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.
LNWR Lady of the Lake class
Locomotives were kept ready for days on end at Queenstown, Holyhead, and Stafford in anticipation of the mail. The steamer from Kingstown arrived alongside the Admiralty pier at Holyhead at 8:15 a.m. on 7 January 1862. Within seven minutes, an Allan 2-2-2 set off to Holyhead station. Here the Allan Engine was changed for No. 229 "Watt", which set off for Stafford. It was hauling a short train of only three four-wheel coaches. Thanks to the newly installed water troughs near Mochdre, it was able to cover the without stopping to take on water, and despite the rough weather of the North Wales coast, reached Stafford 144 minutes later, at an average speed of . This was the greatest non-stop distance covered by a steam train at that time. An engine change was completed at Stafford in as little as a minute and a half, and Bloomer No. 372 took the train on to Euston station, arriving at 1:13 p.m., less than five hours after the steamer had arrived at Holyhead. "The Times" considered the effort to be "a speed unparalleled over so long a line, crowded with ordinary traffic".
Later that year, in the 1862 International Exhibition, The LNWR exhibited a locomotive and tender fitted with the "Apparatus for supplying water to tenders whilst in motion". The catalogue made note that this was the same class that ran the "American express" on 7 January, but the locomotive selected was No. 531 "Lady of the Lake", rather than "Watt" itself. The "Lady of the Lake" was awarded a bronze medal, and the entire class became known to many as the "Lady of the Lake" class.