Greetings Folks, Here is sight to make any train fan drool with delight.. Look at the streamlined noses of these beasts.. (I will show full views soon).. In blue, is LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard, the World Record Holder for Steam locomotion.. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, the same person that created 'The Flying Scotsman, the record was broken just north of me.. Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph. The record was achieved on 3 July 1938 on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line, and the highest speed was recorded at milepost 90¼, between Little Bytham and Essendine.. The engine was designed to speeds of 100mph and those to be held.. A new blast chimney pipe had just been fitted and with very little notice and no publicity, the record run was done on the spur of the moment pulling a full load.. The driver Joseph Duddington, aged 61 climbed into the cab, turned his cap around (as had George Formby in the contemporary film No Limit), and drove Mallard into the history books. He had 27 years on the footplate, and had once driven the Scarborough Flyer for 144 miles at over 74mph (average speed), considered at the time to be the highest speed ever maintained by steam in the UK. The driver was quoted as saying if they had not had to slow for a banking at Essendine they would have broken 130mph! The stunning beauty behind The Mallard is the even MORE powerful engine, The Duchess Of Hamilton.. The vastness of this engine and the amount of coal needed to maintain a top speed, estimated to be 8 tons per hour, made reaching the top speed impossible, the poor coal-man could never manage it.. She worked until 1964 the Mallard can still run.. More soon. Rob