LNER Class A4
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.
Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works
In the 1960s, construction began on new snow ploughs for the DR in East Germany as well as the conversion of steam locomotives to oil-firing. At the same time the refurbishment of diesel locomotives was taken on. The number of employees hovered around 2,000. In 1961 the former streamliner, 61 002, was converted by the factory into the high-speed, trial locomotive, 18 201, which is still operational today. This engine reached a top speed of 180 km/h and is currently the fastest, operational steam locomotive in the world. In 1981 the construction of fireless locomotives and S-Bahn bogies began, whilst the repair of steam locomotives steadily waned.