Hugh llewelyn 3440 (5588947027)

GWR Churchward 37XX or "City" Class 4-4-0 No.3440 "City of Truro" with original 1903 number and 1881 Dean livery, on the branch at Barrow Hill, 08/08. "City of Truro" was the first form of transport to have a reasonably authenticated record of reaching 100 mph when it hit 102.3 mph descending Wellington Bank in Somerset in 1904 on an "Ocean Mails Special" from Plymouth to Paddington - and apparently the loco rode remarkably smoothly doing it. However, owing to the limitations of recording at the time, it was later argued that it "only" reached 98-99 mph, but the latest computer simulations show that the timings are consistent with a speed of 100 mph. Whatever the truth, it is still a remarkable performance for the time. Earlier, a sister locomotive had reached 95.6 mph. American claims of a NYC 4-4-0 No.999 reaching 100 mph in 1893 has no substantiated evidence to back that claim up at all and even at the time American commentators doubted that claim.

Location details:    Barrow Hill (United Kingdom)