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Mallard by Ian Scott Massie
Reduction Screen Print - Edition of 10
16" x 12" Mounted size - 9" x 6" Image size
Available: framed @ £179, unframed @ £130
To shop, please click here
16" x 12" Mounted size - 9" x 6" Image size
Available: framed @ £179, unframed @ £130
To shop, please click here
DONCASTER
As I look out at the railway yards at Doncaster these days it is with a degree of sadness. So much was created here that was beautiful and innovative, but now the sidings are rusty and overgrown and the station just another stop on the line. But once this is where the fastest locomotive in the world was made.
Nigel Gresley took a trip to Germany in 1933 to see the latest railway sensation, the diesel-powered Flying Hamburger, a streamlined vision in violet and cream. He was seeking inspiration for his next generation of engines. Gresley returned to Britain and, using a wind tunnel, developed a streamlined version of his existing A3 design. The results were four silver engines, the A4s, built at Doncaster works in 1935. They were fast, powerful, beautiful to look at and a gift to the publicity department.
On 3rd March 1938 a new engine, Mallard, was unveiled at Doncaster. Bright blue with red wheels, 21m long and 165 tons, Mallard was a graceful monster. Four months later, hauling six coaches and the specially-built dynamometer carriage, she crested Stoke Bank, just south of Grantham, at 75mph. Accelerating down the incline, the driver opened the throttle and the engine set a new world speed record of 126mph.
Because the A4 engines had been plagued by overheating bearings Mallard was fitted with a “stink bomb” of aniseed oil which would burst and alert the crew should this happen. Shortly after breaking the record, the smell of aniseed reached the cab and the driver reduced speed. The record for steam traction remains unbroken and Mallard went on to haul trains for almost one and a half million miles before retirement, and is now a star attraction at the National Railway Museum in York.
The publicity LNER gained from the triumph was worth its weight in over-heated bearings and the A4 engines are still regarded as the pinnacle of steam locomotive design.
Nigel Gresley took a trip to Germany in 1933 to see the latest railway sensation, the diesel-powered Flying Hamburger, a streamlined vision in violet and cream. He was seeking inspiration for his next generation of engines. Gresley returned to Britain and, using a wind tunnel, developed a streamlined version of his existing A3 design. The results were four silver engines, the A4s, built at Doncaster works in 1935. They were fast, powerful, beautiful to look at and a gift to the publicity department.
On 3rd March 1938 a new engine, Mallard, was unveiled at Doncaster. Bright blue with red wheels, 21m long and 165 tons, Mallard was a graceful monster. Four months later, hauling six coaches and the specially-built dynamometer carriage, she crested Stoke Bank, just south of Grantham, at 75mph. Accelerating down the incline, the driver opened the throttle and the engine set a new world speed record of 126mph.
Because the A4 engines had been plagued by overheating bearings Mallard was fitted with a “stink bomb” of aniseed oil which would burst and alert the crew should this happen. Shortly after breaking the record, the smell of aniseed reached the cab and the driver reduced speed. The record for steam traction remains unbroken and Mallard went on to haul trains for almost one and a half million miles before retirement, and is now a star attraction at the National Railway Museum in York.
The publicity LNER gained from the triumph was worth its weight in over-heated bearings and the A4 engines are still regarded as the pinnacle of steam locomotive design.
How it would look on your wall
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