and No. 60010 was re-painted in LNER Garter Blue with stainless steel lettering and number 4489 and fitted with the Canadian bell and whistle.  In early 2014, the six A4s were displayed at the National Railway Museum Shildon, which was the final exhibition of the six engines together.  In March 2014, the Mallard returned to York, and the 4464, 60007, and 60009 all returned to their owners.  60008 and 4489 remained at Shildon until April, and were returned respectively to the US and Canada from April–June 2014.

Models 

Bachmann and Hornby 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 Brunswick Green. Hornby has also released a limited edition model of 4468 in LNER form along with the other 5 surviving A4s in 2013.

A Corgi 1:120 scale model in Garter Blue as part of a series entitled "Rail Legends" is available.

Hachette Publications have also released an 'O' Gauge 'Build-It-Yourself' model in Partwork format.  This series is still current in June 2016.

In popular culture

* Mallard features in two of the later books in Railway Series by Christopher Awdry:  Thomas and the Great Railway Show (with a face on), and is also mentioned in Gordon the High Speed Engine.
* Mallard also features in the Peter's Railway book Surprise Goods by Christopher Vine, where she rescues a broken down freight train.
* 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). 

Notes The Class A4 is a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Their streamlined design gave them high-speed capability as well as making them instantly recognisable, and one of the class, 4468 Mallard, holds the world record as the fastest steam locomotive. Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York to Newcastle, and later via Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland. They remained in service on the East Coast Main Line until the early 1960s when they were replaced by Deltic diesel locomotives. Several A4s saw out their remaining days until 1966 in Scotland, particularly on the Aberdeen - Glasgow express trains, for which they were used to improve the timing from 3.5 to 3 hours.

Overview 

Gresley introduced the Class A4 locomotives in 1935 to haul a new streamlined train called the Silver Jubilee to run between London King's Cross and Newcastle. The new service was named in celebration of the 25th year of King George V's reign.

During a visit to Germany in 1933, Gresley had been inspired by the high-speed streamlined "Flying Hamburger" diesel trains, and indeed the LNER had considered purchasing similar trains for use from London to Newcastle. However, the diesel units of the time did not have the desired passenger carrying capacity and the capital investment in the new technology was prohibitive.

Gresley was sure that steam could do the job equally well and with a decent fare-paying load behind the locomotive and so, following trials in 1935 with one of Gresley's A3 Pacifics No.2750 Papyrus, which recorded a new maximum of 108 mph and completed the journey in under four hours, the LNER's Chief General Manager Ralph Wedgwood took the initiative, authorising Gresley to produce a streamlined development of the A3.  Initially four locomotives were built, all with the word 'silver' as part of their names. The first was 2509 Silver Link, followed by 2510 Quicksilver, 2511 Silver King and 2512 Silver Fox. During a press run to publicise the service, Silver Link twice achieved a speed of , breaking the British speed record and sustained an average of 100 mph, over a distance of 43 miles. 

Following the commercial success of the Silver Jubilee train, other streamlined services were introduced: the Coronation (London-Edinburgh, July 1937) and the West Riding Limited (Bradford & Leeds-London & return, November 1937) for which more A4s were specially built.

Design

The A4 Pacifics were designed for high-speed passenger services. The application of internal streamlining to the steam circuit, higher boiler pressure and the extension of the firebox to form a combustion chamber all contributed to a more efficient locomotive than the A3; consumption of both coal and water were reduced. A further improvement to the design was the fitting of a Kylchap double-chimney first introduced on 4468 Mallard, built in March 1938.  This device improved the capability of the locomotives further, and the final three locomotives of the class (4901 Capercaillie, 4902 Seagull and 4903 Peregrine) were fitted with the Kylchap exhaust from new. Eventually the rest of the class acquired it in the late 1950s.

This class was also noted for its streamlined design, which not only improved its aerodynamics, thus increasing its speed capabilities, but also created an updraught to lift smoke away from the driver's vision, a problem inherent in many steam locomotives particularly those operated with short cut off valve events, smoke deflectors being an alternative answer to the same problem.  The distinctive design made it a particularly attractive subject for artists, photographers and film-makers. The A4 Class locomotives were known affectionately by train spotters as "streaks".

The streamlining side skirts (valances) that were designed by Oliver Bulleid to aerofoil shape, and fitted to all the A4 locomotives, were removed during the Second World War to improve access to the valve gear for maintenance and were not replaced.Robertson, Kevin: The Leader Project: Fiasco or Triumph? (Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company, 2007) ISBN 0-86093-606-6

This apart, the A4 was one of very few streamlined steam locomotive designs in the world to retain its casing throughout its existence. Many similar designs, including the contemporary Coronation class, had their streamlining removed or cancelled to cut costs, simplify maintenance and increase driver visibility.

World record

On 3 July 1938 4468 Mallard; the first of the class to enter service with the Kylchap exhaust, pulling six coaches and a dynamometer car, set a world speed record (indicated by the dynamometer) of 126 mph. However, Gresley never accepted this as the record-breaking maximum. He claimed this speed could only have been attained over a few yards, though he was comfortable that the German speed record of  had been surpassed.  Close analysis of the dynamometer roll (currently at the NRM) of the record run confirms that Mallards speed did in fact exceed that of the German BR 05 002.  The Mallard record reached its maximum speed on a downhill run and actually failed technically in due course, whereas 05 002's journey was on level grade and the engine did not yet seem to be at its limit.  On the other hand, the German train was only four coaches long (197 tons), but Mallard's train was seven coaches (240 tons).
One fact that is often ignored when considering rival claims is that Gresley and the LNER had just one serious attempt at the record, which was far from a perfect run with a 15 mph permanent way check just North of Grantham. Despite this a record was set. Gresley planned to have another attempt in September 1939, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II.  Prior to the record run on 3 July 1938, it was calculated that 130 mi/h was possible, and in fact Driver Duddington and LNER Inspector Sid Jenkins both said they might well have achieved this figure if they not had to slow for the Essendine junctions.

At the end of Mallards record run, the middle big end (part of the motion for the inside cylinder) was found to have run hot (indicated by the bursting of a heat-sensitive "stink bomb" placed in the bearing for warning purposes), the bearing metal having melted, which meant that the locomotive had to stop at Peterborough rather than continue on to London.  Deficiencies in the alignment of the Gresley-Holcroft derived motion meant that the inside cylinder of the A4 did more work at high speed than the two outside cylinders - indeed on at least one occasion this led to the middle big end wearing to such an extent that the increased piston travel knocked the ends off the middle cylinder  - and this overloading was mostly responsible for the failure.

Performance in service 

No other British steam locomotives have a longer or more consistent record of high speed running than the A4s. Instances of 100 mph running by them must exceed those of all other types combined,  though 90 mph running was a relatively rare event with steam traction, much less 100 mph. It should also be remembered that A4s operated on the East Coast Main Line which has more opportunities for high speed running (particularly Stoke Bank) than any other in the UK.

In August 1936 the Silver Jubilee train on the descent of Stoke Bank headed by 2512 Silver Fox driven by George Henry Haygreen achieved a maximum of 113 mph, then the highest speed attained in Britain with an ordinary passenger train.  
The fastest recorded post-war speed with British steam was also recorded by an A4. This occurred on the 23 May 1959 on the Stephenson Locomotive Society Golden Jubilee special when 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley achieved 112 mph when hauling 400 tons down Stoke Bank. The driver, Bill Hoole, had hoped for an attempt to beat Mallard's record but Alan Pegler, who was on the footplate and mindful of the risks, told him to ease off. 

Although A4s were primarily designed for high speed express work they were also capable of high power outputs. In 1940 4901 Capercaillie exerted 2200 drawbar horse power on the straight and level track north of York when hauling 21 coaches (730 tons gross) at an average of 75.9 mph for 25 miles. 
The highest recorded power output from an A4 was 2450 drawbar horsepower when Mallard herself was hauling 11 coaches (390 tons tare, 415 tons gross) up Stoke Bank at a sustained 80 mph in 1963.  O.S. Nock thought this performance superior to Mallard's world record run in 1938. An A4 with the same load on a "good run" would be doing about 50 to 60 mph at the summit of Stoke Bank. On a run on 8 September 1961 Mallard had its train travelling at 78 mph. 
To put all this in perspective the highest possible drawbar horsepower from a Class 40 diesel (a class which was supposed to replace the A4s,) was 1450,  though they could achieve this figure over long distances and with no effort from the crew.

Post-war history

Although newer Pacifics had been introduced since the war, and although the streamlined trains were never reinstated, the A4s continued on top link duties, notably on the London to Edinburgh services.

Improved methods of aligning the Gresley conjugated valve gear in the 1950s led to tighter tolerances for the bearings used within it and consequently to almost total eradication of the overloading of the middle cylinder. History repeated itself with the inside big end being replaced by one of the Great Western type, after which there was no more trouble, provided maintenance routines were respected. 

The wholesale application of double Kylchap chimneys to the entire class was entirely due to the persistence of P. N. Townend, the Assistant Motive Power Superintendent at King's Cross from 1956. He at first met with considerable resistance from higher authority. When permission was eventually given, it was found that the economy obtained over the single chimney A4s was from six to seven pounds of coal per mile, which more than justified the expense of the conversion. 

These improvements led to greatly increased availability.

Locomotive data

The first four locomotives included the word 'silver' in their names because they were intended to haul the 'Silver Jubilee' train. No 2512 Silver Fox of this batch carried a stainless-steel fox near the centre of the streamline casing on each side, made by the Sheffield steelmakers Samuel Fox and Company.  The next batch of A4s were named after birds, particularly those that were fast flyers, Gresley being a keen bird-watcher. Five (4488–92) were named after British Empire countries to haul the new Anglo-Scottish 'Coronation' train; and two (4495/6), intended to haul the new 'West Riding Limited', received names connected to the wool trade: Golden Fleece and Golden Shuttle. 

A4 No.4498 was the hundredth Gresley Pacific to be built and someone had the idea of naming it after the designer himself. This started a rash of renamings of other A4s, usually of directors of the LNER and many of the more obscure bird names (and a few of the better ones: Kestrel and Osprey for example) were exchanged for somewhat less inspiring names. 

One locomotive was withdrawn after being damaged beyond repair in a German bombing raid on York on 29 April 1942 during World War II - No.4469 Sir Ralph Wedgwood, which at the time had been overhauled and was based at Gateshead. It was running local trains to run it in, and was stabled in York North Shed (now the National Railway Museum) where it suffered a direct hit. However, its tender survived and was later coupled to a Thompson A2/1.

The first five withdrawals, in December 1962, were 60014 Silver Link, 60028 Walter K. Whigham, 60003 Andrew K. McCosh, 60030 Golden Fleece and 60033 Seagull. The rest of the class was withdrawn between 1963 and 1966. The last six in service were: 60004 William Whitelaw, 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, 60009 Union Of South Africa, 60019 Bittern, 60024 Kingfisher and 60034 Lord Faringdon. 60019 and 60024 were the last to be withdrawn, in September 1966.

Preservation 

Six of the locomotives have been preserved, mainly thanks to the fact that they were assigned to sheds in Scotland after the closure of King's Cross shed (34A) to steam in 1964. Four A4s are in the UK and have run on the BR main lines at some point during their preservation career. Another two have been preserved in the USA and Canada, rather appropriately due to their names, and as such were gifted to these respected countries upon withdrawal by British Railways. Both North American-based A4s were moved to the National Railway Museum, York, in late 2012 on three-year loans as part of the NRM's 2013 celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Mallard breaking the world speed record for steam. 

As of October 2015 only Bittern & Union of South Africa are operational with 60009 still having a current mainline certificate until 2019, 60007 Was withdrawn for overhaul on the 20th September and 4464 is currently operating on the Watercress Line until it is to undergo its overhaul in Crewe.

In popular culture 

A4s have appeared numerous times in popular culture, both during and after preservation. The class's first film appearance was 2509 Silver Link in the Will Hay film Oh, Mr. Porter, in which Hay accidentally ruins its naming ceremony. Post war, 60017 Silver Fox features heavily in the 1954 British Transport Film Elizabethan Express, which follows the revival of non-stop London to Edinburgh runs and features footage of the water trough and corridor tender in use. A few years later, the 1959 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps features colour photography of 60010 Dominion of Canada amongst others in their post-war British Railways Brunswick green livery. The scene crossing the Forth Railway Bridge was subsequently parodied in the 1961 film Carry on Regardless.

In The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry, the 4468 Mallard is alluded to in the book Gordon the High Speed Engine by Christopher Awdry as one of Gordon's "Doncaster cousins" who did 126 miles an hour. Mallard  appears as a character in the later book Thomas and the Great Railway Show. Mallard also features in the Peter's Railway book "Surprise Goods" by Christopher Vine, where she rescues a broken down freight train. The class was the basis for the character Spencer in the television series, 
Thomas and Friends.

A painting of 22 Mallard by Paul Gribble appears on the cover of the 1993 Blur album Modern Life is Rubbish.

A stylised A4 appeared in the opening title sequences for the original episodes of ITV's Poirot series.

The A4 is the basis for the Chuggington character Olwin. However, she lacks a tender.

Models

The distinctive shape of the A4 has made it an obvious choice for model manufacturers, with examples being made in the majority of the popular scales, including a wooden example for the Brio wooden railway. One of the first two Hornby Dublo locomotive models produced, in 1938, was an A4,.  In 1999 a 'Super Detail' Hornby A4 was released, later complimented by a budget 'Railroad' model Hornby also produced an 'OO'-scale live steam version in September 2003, that used an electrically-heated boiler to produce steam – not previously possible in such a small model. Trix produced an 'OO' scale model A4 from 1970; it was re-branded as a Liliput model in 1974 and survives to this day in modified form as a Bachmann model - Kader, Bachmann's parent company, had bought Liliput in 1993. 

Notes
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