The Roaring Season

This is not a subject I am knowledgeable on. And its somewhat off-subject for this site. But I find I'm usually stopped in my tracks whenever I see a photo of a streamliner steam loco.

Streamliner trains began appearing in the 1930s, and were essentially the fore-runner to todays high-speed bullet trains. Some were electric, some powered by combustion engines, some were even propeller powered. But my fascination is with steam power.

The concept was to make trains faster and more economic, through making them cut through the air more cleanly. Streamlining during this period was gaining great momentum, and included everything from cars to caravans.

Although the streamlined bodywork added weight, which then often off-set speed and economy, many of the steam streamliners were still very fast, with some achieving top speeds of over 100mph. However, it would seem they gained popularity simply because of the way they looked. Some of the trains were built from scratch as streamliners. Others were merely converted, and fitted with streamlined bodywork. But prior to World War II, streamliner steam locomotives became massively popular, and helped inject new interest in steam travel.

Here are some images I have collected.

On 3 July 1938, Class A4 4468 Mallard became the world record holder for a steam powered locomotive, achieving 125.88 mph (202.58 km/h) on a stretch of East Coast Main Line, in England, and beating the previous record held by the German DRG Class 05. The records stands to this day.

One of my Monster Race Wear customers is the Southward Car Museum. My company supplies their t-shirts which they sell through their retail shop. In addition, we do their advertising poster designs. This is one I got to do recently, showing their Bugatti racing a streamliner steamer.

wow..........love that retro look,going fast without moving.!!

In NZ the first J and K class locos were streamlined. It was abandoned after a while...

But looked awesome all the same...

Nice stuff, Steve...

It seems that some speed was available out of those poor oversized pistons, connecting rods and steam valves. On the other hand, one of the last major designs in steam locomotives was this one, the Allegheny of which several were built not all that long before diesel-electric took precedence:



It weighs a massive 603 tons, the tender is the size of a normal rail coach, the firebox is about the size of a small bathroom and the fire was too hungry to be fed by a man with a shovel... it has an auger running the length of the tender which was operated by the fireman.

Great thread Steve.
This one is not a steam train but always caught my imagination.
The Zeppelin train.

I sure hope the propellor was painted some bright colour!

What a device...

A row of LNER streamlined locomotives belch out smoke at a London railway station, where they are to be tested out. From the left, they are Dominion of New Zealand, Golden Shuttle, Empire of India, Golden Eagle and Number 10,000 R.

Wow, these are great you guys! Keep the pics coming.

Not all steam and no info... very cool

Here are a couple of photos I took at the Yorkshire Railway museum last year.

Awesome.