Added: 3 years ago
From: sarahandwills
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  • Somebody placing the remark about topgear....I wish steam locomotives like that would be presented in a more sexy, attractive, pasionate way that may attract more people that normally wach topgear. I mean, if you love speed, these steamlocomotive are your thing. I have been in trains doing 330 km/h, and even one (the maglev) doing 430 km/h (see mrcastlehunter) but nothing gets close to the sensation of speed and power you get when travelling at 75 m/h with a steam train.

  • That is a very sexy site! Well done!

  • I like that, and I'm a Midland man...she didnt even look like she was trying did she?!

  • Awwww, luuuucky! :D But yeah you would be unwise to actually race that puppy. It'd be off into a dot on the horizon faster than you can say A4 pacific!

  • @STbluefox It'd be off in the horizon ? really ? in a straight line ? Please shove some coal in your brain and stoke it up to steam and realise even a normal family saloon would beat this .

  • @StolenMonkey its top speed 203kmh might not seem like much but remember it weighs 165 tons and it did 203kmh while carrying carriges..

  • I cannot wait to see this beast back on the main line in 2012.

    They should let her loose and really get Mallard shaking in her boots.

  • Great Action! What Luck to see this!

  • it's a shame they core go at 100+ MPH

  • Amazing video. Very clever.

  • With the later engine upgrades, it was possible that the Class A4 could have reached 130 mph as predicted, but no further attempts at a steam speed record were ever made after the Mallard.

  • Damn shes haulin ass.....!!

  • awesome liked and faved =)

  • 0:57 - Driver: I think that sucker is trying to race us! I think we're gonna give him a run for his money.

    Fireman: *opens up regulator* Done.

  • Last time I saw steam like this was in 1968 chasing after the last remnants of UK steam. The clanking of the coupling rods is an embedded memory. Long live steam!!!

  • Not many people could say they were able to see that, let alone recordit. Very lucky & well done indeed :)

  • :O You are so lucky to have got that footage! xD I wish that would happen to me sometime :P A4's are the most stunning looking trains ever.

  • This film of an A4 in full flight is absolutely beautiful. Thank you sara and wills.

    Another one similar wouldn't be a bad idea.

  • I agree with kiwitrainguy that the speed is about 42mph. I worked it out as 251.327" circumference and timed 60 revolutions in 18.95 seconds - which is arbitrary accuracy, I know. But the sums work out to between 42 and 45 mph. Interestingly Mallard was travelling 3 times as fast when she broke the record. Imagine this clip played back at 3 times the proper speed!

  • Unbelievably fantastic film, and damn good quality too! You done good!!!

  • And i bet that the A4 wasn't even at top speed!

  • Brilliant filming!

  • Congratulations. A great piece of film.

  • Great footage. I travel this stretch of road regularly and have always thought it would be a great location for a train chasing sequence - you've proved me right! Well done. BTW i think she's doing about sixty.

  • Never expected to see a uk train chasing video - great work and excellent video!!

  • I have done that many a time, race against a steam locomotive. I always won on that part of the A55 though outside Mochdre.

  • Sarahandwills. thank you for a lovely video of this fantastic loco. I know that the loco was going a wee bit faster than the 42 mph that someone has worked out that it was doing. Well Done to the both of you.

  • Wow that train is fast! Nuclear powered???

  • I love this vid ...thank you so much

  • Damn! Best UK train film I've seen in years! Great work!

  • bloody hell what a great piece of footage!!

  • AWESOME!!!  You are very lucky to have this footage. What are the speeds?

  • "do you know why i've pulled you over sir?"

  • A lot of people are asking what the speed was and I've done some calculations: Driving wheels 80" in diameter so 251" in circumference, wheels going at 3 revolutions per second so as far as I can tell by multiplying it out the speed was 42.78 mph - sorry to disappoint everyone. I know that speed doesn't do those A4's justice. They do hold the steam speed record to this day. However the NYC deliberately slipped one of its J3's up to the equivalent of 164 mph - but then it was still going nowhere!

  • As for going green: if you fired these things (steam locos I mean) on wood from sustainable forests then they would be as "green" as you can get.

  • Great Video, this is absolutely the best way to see a steam loco in action. I've done one myself in NZ although not quite so good (the traffic was going faster than the train!).

  • In my opinion a Gresley (or BR) chime whistle is one of the most beautiful sounds known to man.

  • oh WOW!!! this is superb footage...........just wish it was mine!  You are very lucky to capture this........was it pure luck or good timing....?

  • The sight and sound gives the impression that the loco had a fair bit more power to offer, by law she should not be doing more than 75mph. great team work to keep the great old lady in shot for so long.

  • This is absolutely fabulous! How lucky you were! And thanks so much for posting it. What were the speeds?

  • brilliant and superb thank you

  • look at the little 158 at 1:11

  • Good stuff.

  • Fantastic

  • nice 0ne

  • Beautiful shot from the car! Gives a great picture and sound of one of the finest steam locomotives of Great Britain !!! Sorry it was over so quickly!

    Railcaphunter

  • The Mighty One

  • What a privilege to be alongside such a beutiful engine.

  • absoutley fantastic video you dont often see them like this well done

  • I read all the comments but couldn't find how fast you or UoSA were going. What was the speedo saying? Oh, and ditto the driver not waving... I kept hoping he would!

  • @MoriyaSensei Looks about 55 - 60 mph, just an educated guess.

  • great thing is, the engine is just idleing, or has the throttle closed. JUst wait until the throttle opens up, and steam is admited into the cylinders. mwhahaha.

  • @Enginer12 Yeah, noticed this too. God, wouldn't it be wonderful to see and hear her open up...

  • Best modern video I've seen of an A4 at speed, great shots, well done thanks for posting.

  • Top gear? cars? That's an insult to this magnificent, noble beast. There is nothing, repeat nothing, that is aesthetically comparable with this. Repeat- NOTHING.

  • @viceroytennis Spitfire? (It's up there with it, in my opinion!)

  • @viceroytennis Nothing?

    

  • Steam trains are faster than cars!

  • Having left Llandudno The Union of South Africa is approaching Colwyn Bay for anyone who wants to know where this beautifull video was taken from.

  • what two idiots would dislike this?

  • its cool as hell you driving on the left side over thre it eliminates so many cars and other rubish in the paceing shot nice I am from the US myself but am scheduled to do a steam trip in April in the UK out of London starting with an A4 leading us out of Kings Cross that should be cool

  • lovely video - well done.

    

  • Great line side shot, well done for keeping pace with UoSA. Liked :-)

  • wher was the video shot

  • @lmogden1

    This it the North Wales Coast Express.

    The Union of South Africa has left Llandudno Junction and in this shot taken from the A55 Expressway just approaching Colwyn Bay.

    The engine is near enough adjacent to Mochdre when the video starts.

  • great video

  • Fantastic!

  • bring back steam. look at that valve gear at speed, this is not hugely recorded at this speed. poetry in motion, this is better than diesel power all day long, and I'm a massive diesel motor lover over petrol with cars all day long.

  • what a fine machine it is!

  • Excellent vid...steve..

  • Superb!

  • like it.

  • Wow, just wow!

  • Near the end, you can see a higher quantity of steam from the funnel, that is due to opening the regulator. When an A4 is opening its regulator. Don't race it. You will lose, burn up and die.

  • if they had these in the late 1800's, back to the future part 3 would have been a shorter film.

  • Great steady shooting and I love the sound. Top marks! Thanks for sharing it.

  • Excellent capture .

  • Need for Speed.

  • A4 steam engine. Beautiful piece of machinery, capable of 125mph in the 1930s.

  • Wwhat a wonderful video! That, Sir, is the 'Union of South Africa' Gresley Class A4 Pacific. And let me tell you, running on nothing other than coal and steam-fired power, with all her full up weight, she'd see you WELL over the far side of 110mph! Not bad for something this age, weight and size!

  • That is classic !!! I bet that was quite an experience ?? Got any other videos like that against other steam locos? What sort of speed were you doing? Must have been at least 70! What kind of car were you driving in ? I noiced the guys on the footplate didn't even have the decency to give you a wave !!

  • is this filmed on the A55

  • That is a realy cool bit of filming guys, very nice, and im not even in to trains !!!!.

    thom.

  • the women done well

  • i saw this loco on the torbay line in south devon for the regatta weekend and i really wanted to go on it, but luckily my mum spent too long getting ready and we had to get the next train! it was so depressing, we watched it steam past as we were walking to the station! :'(

  • Brilliant piece of film !

  • Great video! First class!

  • fantastic video.used to watch these go through hornsey whe i was a lad.about 1960s

  • Very impressive, you don't often get a shot like this. Amazing how the loco seems to just lope along, i kept thinking of greyhounds watching the motion working.

  • THIS IS A KICK-ASS clip.................

  • Great piece of ilm!

  • very hipnotic watching the traction rods and the piston rod.

  • nice stuff from driver & cameraman 5*

  • Dude.  This gives me a boner.

  • This is great. There's loads of pictures of A4s and quite a few films of them travelling past the camera at speed, but a long closeup of one of these beauties hurtling along at full steam - with the actual sound they make, and the valve gear doing it's stuff - is a rare treat indeed. 10 out 0f 10

  • @EASYTIGER10 I agree 100%, this is the best A4 vid I've seen on here by far.

  • @EASYTIGER10 Very eloquent. 8-}}

  • Being from the US, my first thought was "wow, how's he/she taking that good a picture while driving?" but then I remembered the wheel is on the right over there. :P Great footage! :D

  • Wow, a great video and a very understanding wife in the navigators seat??

  • @petespots Watch it Pete *-} Some of us women find this just as exciting, beautiful, moving and inspiring as you do. Maybe Navigator Sarah did too...

  • Zooming in to make it look as if you are catching up is cheating - Brilliant Vid. What road are you on?

  • That is the best video ive seen so Far i love the A4 class union of south Africa is one of my fav loco's check out my page i got her coming outta preston station

  • I would love to live there and watch the trains I think steam trains are sooo cool! exept I like where I live,America, but yeah it would be cool to see them in real life...instead of my train simulation game...

  • Wonderful- and she's hardly trying.

    Doesn't she carry the tender from W1 aka the Hush Hush? A memento of a somewhat less splendid achievement of Sir Nigel Gresley (though you have to give him credit for trying something new).

  • Commendable piece of camera work following the A4 - 6* !!!!

  • Thats a truely great video. Well done! Theres not many videos out there like this one. great addition to the youtube community. Thanks!

  • great filming well done

  • Great bit of film, i've stood on that footbridge near the end and watched the steam trains coming up the hill from Llandudno Junction so am surprised at the speed and how easily the train is moving on this section as it must have stopped at the junction.

    john

  • Absolutely brilliant video, I mean it. Really shows the power of the train to its best. Honestly, you really should send it to "Top Gear" cause trains are faster than cars.

  • you should send this clip to top gear and say see steam trains are faster than cars

  • @TheSteamdriver LOL, that's a great idea. I'd like to see Jeremy drive one of these and not look a plonker! Even the Stig couldn't drive one!

  • @TheSteamdriver Top Gear crew had biased result. They didn't seem to realise that with water troughs instead of water stops, & with the arbitrary 75 mph speed limit lifted, the steam loco would have walked that race with several hours to spare.

  • @hiyadroogs My thoughts exactly, top gear seemed to of over looked the watertroughs.

  • wheres her badges she gt from the blomefeintein news paper?

  • there is only one on the otherside mate

  • kl a thought the badge was taken away

  • Brilliant, thankyou.

    I travelled on the cab in 1960s steam but in NZ., and it was often as sort of quiet .. but noisy and energetic as you show.

    I can almost smell the coal and sense the pulse.

  • superb video

  • brilliant

  • absolutely bob on cameraman good, but think all credit needs to goto the driver - NICE

  • Best vid I've ever seen and I've worked on the 'Duke'.

    I've tried many times to pace locos and never managed it anything like as well as this. Bloody brilliant and credit must go to your driver.

    Hugh.

  • Excellent...five stars from me...

  • Great im sure she could go a lot faster than 75mph time for the traction inspector to go to sleep great video

  • excellent video mate 5*

  • Wonderful! Well filmed!

  • excellent video great filming just look at her glide through the wind like a feather magic pure magic :) 5/5 oh and well done for trying to keep up with her lol lol lol

  • beautifully filmed

  • Look at her glide! Piss easy lol nice footage,

  • That train is like a really tall guy running its so easy for that train to cruse.5 Stars

  • I saw her sister "The Dominion of Canada" this past weekend.

  • Sheer brilliant!

  • Fabulous footage, the A4's really are fantastic, just looks like it's ticking over. Thank you for uploading. 5 stars.

  • what a brilliant loco and video....i would love to see something lke that 5*

  • Now that is very, very awesome. Excellent video, and so very rare to catch a steam loco at speed like that. How fast was it/you going (I understand if you dont want to answer that!)?

  • Spot on mate

    What about the NYC Niagras 1225Dude, they were pretty good. BUT we have a brand new steam loco in britain better than em all called tornado

  • Niagaras were ok. Very high mantinance. S-4 hudsons were really the throughrobred of American steam from what I've seen.  S-4s were faster than the Niagaras and could pull almost as much and required less mantinance

  • what speed were u going?

  • thats as close as you brits will ever come to our S-4 hudsons.  Bigger faster more powerful

  • Er ... I don't think so buddy.

    As for bigger and more powerful I will have to research that but as to faster - no way!

    A sister loco to 60009, 4468 Mallard, set the all time record for a steam loco on 3rd july 1938 at 125.88 mph (202.5842 km/h). see the Guinness Book Of World Records.

    Oh! and at least we still have many of ours still running including the newly built 60163 Tornado - check her out on YouTube at watch?v=qkkARP7PVVc

    Regards from this side of the pond :-)

  • The Mallard broke going that fast S-4s regularly hit 115 with LONG trains. Don't get me wrong, A-4s are pretty kick ass as we would say in the US I think 60009 is an awesome piece of machinery. Just that S-4s are a little more awesome

  • as far as i know mallard had a problem with that befor the run anyway and the problen was put straight afterwards + mallard hit 126 not 115 and the only loco to get close to that was a german loco if we didnt have any restrictions on height or width in this country like in america one can only imagine what sortof loco's could have come about if we managed those speeds with such underpowered loco's and sir nigel gresley reach over 110 with a full loaded train can compare them like uk and us cars

  • S-4 as in 765 right?

  • No, in CB&Q 3007.  4-6-4 hudson

  • Sir Nigel would be proud!

  • These A4 classes always look spotless! well.. they are always damn shiney! ^ ^

  • Nice footage......

  • Union of south africa is that? looks like it...

  • Brilliant!

  • Running well virtually in mid-gear!

  • Bert Hooker wrote that A4s would run well on just 4% and wide regulator, while the Bullied pacifics (which he loved driving) would kick uncomfortably at anything less than about 30%. How come?

  • proberly somthing to do with te arrangement of the valves?

  • That's what I thought at first. Bulleid came from the LNER and knew everything about the A4s big valves, streamlined steam passages. He used the same Kylchap exhust in his own locos and of course, three cylinders. I was wondering if the spring/ drawbar damping was less firm on his locomotives than Gresley's, so that his (Bullied) engines moved 'fore and aft' more.... ie the big kicks from the cylinders on full regulater/ short cut off are not steadied so well by the mass of the tender....?

  • Quality footage my friend & a good road to race trains on. God bless the A55.

  • well said

  • that, and the East Coast Mainline

  • superb =P

  • Nice to see Sir Nigel on the North Wales coast express.

    Im sure this magnificent footage was taken along the A55 from Llandudno Junction towards Colwyn Bay.

    That concrete embankment is just coming into Colwyn Bay from Mochdre.

    A lovely video of the greatest engine of them all a A4 Gresley Pacific.

    If our Lord in heaven was to have his personal transport up there im sure he would choose a Gresley A4.

  • Beautiful footage

  • Ditto Moodster's comment. This is exccellent. 5*

  • Awesome!

  • great vid!!!!

  • amazing footage ,was this by co-incidence or did you travel there for this?

  • wicked !!!!!!!!!!

  • What road and stretch of track was that on

  • A55 north wales coast road.I think!

  • A4s are on record as riding much more smoothly than the coaches they pulled in the 1930s. Three cylinders practically eliminated hammer blow.

  • thats some fantasic footage!

  • shaaaaaaaaweeeeeeeet!

  • Love to see you keep up with it at top speed

  • Mallard was only able to attain 126 for a couple of yards even gresley himself said that, most modern day cars can do that...

  • Most cars in 1938 were lucky to be able to reach 40mph. There are no modern day steam locomotives. In 1938, rolling stock was built/maintained to be able to travel at maximum 50 to 70mph.

  • go you sweet old A4. How fast was she going when they took this video? I would say 90 easy.

  • they are only allowed to do a maximum of 75mph on mainline and 25mph on a preserved line

  • but why so slow?

  • Thats a great video with a lovely soundtrack.

    I have always promised myself an A4 if i won the lottery and it would look awsome packed outside my home.

  • Poetry in motion - fantastic! - and it all looks so effortless as well. Thanks for sharing

  • that is mad!!!

  • what a video! nice steady camera work and brilliant noise, i would love a shot like that 1 day hehe

    5***** and fav

  • Excellent ! What a great noise she makes

  • Brilliant footage - I would kill to get a shot like that! You were very lucky that nothing slow (ie, lorry) got in your way.

  • Flimpin hell you did well keeping up her how fast were you both going.