LNER A4 4-6-2 pacific locomotive 4491 Commonwealth of Australia crossing the Forth Bridge with a train

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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 to 3 hours. 4491 Commonwealth of Australia was built in 1937 and seen on the Forth Rail Bridge

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Size: 2673px × 1601px
Location: Forth railBridge, Scotland
Photo credit: © Digbydachshund / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 4-6-2, 4491, a4, australia, bridge, commonwealth, lner, locomotive, pacific, railway, scottish, speed, steam, train