Auf Wiedersehen Mallard

From July to October the mighty blue record-breaker will be on display at the DB Museum in Nuremberg alongside the Deutsche Reichsbahn 4-6-4 steam locomotive No 05002 which achieved 124mph in 1936.

Mallard stole No 05 002’s thunder just two years later in July 1938, on the stretch of track at Little Bytham near Grantham and the British-built locomotive is still the holder of the world speed record for steam traction at 126mph.

The streamlined A4 designed by Sir Nigel Gresley is destined to return to British soil after the exhibition and will be returning to the National Railway Museum in York to take up its place in the Museum’s Great Hall.

Director of the National Railway Museum Steve Davies said:

“We’re very excited that Mallard is going to fly the flag for British engineering in Germany, at an event run by our international partner, the DB Museum. It should be a fascinating journey -Mallard will leave her current home, the National Railway Museum in Shildon by road, and then will travel by ship to a German port. Once there, she will travel along the tracks hauled by a DB locomotive, accompanied by the National Railway Museum’s expert engineers and observed by hundreds of rail fans.”

Steve continued:

“This is a definite ‘Auf Wiedersehen’, not goodbye, Mallard is too important a lynch pin in the story of the railways told at the National Railway Museum and a British national icon. After wowing a European audience for a short time, she will be returning home to York in November to take up her place in our Hall of railway greats.”

END

For more information, please contact:

Catherine Farrell
NRM Press Office 01904 686281
Catherine.farrell@nrm.org.uk

Notes to editors:

• Mallard is the most famous of the LNER A4 Class Pacifics designed by Sir Nigel Gresley. There were 35 locomotives built at Doncaster Works between 1935 and 1938 for the LNER but only six remain in preservation today, and only four in the UK. With a distinctive streamlined design the locomotives have become associated with 1930s luxury and the fascination with speed. 
 
• On 3rd July 1938, No 4468 Mallard broke the world speed record for a steam locomotive, achieving 126mph and still holds the record today.
 
• The A4 Class locomotives operated until they were replaced by diesel locomotives in the mid1960s.

• On May 11, 1936 Deutsche Reichsbahn 4-6-4 steam locomotive No 05002 set the world speed record for steam locomotives after reaching 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) on the Berlin–Hamburg line hauling a 197 tonne train.
 
• The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York covers over 300 years of railway history and its collections include over 100 locomotives , some 250 items of rolling stock and thousands of other objects - from posters and tickets to uniforms and silverware. Visitors can enjoy a fun family day out with the kids including an action-packed annual programme of special events and exhibitions. Admission to the museum is free.

• The National Railway Museum forms part of the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI), along with the Science Museum in London, the National Media Museum in Bradford and Locomotion – the National Railway Museum in Shildon.