Czech rail records
The fastest steam locomotive
Locomotive 498.106 ČSD, nicknamed Albatross, reached top speed 162 km/h on railway test circuit Velim (August 27, 1964)
4-6-2
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) and the North Eastern Railway (NER) each built two Pacific types in 1922, later to become the Classes A1/A3 and A2 on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Further examples of these two classes were built by the LNER after 1923.
The GNR Class A1, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and later rebuilt into the improved Class A3, featured three cylinders and an innovative conjugated valve gear. The class eventually consisted of 79 locomotives. After initial teething problems, it proved to be an excellent design and one of them, the "Flying Scotsman", was the first British locomotive to be officially recorded as reaching .
This speed was surpassed by the streamlined LNER Class A4 of 1935, when no. 2509 "Silver Link" reached on its inaugural run in 1935. Three years later, on 3 July 1938, no. 4468 "Mallard" touched , which is still the world speed record for steam traction. 35 locomotives of the class were built by 1938.