In 2011 the National Railway Museum (NRM) made an unprecedented announcement. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Mallard's speed record, there was to be a gathering of all 6 of the remaining A4's. There was going to be a series of exhibitions at the NRM's York an Shildon site as well as Barrow Hill Roundhouse. Mallard herself was also going to be on tour.
A gathering of 6 A4's had not been witnessed since the 60's and the NRM had been presented with a challenge. Not only were the four locomotives that were still extant in the UK were to be re-united, but her two transatlantic sisters were going to be temporarily re-patriated back home.
Transatlantic sisters
Re-patriating the two locomotives proved to be a mammoth challenge. Shot for an episode of Monster Moves, the challenge was the extraction of 60008 from her isolated track section at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay onto a flatbed freight wagon, and to meet up with 60010 Dominion of Canada at Halifax, Nova Scotia. 60010 was able to be loaded straight onto a flatbed wagon as she was not on an isolated track section.
The sailing across the atlantic took a week, and once the two locomotives we unloaded they were shipped to Locomotion at Shildon. I visited the locomotives at Shildon shortly after they'd arrived.
60008 and 60010 as seen on arrival at NRM Shildon
Looks can be deceiving on these. Both locomotives were in relatively good mechanical condition considering they'd been static for 50 years. In fact 60008 was being towed up and down the yard whilst I was there. I presume this is to get the lubrication around the moving parts and loosen her up a little.
After a brief display of both loco's at Shildon, they were split up. 60008 was moved to the NRM at York and 60010 stayed at Shildon. Part of the loan agreement was that both engines would receive cosmetic restoration. 60008 was to be restored to her BR condition, retaining the number 60008.
4489 (60010) and 60008 at the East Coast Giants Exhibition at Barrow Hill Roundhouse - 8th February 2014
60010 was a much bigger task. One of the first things to be rectified was the substantial dent left by a shunting accident in Canada, which was fixed with a new plate. 60010 was also being restored to her 1930's condition as 4489. She had her garter blue livery re-instated and the silver trim applied. The silver trim was applied to the coronation A4's along with silver lettering and the red and silver nameplates. 60010 also had her single chimney restored which gave back the space for the CPR chime whistle and bell to be re-installed. The bell and whistle could be hooked up to an air compressor and was able to be rung out. I was fortunate to capture this on video.
The star of the show
Of course you cannot talk about Mallard 75 without mentioning the flying duck herself. Mallard was of course the central focus of the exhibition. Mallard 75 celebrated the anniversary of Mallard reaching 126mph on the downhill stretch of the east coast main line just beyond Little Bytham. There is still a marker at the exact spot where she hit that speed. Mallard had indeed been restored to steam with a limited ticket to celebrate the 50th anniversary, but for Mallard 75 she would stay very much silent. She did receive cosmetic work including repairs to the tender sides and a full repaint.
Mallard normally resides in York. Part of the program of events was to take her on a tour of the country. She first visited Grantham, which is just south of Barkston where she started her epic run. She then visited her place of birth at Doncaster and then onto Barrow Hill roundhouse for their East Coast Giants event. At Barrow Hill she was joined by sisters 4464 Bittern, 4489 Dominion of Canada and 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower. At Barrow Hill, she was also joined by other east coast stalwarts such as the Ivatt C1 Atlantic no. 251, Class 89 89001, Class A2 60532 Blue Peter and Class 55 D9009 Alycidon
She returned to York afterwards and was re-united with all 5 of her surviving sisters.
Panoramic image taken of the great hall with the Chinese KF-7 dominating the scene
The Main Event
Mallard 75 opened its doors on the 3rd July 2013, 75 years to the day since Mallard broke the speed record. The crowds at York were heaving and it was a particularly warm summer.
The NRM had an additional visitor this day in the guise of 60163 Tornado, which had brought a tour up from Kings Cross. I was lucky enough to be one of the passengers on this tour, why not arrive in style? Staff were on-hand to provide cab tours, with crews from the 3 operating loco's offering a fantastic insight into running the legendary machines. Flying Scotsman was still in the workshops at this time.
The exhibition ran at York for 2 weeks and I was fortunate enough to attend the first and last day as well as a quieter evening session on the final day, which allowed me to capture some of the most special images I have in my collection. They are not a technical marvel, but they are a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The NRM also demonstrated their newly installed Mallard simulator, which is a motion control ride travelling with Mallard on her record run.
The NRM also demonstrated their newly installed Mallard simulator, which is a motion control ride travelling with Mallard on her record run.
The Great Goodbye
As exciting as it was to see the locomotives arrive, there was always going to be a farewell too. The Great Goodbye was held at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon. There was an overall sadness at having to say goodbye to 60008 and 4489, but it was inevitable that both locomotives would have to retrace their steps back across the atlantic to their adopted homes.
Shildon provided a unique backdrop as the front apron has parrallel tracks, allowing all 6 locomotives to be lined up next to each other. Sadly I did not capture a still of this but I did record a short video clip showing the loco's lined up next to each other.
The display was a similar arrangement to York. Cab access was allowed and one of the A4's was running brake van rides along the short running line.
The loco's left for North America on the 3rd May 2014. 60008 is back and stored under cover in Wisconsin and 4489 is also stored under cover at Exporail in Saint-Constant, Quebec.
The Goodbye that nearly wasn't
Some time after the locomotives had been despatched back to their home museums, rumours transpired amongst the heritage rail fraternity that a substantial offer had been made to the museum at Green Bay to purchase 60008. Had it been accepted, 60008 would not have returned to the USA and presumably would have been restored to working order. Who the benefactor was or what level of truth there is in the rumour is up for speculation.
Conclusion
When the NRM announced their plans to re-patriate the North American A4's, it seemed to come entirely out of the blue. The NRM was expected to do something special for the 75th anniversary. Returning the two locomotives seemed prohibitively expensive and extracting 60008 from the museum at Green Bay seemed like an almost impossible task. The event was successful and is regarded as one of the greatest railway exhibitions to have taken place.
The Mallard 75 ale by Wold Top was also pretty good too!
Images on this blog are either licensed under Creative Commons or from my own collection.
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