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.
Steam engine
Trevithick continued his own experiments using a trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808. Only four years later, the successful twin-cylinder locomotive "Salamanca" by Matthew Murray was used by the edge railed rack and pinion Middleton Railway. In 1825 George Stephenson built the "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This was the first public steam railway in the world and then in 1829, he built "The Rocket" which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830 making exclusive use of steam power for both passenger and freight trains.