The third goal scored by the English Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup Final which made England world champion against Germany is considered the most controversial moment in the history of football. Polemics are still fierce, while Germany and England continue to appropriate that final. The controversy is reiterated whenever the two national teams meet. However, there are few who know that a controversy in railways is currently in the spot lights since Germany and England are contesting the world speed record of a steam driven train and that current High-Speed initiatives bring forth old Anglo-German rivalries. The controversy headliners are two classes of locomotives which contest the title for the fastest steam locomotive ever built, the 05 Class of Deutsche Reichsbahn and the A4 Class of Royal British Rail, which are thought to be the technological top of steam driven locomotives.
During 1935-1937, three 05 series locomotives were built at Borsig facilities in Berlin. Initially, the locomotives were designed to reach speeds of 175 km/h, but the aerodynamic body case helped the locomotives exceed their planned speeds. In 1935, the 002 locomotive set a new speed record for steam trains on Berlin-Hamburg line, where the speed indicator raised to 200.4 km/h. Of the three locomotives withdrawn from operation in 1958, only the 001 vehicle withstands to present days. The vehicle is exhibited at the Railway Museum in Nuremberg. Mallard or the A4-4468 Class is the work of engineer Sir Nigel Gresley and was built at the Doncaster facilities and launched on March 3, 1938. The initial speed of 160 km/h was immediately exceeded, but the new record, only four months after the inauguration, more precisely on July 3, 1938, when the locomotive reached 202.58 km/h, was beyond all expectations. The record was set on the East Coast Main Line, between Little Bytham and Essendine. Unlike German rival locomotives, Mallard was operated until 1963. Later on, the vehicle was restored and exhibited at the Railway Museum in York.
The controversy resides from the fact that the speed record in the case of the German locomotive would have been set on plane surface, whereas Mallard reached maximum of speed on sloped ground, while descending the Stoke Bank hill. Unlike records set by road vehicles, the surface impact and wind are not taken into account in railway records. According to dynamometric calculations based on the declarations of the engineers who recorded the locomotives and on site photographs, the advantage of the sloped ground would have greatly influenced Mallard’s success. To this day, many German specialists believe they are entitled to state that the speed record set on plane surface by Class 05 is superior to that set by Class A4 and that the record would morally pertain to the German concept. To feed the controversy, the attempts of several American locomotives after 1938 to exceed the speed record set by the British locomotive failed. Today, only Germany designs high speed technology, while England abandoned the High Speed concept a long time ago. Nevertheless, to return to the football comparison since tradition never dies, a British design company, Priestmangoode, has recently presented a very high-speed train concept, called Mercury, with hopes to become the future train of the High Speed 2 Corridor (HS2) and perhaps, a symbol of the British industry relaunch on the High Speed market. Coincidentally, during the same month, Deutsche Bahn announced the company’s plans of launching very high speed services with Siemens ICE trains on the British network, feeding the British ambition and reviving long-forgotten rivalries which laid the ground for fierce competitions such as that between Mallard and the 05 locomotives.
by Alin Lupulescu
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