5 of the Fastest Trains Ever | History in the Dark

I feel the need...for speed...

Making trains go fast has always been a goal of railroads since the very beginning. The whole point of trains was that they could transport people and cargo much faster than traditional methods of the time. But how fast have locomotives gotten? How quickly can one really go down steel rails? Let's find out!

0:00 - Intro
1:28 - McKeen railmotor
3:39 - DRG Class 05 002
6:34 - LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard
8:59 - The Diesel Electric Record is Weird (British Rail Class 43 (HST))
12:41 - TGV POS

"The McKeen Railmotor was a 6-cylinder self-propelled railcar or railmotor. When McKeen Company of Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., first unveiled the car in 1905, the McKeen was among the first engines with a distillate-fueled motor. Revisions to the McKeen car led to the modern self-propelled gasoline rail-motor vehicle, and the "contours of the porthole windows, the front-mounted gasoline engines, and other features anticipated the streamline concept."

"The Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 05 was a German class of three express passenger steam locomotives of 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C2′ h3 in the UIC notation used in continental Europe. They were part of the DRG's standard locomotive (Einheitslokomotive) series."

"LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard is a 4-6-2 ("Pacific") steam locomotive built in 1938 for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. Its streamlined, wind tunnel tested design allowed it to haul long distance express passenger services at high speeds. On 3 July 1938, Mallard broke the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 mph (203 km/h), which still stands."

"The British Rail Class 43 (HST) is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train (formerly Classes 253 and 254) power cars, built by British Rail Engineering Limited from 1975 to 1982, and in service in the UK since 1976. The class is officially the fastest diesel locomotive in the world, with an absolute maximum speed of 148.5 mph (239.0 km/h), and a regular service speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). The record run was led by 43102 (43302) and trailed by 43159."

"Talgo XXI is a project for a high-speed diesel-powered train, that operates in push-pull with one or two power cars and Talgo VII intermediate cars. The North American version has four-axle power cars in compliance with United States FRA regulations. Only one train in compliance with European UIC standards has been built to date."

"TEP80 (ТЭП80) is a Soviet diesel locomotive produced in 1988–1989. Only two locomotives of this model were built."

"The TGV POS is a TGV train built by French manufacturer Alstom which is operated by the French national rail company, the SNCF, in France's high-speed rail lines. It was originally ordered by the SNCF for use on the new LGV Est, which was put into service in 2007. "POS" stands for Paris-Ostfrankreich-Süddeutschland (German for "Paris, Eastern France, Southern Germany")."

🚂 Further reading 🚂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKeen_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Cla...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Cl...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talgo#T...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEP80
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV_POS

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