Posts Tagged ‘National Railway Museum’

4468 Mallard

Posted: February 22, 2019 in History, Trains
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4468 Mallard was built at Doncaster in 1938. The A4 class was designed for the North-Eastern Railway by Sir Nigel Gresley to pull high speed express trains. Mallard remained in service until 1963 working the route between London and Edinburgh. Mallard is the holder of the record for the fastest steam train in the world at 125.88 MPH. This record was achieved on 3rd July 1938 on the Stoke bank section of the east coast line near Grantham. It was a risky business as a curve occurred in the line just beyond the Stoke bank and the engine needed to break heavily to ensure it remained on the rails, During this the engine overheated (a problem that had been foreseen) and the engine had to be removed from service for repairs. Mallard also took part in the 1948 Locomotive exchange trials when locos from different regions of the newly formed BR were trialed on routes they did not usually run. Mallard hauled a train from London Waterloo to Salisbury but failed following the run and was removed from the trial. Mallard also pulled the last Steam hailed flagship ‘Elizabethan’ express from London to Edinburgh on 8th September 1961.

In the 1980s the engine was restored to working order and after being used for a number of years for pulling railtours become part of the static collection at the National Railway Museum, firstly at York (till 2008) then at Shildon (2008-2010) and subsequently back at York.

The plaque on Mallard commemorating the Stoke bank record

The plaque on Mallard commemorating the Stoke bank record

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Gladstone

Posted: November 26, 2018 in History, Trains
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Gladstone was built at Brighton works in 1882 and saw service on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway until 1927. It is the last surviving engine of its type with the driving wheels at the front of the locomotive. It was designed to haul express trains on the London to Brighton line. 

When it finished service it was purchased by the Stephenson Locomotive Society and was exhibited at the LNER museum at York. In 1959 it was given to the British Transport Commission as part of the national collection and is now on display at the National Railway Museum in York. 

47798: Prince William

Posted: November 5, 2018 in Trains, UK, York
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Class 47 – ‘Prince William’ – 2004. Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Class 47 No798 was built at Crewe and entered into service in 1965 and was employed on a wide variety of duties including heavy freight and express passenger services. It regularly pulled the Royal Train during its working life. It was originally without a name until August 1985 when it was named ‘Firefly’. It was renamed ‘Prince William’ in 1995. It was presented by its owners EWS Railways to the Science Museum collection when it was withdrawn from service.

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47798 ‘Prince William’ at National Railway Museum, York

York 2018: National Railway Museum

Posted: November 2, 2018 in History, Trains, UK, York
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No trip to York is complete, at least for me, without a visit to the National Railway Museum.

My first stop this time was the South Yard where 60103 Flying Scotsman was parked up in between trips on the mainline. Unfortunately, it was parked around a corner of a building so it wasn’t accessible for good photographs.

Next stop was the Station Hall which as its name suggests is set out like a large station with trains in bay platforms, enabling you to walk alongside them.

At the moment it is hosting a display of Royal Train carriages from different periods of history.

In the Grand Hall, there is a display on Express trains featuring the Eurostar (which runs between London, Paris and Amsterdam) and the Japanese Bullet train, the Shinkansen.

It is now over 50 years since steam was phased out on UK railways and so aside from the steam locomotives more diesel and electric locomotives are being added to the national collection for preservation.

But finally, no visit would be complete without a stop at my favourite class of locomotive, the Gresley A4 Pacifics, here represented by 4468 Mallard. Last time I was here was to see all 5 of the worlds remaining A4s together to celebrate Mallard’s record-breaking run.

4498 Sir Nigel Gresley

Posted: September 10, 2018 in History, Trains
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Completed in 1937 this was the 100th Gresley designed Pacific locomotive to be built. It worked its life on the East Coast mainline and holds the post war steam speed record of 112 mph set on 23/5/1959. This was achieved over the same stretch of track the Mallard had used for the world record run pre-war, but the difference was that 4498 was pulling a full passenger train. It was withdrawn from service in February 1966 and sent to Crewe for refurbishment as it had been purchased by a preservation trust. Following this it was used to run railtours out of Steamtown at Carnforth. In 1994 it transfered to Great Central Railway and also did a spell at the East Lancs Railway before being based on the North York Moors railway. In 2012 it took part in the Olympic torch tour of the UK.

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video by Grantham8 (http://www.youtube.com/user/grantham8?feature=watch)


video by steamvideo (http://www.youtube.com/user/steamvideo?feature=watch)

National Railway Museum

Posted: August 16, 2018 in Trains, UK, York
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Video by Michael Jiroch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45GI8ifbXBs)

The Duchess of Hamilton

Posted: August 15, 2018 in Trains
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(first posted in March 2013)

The Duchess of Hamilton was built as one of 10 streamliners for the London Midland and Scottish railway and entered into service in 1938

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In 1939 it went to USA for the New York World Fair. In 1947 the streamlining was removed (as shown in picture above). It continued in service until 1960 when it was bought as an exhibit for Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. It remained at the camp until 1975 when it went on loan to the National Railway Museum in York. It was refurbished to mainline running condition and spent time either on static display or on excursions.

Duchess of Hamilton in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVFCiydrAus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCk5SJIH0lw

In 2005 it was decided to reinstate the original streamlining and the Duchess went back on display in 2009 with her streamlining restored.

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National Railway Museum York

Posted: August 14, 2018 in Trains
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Mallard – One of my favourite steam Locomotives

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For more information see

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A4_4468_Mallard

To see Mallard in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvlFeE38WN0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYalIj-nd4Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ou420qBMs

“Big Plans” to transform the world’s largest railway museum

Posted: December 11, 2015 in Trains, Transport
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More space to display even more of the Museums collection. What could be better!

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York Railway Station Queen Street 2013

The City of York Council working with Network Rail, the National Railway Museum and the Homes and Communities Agency have created a “new vision” for York.  The scheme includes various improvements of how the railway station is accessed from the city centre and the redevelopment of the city’s largest (178 acre) brownfield site located behind York Central railway station.  The proposed development would see 2,500 new homes, 120,000 square metres of office space creating 7,000 new jobs and of particular interest to this blog – more space to expand and improve the world’s largest railway museum!

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3717 City of Truro

Posted: September 4, 2013 in Trains
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City of Truro was a class 4-4-0 engine built for the GWR. It left Swindon works in 1903 and worked a variety of different duties. It was one of the first locomotives to reach 100mph, when in May 1904 it was timed at 8.8 seconds between quarter mile posts – this equates to a speed of 102.3 mph.

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It was withdrawn from service in 1931 and was surprisingly sent to the LNER museum at York for preservation (The GWR seemingly uninterested in preserving this historic locomotive). In a bizarre turn about it was renovated in 1957 and return to BR usage for pulling excursion trains and also operating some timetabled services. It was withdrawn for a second time in 1961. It went first to the GWR museum at Swindon and then in 1984 to the NRM at York. In 2004 it was overhauled and returned to working order and spent 7 years primarily on the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway before returning to NRM in 2011.


3717 at LLangollen Railway Gala 2010
video by danlefou (http://www.youtube.com/user/danlefou?feature=watch)

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