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.
Adler (locomotive)
On 7 December 1835 the "Adler", driven by William Wilson, ran for the first time on the 6.05 kilometres long track of the "Ludwigsbahn" in nine minutes. 200 guests of honour were on the train and 26-year-old Scotsman William Wilson was in the cab. In time intervals of two hours two more test runs were made.
The locomotive was in use with up to nine wagons with 192 passengers as a maximum. In normal use it drove at a maximum speed of 28 km/h because the locomotive should be preserved. The normal run time was about 14 minutes. Demonstration trial could be done at a maximum speed of 65 km/h. In most cases horses were used as working animals instead of the steam locomotive. Because the coal was first very expensive most services were done as a horsecar. Goods were transported additionally to the passengers beginning from the year 1839. One of the first goods which were transported were beer barrels and cattle. In 1845 there was a considerable transport of goods. After running successfully for twenty-two years the "Adler" was now the weakest locomotive on the European continent. Moreover, the consumption of coal of newer steam engines was much more efficient until then. The locomotive was used in Nuremberg as a stationary steam engine. 1858 the railway company sold the locomotive with the tender but minus its wheels and further accessories to the iron dealer "Mr. Director Riedinger" located in Augsburg. A probably unique photograph of the "Adler" taken around 1851, and probably the only one in existence, is in the Nuremberg city archives ("Stadtarchiv Nürnberg"). However, neither the age of the photograph is documented definitely nor is known if the picture shows the original locomotive or only a model. The second class passenger wagon No 8, built in 1835 and rebuilt between 1838 and 1846, was preserved because Ludwig I of Bavaria is supposed to have travelled in it.