3 July 2009

This day in history:
On July 3rd 1938, the locomotive Mallard set a new speed record for steam traction,a record which has never been beaten. Although the Mallard was the fastest engine in the UK at the time, questions about whether or not it is officially the fastest train in the world often come up. A German train did come almost as fast by about half a mph, and some Germans claim they should have the world record since their train was running on level track whereas the Mallard was running on a very slight decline. Some Americans claim too that they had a steam train run at 127mph (203km/h). This could be possible since a lot of high speed runs were done by steam engines in the USA but many of them were unofficial and therefore rejected. read more