Modern Art

A familiar object, can you tell what it is yet?

Arrivals & Departure

A view across the roof tops towards York railway station shows two colourful trains, one is leaving York, the other arriving.

Mallard

The number pictured yesterday belongs to Mallard a Class A4 Pacific designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and built in Doncaster. On 3rd July 1938 Mallard attained a world speed record for steam traction of 126mph which has never been officially broken. She was restored to working order in the 1980s but has not run since 1987. She is currently in the NRM collection at York. 

This picture also illustrates the difference between a Train and a Locomotive. Mallard is a locomotive, The Coronation is a Train which consists of a loco (in this case Mallard) plus a number of interconnected carriages. Named for the coronation of George VI it was a passenger train run by LNER between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley stations. It was usually hauled by a steamlined pacific A4 in Garter Blue livery with red wheels as indeed it is here.

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York has over 100 locomotives and over 200 other items of rolling stock. Some of the locomotive superstars are stored in the round as the museum is housed in a restored engine shed. Imagine a clock with a piece of track at each hour all facing inwards, and at the centre of the clock is a turntable. Any one of the locos can be moved onto the turntable and from there out of the museum onto the main line as there is a connecting track.
The eyecatching locomotive with the gold and red livery is the Duchess of Hamilton newly restored to opulent art deco re-streamlined condition. On the turntable is No 66 Aerolite built in 1869.