Anniversary of speed record for steam trains

75 years ago this week, A4 Pacific Mallard became the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives, attaining a speed of 126.88 mph. To mark this historic event, one of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway's locomotives has been fitted with the whistle from Mallard's 1935 sister locomotive, Silver King, which was taken out of service in 1965.

The whistle - and Gresley's A4 Pacifics - have a strong link with the F&WHR, as one of the LNER's best-known drivers, Bill Hoole, drove the class regularly between London and Scotland and moved to Porthmadog to become a driver on the Ffestiniog Railway when he left King's Cross shed. He was given the engraved chime whistle on his retirement in 1959 and last year it was presented to the F&WHR by Hoole's grandson, Bill Poacher.

Red Garratt NG/G16 No. 138, built in Manchester in 1958, now carries the whistle and both Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland trains today are carrying special headboards to mark the anniversary of Mallard's achievement, albeit at a rather more sedate pace.

In 1959, another A4, Sir Nigel Gresley, driven by Bill Hoole, set the post-war speed record of 112mph, also on Stoke Bank. He was later unofficially reported as having driven the same loco at 117 mph.

Hoole drove on the FR from 1959 until his death in 1979 and is buried in Minffordd Cemetery, his gravestone reading Bill Hoole: Engineman Extraordinary.