Milwaukee Road class F7
The F7s are major contenders for the fastest steam locomotives ever built, as they ran at over daily. One run in January 1941 recorded by a reporter for "Trains" magazine saw achieved twice—in the midst of a heavy snowstorm. Baron Gérard Vuillet, a French railroading expert, once recorded a run between Chicago and Milwaukee where the locomotive reached and sustained an average for . However, the British locomotive LNER Class A4 4468 "Mallard" is officially accepted to be the world's fastest, with a run recorded at but authenticated at 126 mph in 1938.
Rotorua Express
The Rotorua Express has the distinction of being the very first express passenger train in the world to be hauled by Pacific locomotives, when Q349 hauled it out of Auckland on Christmas Eve, 1901. This was the start of a worldwide trend, with such trains as the 20th Century Limited, Orient Express, Flying Scotsman and many more all sporting such locomotives of the type in later years. The world's fastest steam locomotive, is also of the same type.