Had a quick look at the front cover of the video.

I have to ask what "officially" means.

An experimental AEG electric locomotive got to 130mph in 1903. At the time it was well reported and some British railway companies took a great deal of interest. Of course it was German and not steam.

Mini rant over.

JA

Verified by official on-board speed measuring equipment, calibrated and checked by supposedly impartial officials, vs an unverified manufacturers claim, I believe. Followed by suitable PR campaign to capitalise on it of course, and the legend was born. Ironically its record only stood for a year before being upped by 8mph by a train that almost everyone has long since forgotten. That's PR for you.

As a slight aside.

It was once a very popular boyhood aspiration to be an engine driver.~ even in the post steam era.

But did you ever meet someone who aspired to being the stoker?? Probably not!

Hats off to all those stokers of yesteryear…. when men were men. (hopefully not sounding sexist~ i reckon women were women in them days too!)

If you weren't fit when you started, you certainly would be after a few express runs.

I think an absolute maximum rate would be difficult to establish, but Wiki. quotes 3.7lb / mile for GWR Pendennis Castle, when competing in trials against an LNER A1 on the East Coast Main Line. The A1 used more coal to deliver a poorer performance.

Edited By Clive Brown 1 on 08/03/2023 20:20:41

Some of the classic locomotives could be very rough rider, particularly whe worn.

Adrian Vaughn relates how he rode trhe footplate for,a long diastance on a very badly worn GWR loco (Probably ntowards the end of steam when no seemed to care ) He virtually had to be lifted off onto the platform.

Some of the smaller locos, would "nose" quite badly at quite low speeds, because of their short wheelbase.

And remeber the infamouse Southerrn River Class tanks. A combination of indifferent track and locomotive, literally, cost lives.

Especially with an unsympathetic driver, a fireman's job could be absolutely exhausting But in those days it was considered to be part of the job in climbing the ranks fro cleaner to top link driver (If you were lucky and good )

In winter, roasted on side and frozen on the other!

Often IF you gat a chance to sit down for a few mintes, the seat wasm't even padded, just bare wood.'

Howard

I believe all drivers had to have been firemen first.

At the start of my apprenticeship I was in digs. One of the landlady’s sons had been a fireman on the Midland Region expresses. He had a jumper while passing through Burton on Trent station at speed. It completely wrecked him.

I never wanted to be an engine driver.

JA

……..and here they are, 6 women, sorry.