What was the fastest steam locomotive?
Nigel Gresley
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (19 June 1876 – 5 April 1941) was an English railway engineer. He was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). He was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain, including the LNER Class A1 and LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific engines. An A1 Pacific, "Flying Scotsman", was the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and an A4, number 4468 "Mallard", still holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world (126 mph).
Saint Paul Union Depot
The "Morning Hiawatha" may have held the record as the world's fastest steam train on two or more measures: The run from Sparta to Portage, Wisconsin was scheduled for 58 minutes—an average of . Speeds up to and above were achieved on a daily basis, and the powerful Milwaukee Road class F7 engines (designed for a "reserve speed" of ) likely ran more miles at or above than any other steam locomotives in history.
New York Central Niagara
The American Locomotive Company ALCO proposed these locomotives, and although the design owes something to the Union Pacific 4-8-4's, of which Union Pacific 844 is the best-known, the design was actually quite new. Some steam experts have claimed the Niagara to be the ultimate locomotive, as it had the speed of an FEF (the Union Pacific's nickname for their 'four eight fours' was FEF) and the power of Northerns with smaller driver wheels.
Pennsylvania Railroad class S1
In terms of tractive effort and drawbar horsepower, PRR S1 was the most powerful reciprocating steam locomotive ever built for passenger service in 1939. Starting tractive effort calculated in the usual way (85% mean effective pressure) comes out , but the engine used 70.6% limited cutoff (presumably to increase port openings at short cutoff), so the railroad claimed a correspondingly lower tractive effort. During a test run between Chicago, Illinois and Crestline, Ohio in December 1940, S1 managed to reach on level track with 1350 tons passenger stock behind her, which was equal to 24 postwar lightweight passenger cars. In this test run, S1 also achieved an average speed of , which was 27% faster than the average schedule speed of the route. Some publishment from Germany stated that S1 was able to reach in other road tests during the late 1940s with a lighter load behind her, but PRR never claimed this record. On Apr 19, 1941, during an excursion run organized by the Detroit Railroad Club, S1 reached on the route between Fort Wayne and Chicago. 
An article "Riding the Gargantua of the Rails" in the Dec 1941 Popular Mechanics Magazine cites a speed recorded by assistant road foreman Charlie Wappes of the Fort Wayne Division during the S1’s test runs at with 12 heavyweight passenger cars in its back. There are other stories of the S1 reaching or exceeding . In the German trade press and literature from 1945, there was a report of a record run of the S1, citing railroad officials of Interstate Commerce Commission that a speed of was reached when the engine was trying to make up time for a delayed westbound train, the Trail Blazer.
Russian locomotive class Ye
In 1944 the first steam engines of the Е series, which was given index "a" (U.S.), resulting in the designation of Еа. The numbers of locomotives built by ALCO began at #2001 and the Baldwin built locomotives at #2201. In September the same year, the first Baldwin built locomotive (Еа-2201) was sent to the pilot ring VNIIZhT which was tested until October. In the course of the tests, it was found that forcing the boiler to , a cutoff of 60% and at a speed of , the engine could develop of tractive effort. It was also found that the locomotive could achieve , which was a 20–25% increase compared to the World War I engines (). The improved performance was achieved through improved boiler and the use of mechanical stoker. The temperature of superheated steam was typically 572–644 °F (300–340 °C), and no more than 698 °F (370 °C).
Baldwin Locomotive Works
There are many Baldwin built steam locomotives currently operating in the United States, Canada, and several other countries around the world. Out of all the Baldwin built steam locomotives that are operational or have operated in recent years, the most recognized locomotives are Reading 2101, Southern Railway 4501, Frisco 1522, Nickel Plate 587, Southern Pacific 2467, Southern Pacific 2472, Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700, the oldest surviving 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive, Santa Fe 3751, and the last domestic steam locomotive Baldwin built, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309.
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.
Steam locomotive exhaust system
Andre Chapelon made a significant improvement with his Kylchap exhaust which incorporated a "Kyala spreader" (second stage nozzle) and third stage cowl between the blastpipe (first stage nozzle) and chimney. This became popular at the end of the steam era (early-mid 20th century) and was used on the Nigel Gresley's Mallard which holds the official world speed record for steam locomotives. Other contemporary designs include the Giesl, and Lemaître exhausts which achieve the same aim by different means.
Steam locomotive
In 1998, in his book "The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam", David Wardale put forward the concept of a high-speed high-efficiency "Super Class 5 4-6-0" locomotive for future steam haulage of tour trains on British main lines. The idea was formalised in 2001 by the formation of 5AT Project dedicated to developing and building the 5AT Advanced Technology Steam Locomotive, but it never received any major railway backing.
London King's Cross railway station
A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was "Mallard", which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at , set in 1938.
Steam locomotive
Many of the earliest locomotives for American railroads were imported from Great Britain, including first the "Stourbridge Lion" and later the "John Bull" (still the oldest operable engine-powered vehicle in the United States of any kind, as of 1981) however a domestic locomotive-manufacturing industry was quickly established. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's "Tom Thumb" in 1830, designed and built by Peter Cooper, was the first US-built locomotive to run in America, although it was intended as a demonstration of the potential of steam traction, rather than as a revenue-earning locomotive. The "DeWitt Clinton" was also built in the 1830s.
Milwaukee Road class F7
The Milwaukee F7s are accepted as the fastest steam locomotives by a different measure—scheduled speed between stations. In 1939, shortly after they were introduced into passenger service, the "Twin Cities Hiawatha" schedule was modified such that the engines would need to run the between Portage and Sparta, Wisconsin in 58 minutes—a start-to-stop average of .
DRG Class 05
05 001 and 05 002 were mainly used for test runs from 1935 to 1936. Most of these runs were made on complete journeys between Hamburg and Berlin. On 7 June 1935 the 05 002 made a top speed of near Berlin. The same engine made six more runs with more than with trains up to weight. On 11 May 1936 it set the world speed record for steam locomotives after reaching on the Berlin–Hamburg line hauling a train. The engine power was more than ). This record was broken two years later by the British LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard engine on a slightly downhill line.
DRG Class E 19
The electric locomotives of the class E 19 (class 119 from 1968) were the fastest electric locomotives of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In regular service, they were restricted to a maximum speed of 180 km/h, but the locomotives were designed for travel speeds of up to 225 km/h. At the time of their presentation, they were the most powerful single frame locomotives ever built.
Sentetsu Pashi class locomotives
In total, there were 144 Pashi type locomotives of five distinct classes built for Sentetsu:Of these, the Pashishi class was the most numerous, and the Pashiko class was the heaviest and fastest steam locomotive ever to be operated by a Korean railway company.
Streamliner
The visual styling of the new trainsets made the existing fleets of locomotives and railcars suddenly look old hat. Rail lines soon responded by adding streamlined shrouding and varying degrees of mechanical improvement to older locomotives, and re-styling heavyweight cars. The first American steam locomotive to receive that treatment was one of the New York Central Railroad's J-1 Hudson class locomotives built in 1930, which was re-introduced with streamlined shrouding and dubbed the "Commodore Vanderbilt" in December 1934. New York Central's streamline styling was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, who followed his work on the "Vanderbilt" with full-length exterior and interior design of NYC's "Mercury" trainsets in 1936. 1937 saw bullet-front streamlining introduced by Otto Kuehler on a 4-6-2 locomotive for B&O's "Royal Blue", with a variation of that theme used by Dreyfuss on NYC's new J-3a Hudsons for the "Twentieth Century Limited." While streamlining on steam locomotives was more about marketing than performance, newly designed locomotives with state-of-the-art steam technology became very fast. The Milwaukee Road class A Atlantics, purpose-built to compete with the "Twin Cities Zephyr" in 1935, were the first "steamliners" equipped to back up their styled claim to extra speed. During a run by locomotive #2 with a dynamometer car on May 15, 1935, a top speed of 112.5 mph (181.1 km/h) was recorded. This was the fastest authenticated speed reached by a steam locomotive at the time, making #2 the rail speed record holder for steam and the first steam locomotive to top 110 mph (177 km/h). That record lasted until a German DRG Class 05 locomotive exceeded it the following year. In 1937 Milwaukee introduced the class F7 Hudsons on the "Twin Cities Hiawatha" run, which were known to cruise above and said to exceed on occasion. The Milwaukee Road's speedsters were designed by Otto Kuehler with "shovel nose" styling and for the Class A some details evocative of the "Zephyrs." Streamliner steam locomotives continued to be produced into the early postwar era; among the most distinctive were Pennsylvania Railroad's duplex-drive 6-4-4-6 type S1 and 4-4-4-4 type T1 locomotives styled by Raymond Loewy. In terms of service longevity, the most successful were the Norfolk and Western J1 class locomotives introduced in 1941.
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
60163 "Tornado" is a main line coal-fired steam locomotive built in Darlington, County Durham, England. Completed in 2008, "Tornado" was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since "Evening Star", the last steam locomotive built by British Railways in 1960. It is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped without preservation. The locomotive's namesake is the Panavia Tornado, a combat aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force. In April 2017, "Tornado" became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph in over 50 years on British tracks.
Steam locomotive
In 1812, Matthew Murray's successful twin-cylinder rack locomotive "Salamanca" first ran on the edge-railed rack-and-pinion Middleton Railway. Another well-known early locomotive was "Puffing Billy", built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley. It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display in the Science Museum, London. In 1825 George Stephenson built "Locomotion No. 1" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north-east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle "The Rocket" which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains.
Norfolk and Western 1218
Norfolk and Western No. 1218 is a steam locomotive that at one time was the strongest-pulling operational steam locomotive in the world. It is a four-cylinder simple articulated locomotive with a 2-6-6-4 (Whyte system) wheel arrangement. The Norfolk & Western Railway built it in 1943 at its Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, and was part of the Norfolk & Western's class A fleet of fast freight locomotives. It was retired from regular revenue service in 1959, but Norfolk & Western successor Norfolk Southern Railway operated it in excursion service from 1987 to 1991. Today it is on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.
Steam locomotive
For a short period after the war, both Bundesbahn (DB) and Reichsbahn (DR) still placed orders for new steam locomotives. They needed to renew the rolling stock, mostly with steam locomotives designed for accelerated passenger trains. Many of the existing predecessors of those types of steam locomotives in Germany had been lost in the battles or simply reached the end of their lifetime, such as the famous Prussian P 8. There was no need for new freight train engines, however, because thousands of the Classes 50 and 52 had been built during the Second World War.
Because the concept of the so-called "Einheitslokomotiven", the standard locomotives built in the 1920s and 1930s, and still in wide use, was already outdated in the pre-war era, a whole new design for the new steam locomotives was developed by DB and DR, called "Neubaudampflokomotiven" (new-build steam locomotives). The steam locomotives made by the DB in West Germany, under the guidance of Friedrich Witte, represented the latest evolution in steam locomotive construction including fully welded frames, high-performance boilers and roller bearings on all moving parts. Although these new DB classes (10, 23, 65, 66 and 82) were said to be among the finest and best-performing German steam locomotives ever built, none of them exceeded 25 years in service. The last one, 23 105 (still preserved), went into service in 1959.
James Holden (locomotive engineer)
The Decapod developed mainly under Chief Draughtsman Frederick Vernon Russell was an extraordinary endeavour to develop a steam locomotive which could perform at the level of electric traction. It was built in 1902 to forestall an imminent scheme for an electrified railway out of London to suburbs served by the GER. Since the proponents of the scheme had a slogan about electric trains accelerating to thirty miles an hour in thirty seconds, Holden resolved to obtain the same performance with steam traction. A massive boiler with Wootten firebox, three cylinders each with its own blastpipe cone, and ten smallish driving wheels ensured a lively acceleration. On trial it did rather better than 30 mi/h (50 km/h) in thirty seconds, accelerating at 1.46 ft/s² (0.45 m/s²): This performance put an end to the electrification scheme even though (as Holden had known all the time) the regular use of so massive a machine would never have been permitted by the civil engineer.
History of rail transport
This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive "Puffing Billy" built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. "Puffing Billy" is now on display in the Science Museum in London, making it the oldest locomotive in existence.
In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive "Blücher", also a successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the north east of England, which became the first public steam railway in the world, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive "Rocket", which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all the time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway, built in 1830.
LNER Class A4
No other British steam locomotives have a longer or more consistent record of high speed running than the A4s. Instances of 100 mph running by them must exceed those of all other types combined, though 90 mph running was a relatively rare event with steam traction, much less 100 mph. It should also be remembered that A4s operated on the East Coast Main Line which has more opportunities for high speed running (particularly Stoke Bank) than any other in the UK.
4-6-4
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) could have produced the first American since its design work was done earlier than that of the NYC, but financial constraints delayed the project and the Milwaukee's locomotives only emerged in 1930. The Milwaukee called them Baltic, following the European practice started in France. The initial order of fourteen Class F6 locomotives was followed by eight more Class F6a locomotives in 1931 and, in 1938, the Milwaukee acquired six streamlined Class F7 Hudsons with the shrouds. These took over the Milwaukee's crack "Hiawatha" express trains from the Class A Atlantics and were among the fastest steam locomotives of all time. The schedules of many of these trains required extended running at .
Santa Fe class 3460
In December 1937, locomotive #3461 set a world record for the longest single run by a steam locomotive by completing the from Los Angeles, California to Chicago without maintenance other than five refuelling stops en route, hauling Train #8, the Fast Mail Express. An average speed of was obtained, including stops; maximum speed during the run was . During steeply graded portions of the run it was, of course, assisted by helper locomotives. Such long distance runs were a goal of railway operating departments, enabling a reduction in locomotive numbers and through increased locomotive utilization, reduce overall costs.
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
With a shorter rake of eleven coaches compared with the original Peppercorn A1's usage, "Tornado" is expected to achieve contemporary main line speeds. Theoretically capable of , "Tornado" may in the future gain permission to run at , making her the fastest steam locomotive on the British main line. "Tornado" is expected to see main line use until its ten-year fire-tube boiler re-certification in late 2018.
Pennsylvania Railroad class S2
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class S2 was a steam turbine locomotive designed and built in a collaborative effort by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, as an attempt to prolong the dominance of the steam locomotive by adapting technology that had been widely accepted in the marine industry. One was built, #6200, delivered in September 1944. The S2 was the sole example of the 6-8-6 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, with a six-wheel leading truck, eight driving wheels, and a six-wheel trailing truck. The S2 used a direct-drive steam turbine provided by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, geared to the center pair of axles with the outer two axles connected by side rods; the fixed gear ratio was 18.5:1. Such design was to prevent energy loss and S2 achieved a mechanical efficiency of 97% which means only 3% of steam energy was lost within the propulsion equipment. The disadvantage of direct-drive steam turbine was that the turbine could not operate at optimal speeds over the locomotive's entire speed range. The S2 was the largest, heaviest and fastest direct-drive turbine locomotive design ever built.
Locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive whose primary power source is a steam engine. The most common form of steam locomotive also contains a boiler to generate the steam used by the engine. The water in the boiler is heated by burning combustible material – usually coal, wood, or oil – to produce steam. The steam moves reciprocating pistons which are connected to the locomotive's main wheels, known as the "drivers". Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons called "tenders" pulled behind.
The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick in 1802. It was constructed for the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in the United Kingdom though no record of it working there has survived. On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales. Accompanied by Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated a number of important innovations including the use of high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency.
In 1812, Matthew Murray's twin-cylinder rack locomotive "Salamanca" first ran on the edge-railed rack-and-pinion Middleton Railway; this is generally regarded as the first commercially successful locomotive. Another well-known early locomotive was "Puffing Billy", built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display in the Science Museum, London. George Stephenson built "Locomotion No. 1" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the north-east of England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built "The Rocket" in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Rocket was entered into, and won, the Rainhill Trials. This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent early builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, built by Stephenson, opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains.
Norfolk and Western 1218
During 1218's excursion career, it was the most powerful operational steam locomotive in the world, with a tractive effort of , well above the next-strongest-pulling operational steam locomotive (Union Pacific 3985, with a tractive effort of ). However, when Union Pacific 4014 finishes its restoration, 1218 will become the locomotive with the second highest tractive effort. Unlike diesel-electric locomotives of similar high tractive effort (for starting heavy trains) but typical for a steam locomotive, it could easily run at 70 miles per hour (113 km/h) and more.
Czech rail records
The fastest diesel rail vehicle
Locomotive T 499.0002 (759.002), nicknamed Cyclop, reached top speed 178 km/h on railway test circuit Velim (July 21, 1975)
John Bull (locomotive)
John Bull is a British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operated it in 1981. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company, the "John Bull" was initially purchased by and operated for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad in New Jersey, which gave "John Bull" the number 1 and its first name, ""Stevens"". (Robert L. Stevens was president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad at the time.). The C&A used the locomotive heavily from 1833 until 1866, when it was removed from active service and placed in storage.
Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) produced several classes of locomotive, mostly to the designs of Nigel Gresley, characterised by a three-cylinder layout with a parallel boiler and round-topped firebox. It produced the most iconic locomotive of its day, 4468 'Mallard', the holder of the world steam locomotive speed record. It also built the world-famous 4472 'Flying Scotsman'. However, its locomotive inheritance was much greater than just the 'A4 Class', it also produced highly successful mixed-traffic and freight designs.Including the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Steam locomotive
Most British express-passenger locomotives built between 1930 and 1950 were 4-6-0 or 4-6-2 types with three or four cylinders (e.g. GWR 6000 Class, LMS Coronation Class, SR Merchant Navy Class, LNER Gresley Class A3). From 1951, all but one of the 999 new British Rail standard class steam locomotives across all types used 2-cylinder configurations for easier maintenance.
Lombard Steam Log Hauler
Alvin Orlando Lombard was a blacksmith building logging equipment in Waterville, Maine. He built 83 steam log haulers between 1901 and 1917. These log haulers resembled a saddle-tank steam locomotive with a small platform in front of the boiler where the cow-catcher might be expected. A steering wheel on the platform moved a large pair of skis beneath the platform. A set of tracked vehicle treads occupied the space beneath the boiler where driving wheels might be expected. The locomotive cylinders powered the treads through a gear train. The log haulers mechanically resembled 10- to 30-ton snowmobiles with a top speed of about .
History of steam road vehicles
In 1858 Thomas Rickett of Buckingham built the first of several steam carriages. Instead of looking like a carriage, it resembled a small locomotive. It consisted of a steam-engine mounted on three wheels: two large driven rear wheels and one smaller front wheel by which the vehicle was steered. The whole was driven by a chain drive and a maximum speed of twelve miles per hour was reached. The weight of the machine was 1.5 tonnes and somewhat lighter than Rickett's steam carriage.
Essendine railway station
The world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph was achieved on 3 July 1938 by LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard. Taking place on the slight downwards grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line, the highest speed was recorded at milepost 90¼, between Little Bytham and Essendine. It broke the German (DRG Class 05) 002's 1936 record of 124 mph (200.4 km/h).
History of rail transport in Great Britain to 1830
Trevithick built a third locomotive in 1808, "Catch Me Who Can", which ran on a temporary demonstration railway in Bloomsbury, London. Members of the public were able to ride behind at speeds up to . However, it again broke the rails and Trevithick was forced to abandon the demonstration after just two months.
The first commercially successful steam locomotive was the twin cylinder "Salamanca", built in 1812 by John Blenkinsop and Matthew Murray for the gauge Middleton Railway. Blenkinsop believed that a locomotive light enough to move under its own power would be too light to generate sufficient adhesion, so he designed a rack and pinion system for the line. This was despite the fact that Trevithick had demonstrated successful adhesion locomotives a decade before. The single rack ran outside the narrow gauge edge-rail tracks and was engaged by a cog-wheel on the left side of the locomotive. The cog-wheel was driven by two cylinders embedded into the top of the center-flue boiler. Four such locomotives were built for the railway, and they worked until the early 1830s.
2-8-4
Two prototypes were built in two-cylinder and three-cylinder versions. When tested, the two-cylinder version proved to be superior to the three-cylinder Class 114 version, and eventually twelve more two-cylinder Class 214 locomotives were built. In 1936, no. 214.13 reached a speed of , the highest speed ever attained by an Austrian steam locomotive. The regular speed limit was .
From 1938, the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) designated the locomotives class 12.0. In the summer of 1939, they hauled 600 tons express trains out of Vienna over Wienerwald at a speed of , reaching over level stretches.
Mumbai Rajdhani Express
The 12951/12952 Mumbai Rajdhani Express is the fastest train on the Mumbai - Delhi sector and the fastest Rajdhani train as well as the fastest train (Considering ARS and including halts) in India. Mumbai Rajdhani Express is the first Rajdhani to get Alstom-LHB Coaches in India. It used to run six days a week until September 2000 after which Railways decided to run it daily. In its early days, it used to cover the distance of 1385 kilometres in each direction in 19 hours and 5 minutes. However, after the electrification of the route, the speed of the train improved and as of 2018, it takes 15 hours and 35 minutes when operating as train number 12951 at an average speed of 89 km/h (including halts) while on its return journey as train number 12952 takes 15 hrs 50 mins at an average speed of 88  km/h (including halts) thus making it the fastest train on the Mumbai - Delhi sector. Before the introduction of the LHB coaches, the maximum speed that could be attained with the conventional rakes was 120 km/h.But after introduction of LHB rakes the highest speed that could possibly be attained is 160 km/h but is restrictred to 130 km/h due to Head-On-Generation Technology. After their introduction, the LHB coaches enhanced the speed of the Rajdhani to more than 120 km/h and even touching 130 km/h most of the time. The highest attained speed was 140 km/h between Asaoti and Mathura, but it was only on trial basis for one month . Recently Virar-Vadodara-Godhra Section top speed is enhanced from 120 km/h to 130 km/h. Hence, Mumbai Rajdhani's time reduced from 16 hours to 15 hr 35 minutes while it continues to be the fastest train in India (including halts) with average speed of 91 km/h.It is the first train (along with 12953/54 August Kranti Rajdhani Express as both have Rake Sharing) to be experimented with HOG (Head On Generation) which powers the train directly from locomotive instead of an EOG or generator van .
Steam turbine locomotive
In May 1954 Baldwin built a steam turbine-electric locomotive for freight service on the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), nicknamed the "Jawn Henry" after the legend of John Henry, a rock driller who famously raced against a steam drill and won, only to die immediately after. Length including tender was 161 ft 1-1/2 inches, probably the record for a steam locomotive; engine-only length was 111 ft 7-1/2 inches, perhaps the record for any single unit.
Liverpool–Manchester lines
, the fastest journey times are around half an hour, which is little better than over a century earlier. The fastest recorded run was from Manchester Exchange to Liverpool Lime St in 30 minutes 46 seconds by a 1936 built Jubilee 5707 with 7 coaches. An 1882-built compound steam locomotive was timed on the same route in 38 minutes 18 seconds. Until 1968 trains from Liverpool to Manchester by all 3 routes were scheduled to take 40 minutes and often took less. The southern route via Warrington is now restricted to 85 mph and the northern route via Earlestown to 90 mph, with 75 mph over Chat Moss.
DR 18 201
The German express locomotive, number 18 201 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany, appeared in 1960–61 at Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works as a conversion of the Henschel-Wegmann train locomotive 61 002, the tender from 44 468 and parts of H 45 024 and Class 41. It is the fastest operational steam locomotive in the world.
List of preserved steam locomotives in Germany
The low weight of this locomotive, which was based on the DRG Class 01, was achieved by using a light bar frame, smaller boiler and smaller cylinders. From running number 03 123 the pumps were located in the middle of the vehicle and from number 03 163 the locomotives had larger leading wheels. All locomotives had 2 cylinders.
The Class 03.10 was an evolutionary development of the Class 03, comparable to the locomotives of Class 01.10,which were derived from Class 01. Class 03.10 were three-cylinder locomotives equipped with full streamlining on delivering.
Class 05 locomotives were standard express train locomotives of the Deutsche Reichsbahn with full streamlining. Three engines were built, number 05 002 achieved a world speed record for rail vehicles at over 200 km/h.
4-4-2 (locomotive)
The locomotives were cross balanced and ran on drivers. They had an oil-fired grate and a rated boiler pressure of , which gave the boiler a high capacity in relation to the cylinders. Designed for a light-weight train of five to six passenger cars, they were considered as probably the fastest steam locomotives ever built in the United States, possibly capable of matching any locomotive in the world. The fleet covered their schedule in 400 minutes with several stops en route, at an average speed of more than on some sections and often arriving with one or two minutes to spare.
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.
Le Mistral (train)
Still steam-hauled in 1964, the "Mistral" was one of the fastest trains in France, with an "average" speed of on the Paris – Dijon section, as well as an average speed of 129 km/h on its Valence – Avignon section. It also had the distinction of being the train with the "world's fastest schedule for [a route of] over 500 miles", averaging on its Paris – Marseille section. Slower speeds on the more "rugged country" between Marseille and Nice brought the average speed down to over the full 1,086 km route from Paris to Nice, which was nevertheless a relatively high average speed for 1964. Soon after that, electrification of the route was completed, and "Le Mistral" began being hauled by modern electric locomotives; starting in 1969, it was Class CC 6500 locomotives. This change along with new passenger coaches increased the train's average speed and shortened the travel time, the latter going from 10 hours, 21 minutes, in 1964 to just over 9 hours in June 1969.
Diesel locomotive
In 1906, Rudolf Diesel, Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing Diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered a diesel locomotive from the company in 1909, and after test runs between Winterthur and Romanshorn the diesel–mechanical locomotive was delivered in Berlin in September 1912. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railroad in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. During further test runs in 1913 several problems were found. After the First World War broke out in 1914, all further trials were stopped. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through the mid-1920s.
Steam locomotive
In Sydney, Clyde Engineering and the workshops in Eveleigh both built steam locomotives for the New South Wales Government Railways. These include the C38 class 4-6-2; the first five were built at Clyde with streamlining, the other 25 locomotives were built at Eveleigh (13) and Cardiff Workshops (12) near Newcastle. In Queensland, steam locomotives were locally constructed by Walkers. Similarly the South Australian state government railways also manufactured steam locomotives locally at Islington Railway Workshops in Adelaide. Victorian Railways constructed most of their locomotives at their Newport Workshops and in Bendigo, while in the early days locomotives were built at the Phoenix Foundry in Ballarat. Locomotives constructed at the Newport shops ranged from the nA class 2-6-2T built for the narrow gauge, up to the H class 4-8-4 – the largest conventional locomotive ever to operate in Australia, weighing 260 tons. However, the title of largest locomotive ever used in Australia goes to the 263-ton NSWGR AD60 class 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt, built by Beyer-Peacock in the United Kingdom. Most steam locomotives used in Western Australia were built in the United Kingdom, though some examples were designed and built locally at the Western Australian Government Railways' Midland Railway Workshops. The 10 WAGR S class locomotives (introduced in 1943) were the only class of steam locomotive to be wholly conceived, designed and built in Western Australia, while the Midland workshops notably participated in the Australia-wide construction program of Australian Standard Garratts – these wartime locomotives were built at Midland in Western Australia, Clyde Engineering in New South Wales, Newport in Victoria and Islington in South Australia and saw varying degrees of service in all Australian states.
The introduction of electric locomotives around the turn of the 20th century and later diesel-electric locomotives spelled the beginning of a decline in the use of steam locomotives, although it was some time before they were phased out of general use. As diesel power (especially with electric transmission) became more reliable in the 1930s, it gained a foothold in North America. The full transition away from steam power in North America took place during the 1950s. In continental Europe, large-scale electrification had replaced steam power by the 1970s. Steam was a familiar technology, adapted well to local facilities, and also consumed a wide variety of fuels; this led to its continued use in many countries until the end of the 20th century.
Race to the North
On the East Coast route, GNR locomotives ran on what was undoubtedly the fastest line in the world but the ""Flying Scotsman"" service was not their fastest train – compared with, say, on routes with more competition. A wide variety of locomotives was in use – the Patrick Stirling 4-2-2 "8-foot" singles, complemented with his 2-2-2 "7-foot 6" singles, were outstanding for speed and reliability, being capable of on flat terrain. The latest express NER engines were Tennant 2-4-0s and the T.W. Worsdell–von Borries compound Worsdell 'F' 4-4-0s which were powerful, although not so fast.
Having compound engines required the development of sufficiently strong steel connecting rods for fast running and the 4-4-0s developed from 2-4-0s when it was found that a front bogie gave greater high speed stability. The East Coast route had no severe gradients and was slightly shorter than the west.
LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
While the Great Western Railway locomotive "City of Truro" had previously been unofficially timed at running in excess of , 4472 became the first steam locomotive to be officially authenticated at this speed on 30 November 1934, driven by Bill Sparshatt and running a light test train. It earned a place in the land speed record for railed vehicles; the publicity-conscious LNER made much of the fact.
Milwaukee Road class A
They hauled the fastest scheduled steam-powered trains in the world. Running at 100 mph or greater was required to keep these schedules; the class A locomotives were designed to cruise at over and be able to achieve . A run with a dynamometer car behind the locomotive was made on May 15, 1935 by locomotive No. 2 between Milwaukee and New Lisbon, Wisconsin. Over a stretch the speed of was recorded. This was the fastest authenticated speed reached by a steam locomotive at the time, making No. 2 the rail speed record holder for steam and the first steam locomotive to top . There are reports, without evidence or accurate records, that these locomotives could exceed . Such speeds would have placed the class A in contention with the LNER Class A4 and German BR 05 for the crown of fastest steam locomotive until that time, but no records have been unearthed. The successor Milwaukee Road class F7 was even more powerful, with a claimed top speed of .
Royal Bavarian State Railways
The one example of the Bavarian S 2/6 engine was designed and built by Anton Hammel, an engineer at the Maffei Locomotive Works, within 5 months and was displayed to the public at the 1906 Nuremberg State Exhibition. After its return from the exhibition it was taken over by the Royal Bavarian State Railways on 21 November 1906. A few months later, in July 1907, it set the world speed record for steam locomotives, recording a top speed of 154.5 km/h on the Munich to Augsburg line. Since being taken out of service in 1925 it has been preserved in the Nuremberg Transport Museum.
Prussian G 5.1
The Prussian Class G 5.1 steam engines were the first 2-6-0 goods locomotives in Europe. They were developed for the Prussian state railways from the Class G 4 and a total of no less than 268 units of this class were placed in service in Prussia between 1892 and 1902. The twin-cylinder G 5.1 had been designed to raise the speed of goods trains on main lines. In addition, more powerful engines were needed for the increasingly heavy train loads. The locomotives, which were equipped with a compressed air brake, were used in charge of fast goods trains ("Eilgüterzugdienst") and also passenger trains due to their impressive top speed of 65 km/h. The G 5.1 was fitted with inside Allan valve gear and the carrying wheels were of the Adams axle design.
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.
High-speed rail
In the early 1950s, the French National Railway started to receive their new powerful CC 7100 electric locomotives, and began to study and evaluate running at higher speeds. In 1954, the CC 7121 hauling a full train achieved a record during a test on standard track. The next year, two specially tuned electric locomotives, the CC 7107 and the prototype BB 9004, broke previous speed records, reaching respectively and , again on standard track. For the first time, was surpassed, allowing the idea of higher speed services to be developed and further engineering studies commenced. Especially, during the 1955 records, a dangerous hunting oscillation, the swaying of the bogies which leads to dynamic instability and potential derailment was discovered. This problem was solved by "yaw dampers" which enabled safe running at high speeds today. Research was also made about "current harnessing" at high-speed by the pantographs, that was solved 20 years later by the Zébulon TGV's prototype.
Rail transport
This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive "Puffing Billy" built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. "Puffing Billy" is now on display in the Science Museum in London, making it the oldest locomotive in existence.
In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive "Blücher", also a successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the north east of England, which became the first public steam railway in the world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive "Rocket", which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all the time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway, built in 1830.
Steam locomotive
The most-manufactured single class of steam locomotive in the world is the 0-10-0 Russian locomotive class E steam locomotive with around 11,000 produced both in Russia and other countries such as Czechoslovakia, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Poland. The Russian locomotive class O numbered 9,129 locomotives, built between 1890 and 1928. Around 7,000 units were produced of the German DRB Class 52 2-10-0 Kriegslok.
The British GWR 5700 class numbered about 863 units. The DX class of the London and North Western Railway numbered 943 units, including 86 engines built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
San Francisco and San Jose Railroad
The first full-sized steam locomotive produced in the state of California was built for the SF&SJ by the Union Iron Works in San Francisco. It was appropriately named the "California". Its inaugural run was August 30, 1865, during which it set a speed record of . Union Iron works also built a similar 28-ton locomotive number 7 and the 18-ton switcher number 8 in 1865. Norris built two more SF&SJ locomotives weighing 26 tons and 28 tons in 1867, while McKay and Aldus of Boston built two 30-ton locomotives. Rhode Island Locomotive Works built a 30-ton locomotive for SF&SJ in 1868, as did Cooke; and Schenectady Locomotive Works built two more. 1870 brought another 30-ton locomotive from Mason and two 33-ton locomotives from Cooke.
VR Class Dr12
When it was introduced, the Dr12 gave drivers a new experience of comfort and forward visibility compared to steam locomotives, but compared to the newer VR Class Dr13, the Dr12 had a heavy axle load and slow acceleration with a top speed of only 120 km/h. The reason for this was that the locomotive turned out to be underpowered. The problem of the top speed was corrected in the last 10 locomotives by changing the transmission in such a way that the technical top speed was increased to 140 km/h, but this feature was never used. As a result, the entire locomotive series had a maximum permissible speed restricted to 120 km/h. However, due to the high axle weight, the Dr12 had good adhesion properties and it was considered to be a reliable and robust locomotive. It was well-suited to heavy trains with relatively low speed requirements.
Chessie (train)
To pull the "Chessie" the C&O ordered three experimental steam turbine locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. As diesel locomotives became more prevalent following World War II, the C&O was one of several railroads loath to abandon coal as a fuel source, and saw steam turbine technology as a possible alternative to diesel. At the time of their construction these locomotives were the longest single-unit locomotives in the world. Not including research and development, the three locomotives cost . The M1s proved a failure in operation and were scrapped in 1950.
Kolomna Locomotive Works
The plant was awarded the Order of Lenin (1939), Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1945) and Order of the October Revolution (1971).Locomotive TEP80-0002 set a world record for locomotive speed. The record is 271 km / h (1993). The locomotive, with a commemorative inscription, is now in the museum at Varshavsky railway station, St. Petersburg. The second locomotive, also with a commemorative inscription, is located in Novosibirsk museum of railway equipment. The record was set by driver Mankiewicz Alexander on October 5, 1993, but is not listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and is declared by the manufacturer.
Metropolitan Railway electric locomotives
The second ten, also constructed by Metropolitan Amalgamated, were built to a box car design with British Thompson Houston control equipment. These locomotives weighed 47 tons, and were long over buffers and entered service in 1907. The control equipment was replaced with the Westinghouse type in 1919.
In the early 1920s, the Metropolitan placed an order with Metropolitan-Vickers of Barrow-in-Furness for rebuilding the twenty electric locomotives. When work started on the first locomotive, it was found to be impractical and uneconomical and the order was changed to building completely new locomotives using some equipment recovered from the originals. The new locomotives were built in 1922-1923 and weighing 61½ tons, they had four motors, giving a one-hour rating of and a top speed of .
John Bull (locomotive)
The running gear seemed to be in good order, but it was still unknown if the boiler could still handle the pressure of steam and a live fire again. The museum asked the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company to inspect the locomotive's boiler for operation. The inspections were conducted after hours at the museum (from 6:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.) over three days and included electromagnetic, ultrasonic, and radiographic tests. The tests did reveal a few flaws, but it was projected that the engine could operate at a reduced boiler pressure of 50 psi (340 kPa or 3.5 kgf/cm²); as delivered to the Camden & Amboy, the boiler was rated for or 4.9 kgf/cm². The Smithsonian's staff, after a few further hydrostatic tests, were confident that the locomotive could again operate under its own power. The items that needed repair were repaired, and on October 14, 1980, the locomotive was successfully field-tested on the Warrenton Branch Line in Fauquier County between Calverton and Casanova, Virginia. The site was selected, because at the time, only one freight train per week used the branch line. On September 15, 1981, the locomotive operated under steam on a few miles of branch line near the Potomac River within Washington, D.C. With this exhibition, the locomotive became the oldest operable steam locomotive (and oldest self-propelled vehicle) in the world.
Rotorua Express
The Rotorua Express has the distinction of being the very first express passenger train in the world to be hauled by Pacific locomotives, when Q349 hauled it out of Auckland on Christmas Eve, 1901. This was the start of a worldwide trend, with such trains as the 20th Century Limited, Orient Express, Flying Scotsman and many more all sporting such locomotives of the type in later years. The world's fastest steam locomotive, is also of the same type.
New York Central Railroad
Steam locomotives of the NYC were optimized for speed on that flat raceway of a main line, rather than slow mountain lugging. Famous locomotives of the system included the well-known 4-6-4 Hudsons, particularly the 1937–38 J-3a's; 4-8-2 World War II–era L-3 and L-4 Mohawks; and the postwar S-class Niagaras: fast 4-8-4 locomotives often considered the epitome of their breed by steam locomotive aficionados.
For two-thirds of the twentieth century the New York Central had some of the most famous trains in the United States. Its "20th Century Limited", begun in 1902, ran from Grand Central Terminal in New York to LaSalle Street Station, Chicago, and was its most famous train, known for its red carpet treatment and first class service. In the mid-1930s many railroad companies were introducing streamliner locomotives; until the New York Central introduced the "Commodore Vanderbilt", all were diesel-electric. The "Vanderbilt" used the more common steam engine. The "Century", which followed the Water Level Route, could complete the 960-mile trip in 16 hours after its June 15, 1938 streamlining (and did it in 15½ hours for a short period after World War II). Also famous was its "Empire State Express" through upstate New York to Buffalo and Cleveland, and "Ohio State Limited" from New York to Cincinnati. NYC also provided the Rexall Train of 1936, which toured 47 states to promote the Rexall chain of drug stores.
Berlin–Hamburg Railway
On 11 May 1936, high-speed steam locomotive 05 002, hauling three express carriages and a test van, reached 200.4 km/h at the 52 km mark between Vietznitz and Paulinenaue, a world record for steam locomotives.
On 15 May 1933, Germany’s first high-speed diesel train, DRG 877 "Fliegender Hamburger" ("Flying Hamburger"), was introduced on the line. With a travel time of two hours and 18 minutes the "Fliegender Hamburger" had an average speed of for the , between Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and Berlin Lehrter station. The "Fliegender Hamburger" was the world's fastest scheduled rail service. The majority of travellers still travelled in ordinary steam-hauled express trains with a travel time of three and a half to four hours. With the outbreak of World War II, military priorities meant that high-speed projects were abandoned.
Charles Rous-Marten
He is chiefly known for recording a speed of 102.3 mph on the 'Ocean Mail' special from Plymouth to London hauled by GWR locomotive 3440 City of Truro on 9 May 1904, the first time that a steam locomotive was recorded to have achieved 100 mph.
British Rail Class 91
A Class 91, 91010 (now 91110) holds the British locomotive speed record at , set on 17 September 1989, just south of Little Bytham on a test run down Stoke Bank with the DVT leading. Although Class 370s, Class 373s, and Class 374s have run faster, all are EMUs, which means that the "Electra" is officially the fastest locomotive in Britain. Another loco (91031, now 91131), hauling five Mk4s and a DVT on a test run, ran between London King's Cross and in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds on 26 September 1991. This is still the current record. The set covered the route in an average speed of , and reached the full several times during the run.
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The "999 Empire State Express" steam locomotive was alleged to be the first vehicle to exceed in 1893, although no reliable measurement ever took place (and such a speed was likely impossible). Designed to win the battle of express trains to the World's Columbian Exhibition, it was donated to the museum by the New York Central in 1962. The locomotive was located outside the museum until 1993, when extensive restoration took place and it was moved indoors as an exhibit in the Transportation Zone.
GE steam turbine locomotives
The General Electric steam turbine locomotives were two steam turbine locomotives built by General Electric (GE) for Union Pacific (UP) in 1938. The two units were streamlined, in length, capable of producing , and reputedly able to attain speeds of . Stylistically, they resembled UP's Pullman-designed M-10003 through M-10006 power units and contemporary Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) diesel designs.
Steam locomotive
The first steam locomotive in South Korea (Korea at the time) was the Moga (Mogul) 2-6-0, which first ran on 9 September 1899 on the Gyeong-In Line. Other South Korean steam locomotive classes include the Sata, Pureo, Ame, Sig, Mika (USRA Heavy Mikado), Pasi (USRA Light Pacific), Hyeogi (Narrow gauge), Class 901, Mateo, Sori and Tou. Used until 1967, the Moga is now in the Railroad Museum.
Steam locomotive
The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along rail tracks. In 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive in Birmingham. A full-scale rail steam locomotive was proposed by William Reynolds around 1787. An early working model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick, who pioneered the use of steam locomotives.
The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, was the gauge "Coalbrookdale Locomotive", built by Trevithick in 1802. It was constructed for the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in the United Kingdom though no record of it working there has survived. On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train along the tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales. Accompanied by Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated a number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency.
Steam turbine locomotive
In the waning years of steam, the Baldwin Locomotive Works undertook several attempts at alternative technologies to diesel power. In 1944, Baldwin built the sole example of the S2 class, c/n 70900, for the Pennsylvania Railroad, delivering it in September 1944. It was the largest direct-drive steam turbine locomotive in the world and had a 6-8-6 wheel arrangement. It was originally designed as a 4-8-4, but due to shortages of lightweight materials during World War II, the S2 required additional leading and trailing wheels. Numbered 6200 on the PRR roster, the S2 had a maximum power output of 6,900 HP (5.1 MW) and was capable of speeds over . With the tender, the unit was approximately long. The steam turbine was a modified marine unit. While the gearing system was simpler than a generator, it had a fatal flaw: the turbine was inefficient at slow speeds. Below about 40 mph (64 km/h) the turbine used enormous amounts of steam and fuel. At high speeds, however, the S2 could propel heavy trains almost effortlessly and efficiently. The smooth turbine drive put far less stress on the track than a normal piston-driven locomotive. However, poor efficiency at slow speeds doomed this turbine, and with diesel-electrics being introduced, no more S2s were built. The locomotive was retired in 1949 and scrapped in May, 1952.
Railway speed record
The following is a list of verified absolute world speed records for conventional wheeled rail vehicles.
The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles with electric traction motors and powered by electricity transferred to the train.
The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles with on-board fuel to generate electricity for traction motors such as diesel-electric locomotive, diesel electric multiple unit and gas turbine-electric locomotive trains.
The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles with on-board fuel to mechanical energy to drive vehicle's wheels such as diesel-hydraulic trains and gas turbine locomotive trains that use mechanical transmission to power the drive wheels.
The following is a list of speed records for steam locomotives.
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.
Pennsylvania Railroad class T1
Due to their complexity relative to other steam locomotive designs, T1s were known to be difficult to maintain. Recommended to a maximum speed of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h), T1s were so powerful that they could easily exceed their designed load and speed limitations, which in turn often caused wear and tear issues. A technician charged with determining the cause of frequent poppet valve failures on the T1s claimed to have observed them being operated at speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) to make up time. The T1 was designed to run reliably at speeds of up to . Although such reports are viewed as dubious, some think T1s regularly exceeded 100 mph (161 km/h), making them among the fastest steam locomotives ever built. The price paid for such speed was higher maintenance costs and increased failures in service.
HŽ series 1142
They were manufactured by the Končar factory (named after Rade Končar). Originally, they were a Yugoslav development (class 442), meant to be used in 80s as the fastest electrical powered locomotive. They remain the fastest Croatian locomotives today. At that time, as higher speeds became more and more important, former Yugoslav Railways () needed a locomotive, which could cope with the 160 km/h speed reachable on some of the mainlines. Therefore, this series was produced. It was planned that some of this units would be delivered throughout the then still existing SFRY. The dissolution stopped these plans, leaving HŽ as the only company, which has this class, from all the former SFRY states.
Tom Thumb (locomotive)
Tom Thumb was the first American-built steam locomotive to operate on a common-carrier railroad. It was designed and constructed by Peter Cooper in 1830 to convince owners of the newly formed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)(now CSX) to use steam engines; it was not intended to enter revenue service. It is especially remembered as a participant in an impromptu race with a horse-drawn car, which the horse won after "Tom Thumb" suffered a mechanical failure. However, the demonstration was successful, and the railroad committed to the use of steam locomotion and held trials in the following year for a working engine.
GNRI Class Q
Faster running was achieved with the addition of superheated boilers and widened cylinders (under the supervision of G.T. Glover in the 1920s). In 1932 a two coach newspaper train hauled by No. 135 covered Howth Junction to Drogheda at a start-to-stop average speed of , the fastest run in Ireland achieved with a steam locomotive on a scheduled train
East Coast Main Line
The ECML has been the backdrop for a number of significant rail journeys and locomotives. The line was worked for many years by Pacific locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, including the steam locomotives "Flying Scotsman" and "Mallard". Mallard achieved a world record speed for a steam locomotive, having attained a recorded top speed of , while traversing the Grantham-to-Peterborough section on the descent of Stoke Bank. To date, the speed record set by Mallard has not been broken.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
Various claims exist for the first locomotive to break the barrier, notably the Great Western Railway's "City of Truro" (1904) and the LNER's "Flying Scotsman" (1934). Locomotive power capable of reaching has existed in Britain since 1938, when the LNER's "Mallard" broke the steam locomotive speed record.
Heisler locomotive
The Heisler was the fastest of the geared steam locomotive designs, and yet was still claimed by its manufacturer to have the same low-speed hauling ability.
West Coast Railway (Victoria)
Specially modified R class steam locomotives were also used to operate a Saturday return service, becoming the fastest regular steam hauled passenger service in the world. R711 entered service on regular trains on 21 November 1998 and was fitted with multiple unit control equipment for diesel electric locomotives.
Powhatan Arrow
Among the most famous steam power of the N&W were the Class "J" 4-8-4 steam locomotives. They were the pride of the N&W, pulling crack passenger trains such as the "Cavalier", the "Pocahontas" and the "Powhatan Arrow", as well as ferrying the Southern Railway's "Tennessean" and "Pelican" between Monroe, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee. On a test on the Pennsylvania Railroad, a "J" achieved 110 mph with a ten car, 1050-ton train along one section of flat, straight track in Pennsylvania. This was remarkable performance for a 70-inch drivered reciprocating steam locomotive. But, the only time the "J"s were able to do anything like that on N&W rails was on the Eastern portion of the line, between Petersburg and Norfolk. The average speed of the "Arrow" between Norfolk and Cincinnati, with much of the route through the mountains, was only about 43 mph. The "J"s were numbered from 600 through 613, and were built in three groups from 1941 to 1950, and the only surviving member of this famous class of locomotives is 611, currently operational.
Wagonway
In 1804, Richard Trevithick, in the first recorded use of steam power on a railway, ran a high-pressure steam locomotive with smooth wheels on an 'L' section plateway near Merthyr Tydfil, but it was more expensive than horses. He made three trips from the iron mines at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal and each time broke the rails that were designed for horse wagon loads. There was general doubt at the time that smooth wheels could obtain traction on smooth rails. This resulted in proposals using rack or other drive mechanisms.
Mr Blenkinsop of Middleton Colliery patented the use of cogged wheels in 1811 and in 1812, the Middleton Railway (edgeway, rack rail) successfully used twin cylinder steam locomotives made by Matthew Murray of Holbeck, Leeds. George Stephenson made his first steam locomotive in 1813 (patented 1815) for the Killingworth colliery, and found smooth wheels on smooth rails provided adequate grip. Although he later recounted that they called this locomotive 'My Lord' as it was financed by Lord Ravensworth, it seems that it was known at the time as Blücher. In 1814 William Stewart was engaged by Parkend Coal Co in the Forest of Dean for the construction of a steam locomotive, which when trialled was reported to be successful. Stewart did not receive his expected reward and the two parties parted on bad terms. Stewart was 'obliged to abandon the engine to that Company'. In 1821, a wagonway was proposed to connect the mines at West Durham, Darlington and the River Tees at Stockton, George Stephenson successfully argued that horse-drawn wagonways were obsolete and a steam-powered railway could carry 50 times as much coal. In 1825 he built the locomotive "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England's northeast, which became the world's first public steam railway in 1825, via both horse power and steam power on different runs.
2-8-0+0-8-2
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) owned a single Class U1 Garratt, built by Beyer, Peacock in 1925. It was designed by Nigel Gresley for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead Route. The Class U1 was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in the United Kingdom.
4-8-4
With three cylinders, large diameter coupled wheels, a high boiler pressure and of tractive effort, they were capable of a maximum speed of and could haul a 650 tonne train at . Many parts, such as the boiler, were standardised with that of the DRG Class 45 heavy freight locomotive. The streamlined Class 06, the only German , was the biggest steam locomotive ever built in Germany. The two locomotives were shedded in Frankfurt and were placed in service on the line to Erfurt. No. 06.002 was bombed and destroyed during the hostilities and no. 06.001 survived until 1951, when it was retired and scrapped.
History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923–1947
The first chief mechanical engineer of the LNER was Sir Nigel Gresley, who held the post for most of the LNER's life. He was noted for his "Big Engine" policy, and is best remembered for his large express passenger locomotives, many times the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives. LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive "Mallard" still holds the land speed record for a steam locomotive. Gresley died in office in 1941.
Coronation Scot
The streamlined Coronation Class locomotives were specially developed for the service, and were amongst the most powerful steam locomotives to operate on British railways. On a press run preparatory to the introduction of the service in June 1937, LMS Princess Coronation Class 6220 Coronation, newly built, achieved a speed of 114 miles per hour (183 km/h) near Crewe.
Railway speed record
The fastest manned rail vehicle was a manned rocket sled, which carried United States Air Force flight surgeon Colonel John Stapp at .
American Locomotive Company
Alco was the second-largest steam locomotive builder in the United States (after Lima Locomotive Works), producing over 75,000 locomotives (though not all were steam, since, unlike Baldwin, Alco transitioned more readily to Diesel). Among these were a large number of well-known locomotives. Railroads that favored Alco products included the Delaware & Hudson Railway, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. Alco was known for its steam locomotives of which the 4-6-4 Hudson, 4-8-2 Mohawk and the 4-8-4 Niagara built for the New York Central and the 4-8-4 FEF and the 4-6-6-4 (Challenger) built for the Union Pacific were fine examples. Alco built many of the biggest locomotives ever constructed, including Union Pacific's "Big Boy" (4-8-8-4). Alco also built the fastest American locomotives, the Class A Atlantic and Class F7 Hudson streamliners for the Milwaukee Road's "Twin Cities Hiawatha" run. Among the ambitious state-of-the-art designs of the late steam era, Alco's Challengers, Big Boys and high speed streamliners stood out for their in-service success.
Steam locomotive
In the 20th century, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Nigel Gresley designed some of the most famous locomotives, including the "Flying Scotsman", the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and a LNER Class A4, 4468 "Mallard", which still holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world (126 mph).
Steam locomotive
The first diesel locomotive appeared on the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1925 and on the New York Central in 1927. Since then, diesel locomotives began to appear in mainline service in the United States in the mid-1930s. The diesel engines reduced maintenance costs dramatically, while increasing locomotive availability. On the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad the new units delivered over a year, compared with about for a mainline steam locomotive. World War II delayed dieselisation in the US. In 1949 the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad became the first large mainline railroad to convert completely to diesel locomotives, and "Life Magazine" ran an article on 5 December 1949 titled "The GM&O puts all its steam engines to torch, becomes first major US railroad to dieselize 100%". The Susquehanna was one of the earliest railroads in America to fully dieselize by 1947 and retiring their steam locomotives by 1949. The final 2-8-4 Berkshire built was Nickle Plate Road's 779 built in 1949. The last steam locomotive manufactured for general service was a Norfolk and Western 0-8-0, built in its Roanoke shops in December, 1953. In Spring of 1960, Norfolk and Western Y6b 2190 and S1290 doused their fires for the last time in a Williamson, West Virginia roundhouse. 1960 is normally considered the final year of regular Class 1 main line standard gauge steam operation in the United States, with operations on the Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central, Norfolk and Western and Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroads, as well as Canadian Pacific operations in Maine.
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
If running is achieved, "Tornado" would also become the second fastest operational steam locomotive in the world. Regular steam operation was last seen in Britain in 1967 with the Merchant Navy class Pacific locomotives operating on the Waterloo to Bournemouth route. The fastest operational steam locomotive in the world is Deutsche Reichsbahn 18.201, allowed to run in Germany up to .
4-8-4
The 242F class express passenger locomotives were designed by the "Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles" (RENFE) in 1955 and were remarkably well-proportioned. Developed from a preceding Mountain type, they had improved steam passages and developed 30 to 40 per cent more power at medium cut-offs and high speed. Ten of these locomotives were built by "La Maquinista Terrestre y Maritima SA" in Barcelona to burn fuel oil. They had Witte type smoke deflectors and were fitted with a double KylChap (Kylälä-Chapelon) blast-pipe, a Worthington feedwater heater and a "Traitement Integral Armand" (TIA) water-softening device. To increase the comfort of the locomotive crew, the cabs had wooden floors mounted on springs, and the seats of the driver and fireman were also sprung, a very welcome improvement for long runs on poor tracks. These locomotives were painted in a green livery when turned out from the builder's works at Barcelona and were consequently nicknamed "Los Verdes" (The Greens). 
The 242F class was the fastest Spanish steam locomotive. When tested on the line from Barcelona to Tarragona across of practically level and straight line between Vilanova i la Geltrú and San Vincente, a speed exceeding was sustained twice, first with a train of 430 tons and then with a train of 480 tons. High-capacity tests took place between Madrid and Ávila when a train weighing 426 tons, including a dynamometer car, was hauled at sustained speeds of up a gradient of (1 in 286), up a gradient of (1 in 95) and up a gradient of (1 in 44.5). The gross horsepower figures recorded with the dynamometer car were 1790, 2350 and 2320 respectively, the calculated horsepower on the rail being 2600, 3400 and 3580. The latter output translates to about .
4-6-4
From 1921, 58 C28 class express passenger tank locomotives were built for the "Java Staatsspoorwegen" by three German manufacturers, Henschel & Son, Sächsische Maschinenfabrik and Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. The C28 class was one of the most popular in Indonesia, achieving speeds of up to . It was declared the world's fastest steam locomotive on gauge when it achieved . In addition, being a tank locomotive, it was able to travel at full speed in both directions.
LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard
"Mallard"s world record has never been officially exceeded by a steam locomotive, though the German Class 05 was at least very close: in 1936, two years before "Mallard"s run, 05 002 had reached 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) between Hamburg and Berlin. Stoke Bank is long, straight and slightly downhill, whereas the 1936 run of 05 002 took place on a horizontal stretch of track. Unlike world records for cars and aircraft, there is no requirement for an average of two runs in both directions, and assistance from gradient or wind has always been acceptable in rail speed records. Also, unlike "Mallard", 05 002 survived the attempt undamaged: on the other hand, its train was only four coaches long (197 tons), whereas "Mallard"s train was seven coaches (240 tons). In terms of rival claims, Gresley and the LNER had just one serious attempt at the record, which was far from a perfect run with a permanent way check just North of Grantham. Despite this a record was set. Gresley planned to have another attempt in September 1939, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. Before the record run on 3 July 1938, it was calculated that was possible, and in fact Driver Duddington and LNER Inspector Sid Jenkins both said they might well have achieved this figure had they not had to slow for the Essendine junctions. There are claims that the Milwaukee Road class F7 and PRR S1 locomotives attained service speeds faster than "Mallard"'s record. However, such claims were not officially verified, thus "Mallard" continues to hold the official record. The LNER A4 and PRR T1 classes had the same piston stroke and driving wheel diameter, which gave both locomotives the same piston speed for the same track speed.
Thus, "Mallard" still officially holds the record; plaques affixed to each side of the locomotive commemorate the feat. The plaques were proposed and designed by Morley headmaster Harry Underwood, a keen steam enthusiast, in 1948.
SJ D
When the passenger locomotives were given more powerful motors, they were designated Dk. They had a maximum speed of 100 km/h. This is the last series of locomotives that was built new, all later types have been rebuilt, except the one-off experimental subtype Dr. The last Dk loco was built in 1943 and concluded eighteen years of D production. When the production of Da-locos started in 1953, the Dks were rebuilt to the same engine, and received the designation Du. The last use of Dk was in 1975. In total 117 have had the Dk designation, of which 73 were built as Dk.
GWR 3700 Class 3440 City of Truro
The GWR 3700 Class steam locomotive No. 3440 "City of Truro" was built in 1903 for the Great Western Railway (GWR) at Swindon Works to a design by George Jackson Churchward. It was partially rebuilt in 1911 and 1915, and renumbered 3717 in 1912. Although it is a point of contention, some believe the locomotive to be the first to attain a speed of 100 miles per hour (160.9 km/h) during a run from Plymouth to London Paddington in 1904.
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.
Mallet locomotive
Mallet designs were popular in Hungary, too. 30 of (B'B) were built between 1898–1902 (the last one served until 1958). was a (1B)B locomotive in service between 1905–1969 and (C'C) until 1962. The strongest Mallet-locomotive of the Hungarian State Railways was MÁV 601, a (1'C)C type steam locomotive. With 2200 kW power, MÁV 601 was the most powerful steam locomotive built before and during the First World War in Europe.