I had a look round the cab of “Mallard” at the weekend. Doing 126 mph in that must have been both exhilarating and terrifying. Like trying to break the sound barrier in a flying gas works.

One thing that struck me was how rough they were up close. All that effort went into streamlining then they fastened the fairings on with dirty great sticky-out bolts. Not bad though when you consider it they were designed nearly 80 years ago!

There is You Tube footage of “Bittern” doing 90mph in May this year which is quite impressive.

But then look at the class 20,37,47,55 and more trains, just basic interiors a heater ,windscreen wipers and windscreen,and they where designed in the 50.s and still running now.

But back in the 30,s hanging onto a hot kettle, bouncing around, with hundreds of passengers behind, with the wind and weather blowing in the cab, and the noise from the boiler and wheels, add to that your safety is controled by a nman in a wooden shed pulling a lever in the correct order, then they where truely brave men.

I read somewhere that the big ends were stuffed by the end of that record run. Which must have added to the noise. Plus I think the poor fireman must have been too busy shovelling coal to notice much.

Did the sticky-outy bolts make it easy to get the panels off and service the bits underneath?

Bloody hell. That was an awesome watch / listen. The Bittern at 90mph.

Sounded like a mile of coal falling off a seam. Lovely.

The had special capsules built into the big end bearings which broke when they reached a certain temperature and released a very strong garlic smell. The driver knew that once he smelled garlic he had a few more minutes of running left before the bearings were damaged and that was just enough time to get the speed record.

Did the sticky-outy bolts make it easy to get the panels off and service the bits underneath?

Yes, but aircraft at the time, or shortly after, had flush ones.