The Blue Mallard with Steaming Breath - King of the Rails; Court of Sparks

A massive, mighty steam engine, shaped something like a bullet and with a livery of black and gold decorating a brilliant blue body, surrounded by steam from its funnel and wheels both. Its mouth seems like that of a whale – running along the front of the train and almost under the body so that when its feeding off those spirits foolish enough to get in its way there is not even a pause, just a massive swallow.

The spirit was ‘born’ from the dreams and care of those who worked on her, and when she claimed the land-speed record in 1938 the glut of Essence from an ecstatic population was enough to increase its power. From that time it was not to be stopped – ruling the train lines which cross the Other and travelling where it willed. This was fine till the 1960s – when diesel trains replaced the last of the A4’s and the Mallard in the Flesh was mothballed. With the change of Essence this King of Trains at last changed its Court – from Cogs to Sparks.

This was not acceptable to those of its old affiliation who entrapped the King of the Rails and buried him away from the rails, where he could not run.

History of the Train

The Mallard was one of many Gresley Class A4 steam engines built by LNER in the 1930s for high speed passenger transport along the East Coast Mainline (London-Edinburgh) shown in blue on the map. Unlike other steam engines the design incorporated some aerodynamics, even if it was somewhat crude. This engine was used as an express locomotive right into the 60s in the UK until diesels on northern routes.

The record run of the "Mallard" on July 3rd, 1938 was made with a six car streamline set plus a dynamometer car, with a total tare of 240 tons. The Mallard was chosen because it was one of the four engines with Kylchap exhaust at that time. These engines had freer running qualities and higher speed than standard A4. I believe that the Mallard was the first A4 fitted with Kylchap exhaust and had had about three months of service at the time of the speed run. The run started from Barkston triangle, running southbound. The Mallard pulled the train over Stoke Summit at 75 mph, then accelerated downgrade at a gradient of 1:178 to 1:200 over six miles distance to attain a speed of 114 mph. It eventually reached a speed of 125 mph, with a peak at 126 mph for a few seconds. After that it ran at a speed of at least 120 mph for another three miles. By then the inside big end showed sign of overheating and the engine had to run light back to Doncaster for repair.

Spirits known to be part of the Court of Sparks:

• Calder-Hall
• Communicatlings
• Different Engine
• The Illuminated Professor of the Unfettered Mind
• Heavenly Destroyer
• The Blue Mallard with Steaming Breath

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