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The Class A4 is a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Their streamlined design gave them high-speed capability as well as making them instantly recognisable, and one of the class, 4468 ''Mallard'', holds the world record as the fastest steam locomotive. Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York and Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland. They remained in service on the East Coast Main Line until the early 1960s when they were replaced by Deltic diesel locomotives. Several A4s saw out their remaining days until 1966 in Scotland, particularly on the Aberdeen - Glasgow express trains, for which they were used to improve the timing from 3.5 to 3 hours. == Overview == Gresley introduced the Class A4 locomotives in 1935 to haul a new streamlined train called the Silver Jubilee to run between London King's Cross and Newcastle. The new service was named in celebration of the 25th year of King George V's reign. During a visit to Germany in 1933, Gresley had been inspired by the high-speed streamlined "Flying Hamburger" diesel trains, and indeed the LNER had considered purchasing similar trains for use from London to Newcastle. However, the diesel units of the time did not have the desired passenger carrying capacity and the capital investment in the new technology was prohibitive. Gresley was sure that steam could do the job equally well and with a decent fare-paying load behind the locomotive and so, following trials in 1935 with one of Gresley's A3 Pacifics No.2750 ''Papyrus'', which recorded a new maximum of and completed the journey in under four hours, the LNER's Chief General Manager Ralph Wedgwood took the initiative, authorising Gresley to produce a streamlined development of the A3. Initially four locomotives were built, all with the word 'silver' as part of their names. The first was 2509 ''Silver Link'', followed by 2510 ''Quicksilver'', 2511 ''Silver King'' and 2512 ''Silver Fox''. During a press run to publicise the service, ''Silver Link'' twice achieved a speed of , breaking the British speed record and sustained an average of , over a distance of .〔Nock, O.S.: ''The Locomotives of Sir Nigel Gresley'' (London: The Railway Publishing Co., 1945) p. 129〕 Following the commercial success of the Silver Jubilee train, other streamlined services were introduced: the Coronation (London-Edinburgh, July 1937) and the West Riding Limited (Bradford & Leeds-London & return, November 1937) for which more A4s were specially built. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「LNER Class A4」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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