Mallard on the Settle and Carlisle

hi,folks,i drove the mighty "mallard"over the Settle to Carlsle railway on 13/08/1988,,i was one of her last drivers before she was put to sleep in York museum,,john Anthony. 

Every time I see the Mallard I am reminded forcibly of my darling husband who loved it. Thank you.

One of the most beautiful trains ever made, in my eyes. Such wonderful form and a gorgeous livery.

As a small boy in 1957 I remember being pulled from York To Peterborough by 60022 Mallard.It was taken off the train there and replaced by 60033 Seagull.I shall never forget that day.We all had tea in the Restaurant car as a special treat with my Granny !!!

Thanks for posting this. My Grandad was part of the team that built her in Doncaster. He was a riveter, pinning everything together. Unfortunately I never saw Mallard run but seen her a couple of times at the Railway Museum in York.

To have ridden on the train behind Mallard up to Carlisle must have been a fantastic journey. It is a beautiful ride on the service run from Leeds to Carlisle. My German Shepard Sheba loved it, bless her. She could not stand road journeys but enjoyed travelling by rail.

I once met the Mallard in person, close to the track as she glided along in the summer evening sun at Monckton Road, Wakefield. A very emotional moment. But how sad that so many other A4s were discarded and wrecked - terrible.

I enjoyed this very much. At the time I lived in Leeds, and I went to see Mallard arrive in York from Marylebone at the end of her last run, before being 'put to sleep'. The light was stunning, am still very proud of one of my photos. This video shows how much times have changed - all those 35mm SLR cameras, these days it would be larger D-SLRs and phones. There would be tiny video cameras all over the engine, but there would still be the people (mostly chaps) recoding every milepost, though they might be using GPS these days. If I had known Mallard was running on the S&C I would have been one of the people watching up there. No Internet in those days either, to spread the word.

These days there are a few A4 Pacifics running regular service , which is good . They are proberably all capable of the 125mph mark , thats what they were built for .

She holds the record that can NEVER be taken away from her!😊🇬🇧She is the Goddess of steam, she should be allowed out on the mainline more often so younger generations can see what true BRITISH ENGINEERING used to build......when we actually had heavy industry and innovation in the UK. When we joined Europe that was the end of the line for our industry. HURRAY for Mallard!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Beautiful. The line is very attractive to travel on in any ordinary train as well, let alone steam. Simply amazing scenery, friendly staff, well maintained stations, access to beautiful countryside. :)

This echoes a time when everything you held in your hand had a human touch. Things fit together and moved in unison from machines to people. There was still some mystery to the world but it was possible to learn of even distant lands from your own slice of the world. The shrill cry of the steam whistle is emblematic of that time where much of the world was explored but you had to go there for yourself and blaze a trail others had tread to truly understand for yourself. A journey for knowledge sake is much less justified now with internet, but perhaps there was some wisdom lost with the removal of stepping off the front step in the quest for knowledge

What a lovely locomotive, well worth the cost to keep it operational.

Having a bad day or feeling down? Just watch this! A great piece of history and filming (apart from the pop up cricket score...).  It tells you what makes all Gricers tick.  Even the characters are there.  But it's Mallard and the S&C with sight and sount that does it. Superb...

This is a very powerful locomotive even by American standards (we are more into pulling long freight trains up steep hills rather than speed) and yet it is all hand fired. What's that coal miner's song, '16 tons', that about what the fireman had to shovel to get this beauty to where it was going. A hard days work, and you had to come back tomorrow and do it all again.

What a lovely film, thank you.

Thank you for posting! just got back from a gig where the steam train (Jessie) whistles in beside the market and drops off some passengers for a couple of hours...I grew up with the sound and the smell of steam...I love it it.....and strangely enough folks..it would appear that many others do the same! People not on the train, rush out to see the choo choo!! Red beans and rice from Kaapstad.

In the TV series "NCIS", Dr Mallard has a model of "the Mallard" on his shelf, HO I am guessing. Kind of an Easter Egg.

This has to be the Rolls Royce of the steam engines

A beautiful machine. No work of art can compare.