LONDON & NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY ‘A4’ NO. 4468 MALLARD (1985-1988)
Ask enthusiasts which National Collection locomotive they’d most like to see return to steam, and most will probably respond ‘Mallard’. Indeed, it has been 31 years since the world steam speed record holder last turned a wheel in anger and, following the publication of the NRM’s Operational Rail Vehicle Strategy earlier this year, it seems that ‘A4’ No. 4468’s brief time in steam in the mid-1980s will be the only time the Garter blue ‘Streak’ runs in preservation.
Many people assume that Mallard was restored to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its 126mph record-setting run on July 3 1938. However, its return to working order was carried out to mark a different date entirely – the tenth birthday of the National Railway Museum – though, of course, the overhaul was done with a view to No. 4468 being operational for its own important milestone in 1988.
In keeping with the other locomotives in this survey, very little was actually done to Mallard to bring it back into traffic; only minimal work to the boiler (including an obligatory re-tube) while the bottom end remained untouched, primarily because BR had given the ‘A4’ a thorough overhaul at Doncaster in 1963 when it was returned as close as possible to original condition ahead of its move to the Museum of British Transport at Clapham.
Mallard certainly cut an unusual figure at York when it moved under its own steam for the first time on September 27 1985, minus its Bugatti wedge front end, with the boiler shorn of its streamlined cladding and painted in undercoat, and with the distinctive valances over the wheels yet to be fitted.
In view of the minimal work done to return Mallard to steam, it was limited to just 25 steamings. Almost 48 years to the day since it set the world speed record for steam traction, Mallard returned to the main line on July 9 1986, hauling the YorkScarborough and return ‘Scarborough Spa Express’ – a route over which the Gresley ‘Pacific’ would work frequently during its time in steam, in addition to excursions to Carlisle, Doncaster, Newcastle and Stratford-upon-Avon.
The ‘A4’ bowed out on August 27 1988, having celebrated its historic achievements the previous month with a pair of ‘Mallard ‘88’ railtours. After that, the world’s fastest steam locomotive was withdrawn and returned to York, where it remains on static display.