On this Day (July 3, 1938): The Story of Mallard: The Fastest Steam Locomotive

Hello Star Tugs,

Today, July 3, 2019 celebrates the 81st Anniversary of an event which has (quite literally) gone down in history in the world of Railroad/way Enthusiasts. Today, I will explain the story of Mallard: The World's Fastest Steam Locomotive.

(Note: This blog post will be written with Chicago Style. Also, I will try to keep this blog post easy to read for non train enthusiasts, but if any sections are confusing, I apologize in advance. No Copyright Infringement is intended with the photos used in this blog. )

Let's jump back to the 1930's. According to the LNER Encyclopedia, the London & North Eastern Railway, or LNER for short, were facing competition from roads and air travel. Similar to today, the solution to keep passenger trains profitable was high speed trains. The Streamliners, as the High Speed Trains of the 1930's were known, were the forerunners of trains such as the Japanese Bullet Trains and French TGV/AGV's, to name a few.

The Streamliner we will talk about today is Mallard. Mallard was built in 1938, and was 4 months old when July 3rd, 1938 came around. She is a member of the A4 class of steam locomotives, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley. The A stands for her wheel arrangement. Please look at the image of Mallard below.
 
Mallard in 1948, when the LNER was merged into the Government owned British Railways. Image Credit: Ben Brooksbank, used under the Wikipedia Creative Commons Licence. (This Blog is not endoresed by Ben Brooksbank). Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_%27World%27s_Fastest_Steam_Locomotive%27_,_%27Mallard%27_with_a_transitional_number,_at_King%27s_Cross_in_1948_-_2283205.jpg

Mallard is what train enthusiasts would call a Pacific, the name given to her wheel arrangement (bare with me here): she has 4 guide wheels at the front (you can only see 2 here on her left side) 6 driving wheels and 2 trailing wheels, which supports her cab, giving her crew a smooth ride, along with the weight of the firebox, which holds the fire to put the steam in steam locomotive. 

All right, let's get back to her run. July 3, 1938. Under the cover of a test run for a new break type the LNER was considering to use, the LNER used the opportunity to go for the speed record. Mallard was chosen because of how young she was, so there was less risk of mechanical failure during the attempt. 

The LNER held the run in secrecy so their rival, the London Midland & Scottish Railway, or LMS, who held the British speed record at 114 mph, didn't find out. Determined to get the record, the LNER brought in driver J. Duddington, who was known, according to the LNER Enclyopedia, "had a reputation for running trains hard when it was required." To hold credibility on their run, a Dynamometer car was put onto the train. This special coach could record statistics on a locomotive's performance, in particular: their speed. 

After performing the braking tests, the LNER gave the test crew a chance to leave the train. Not one person left. And so, departing from Peterborough, J. Duddington pushed Mallard to her limit. And she did not disappoint. 

Mallard reached 120 mph and held this speed for several miles and then for 306 yards, she crossed over to 126! At least, that's what the Dynamometer Car reported. Gresley, while proud of his engine, felt that 125 was more accurate. In any case, Mallard's top speed beat not just the LMS's record, but also the world record for steam locomotives, which was held by the German State Railways at 124.5 mph. Close, but Mallard beat it and history was made. 


Mallard at the National Railway Museum in York. Image Credit: Wikipedia User Duvda. Used under the Creative Commons Licence. (This blog is not endorsed by Wikipedia User Duvda). Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Number_4468_Mallard_in_York.jpg

Mallard unfortunately was damaged during the run, but was repaired and back in service 9 days later. The record might have been reattempted and possibly beaten, unfortunately, World War 2 broke out, halting any more speed record attempts. 

Mallard was preserved because of her record, and can be seen today at the National Railway Museum of England/the UK in York. She's restored as close to her original appearance as possible, when she made that famous run. While she does not run anymore, you can sometimes see her siblings Sir Nigel Gresley and Bittern run on the mainline. Both are under restoration at centers in Crewe, according to Rail Advent and Icons of Steam. Crewe was ironically in the territory of the old LNER rival the LMS. It seems fitting that a former rival works looks after the locomotives of it's biggest competitor, showing a sense of comradery if you will. Now before you go....

Fun Facts: 

1. To celebrate the 75th Anniverseary of Mallard's Speed Record, Mallard's sibling Bittern was given special permission to go above the speed limit of 75 mph for steam locomotives on the mainline in the UK today. According to Icons of Steam, Bittern set an impressive speed of 93 mph, and stayed over 90 mph for over 10 miles, proving the A4's are still as fast now as they were in the 1930's. Age does not deter a streamliner, it seems. 

2. In 2013, the same year Bittern reached 93 mph, all 6 surviving A4s were reunited at the National Railway Museum, an event which was called "The Great Gathering." The trip was truly great because it saw two members, Dwight D. Eisenhower (named after the then WWII General and later President) and Dominion of Canada, return from North America!! Both Dwight and Dominion returned to America (to the US National Railway Museum, which is not at ALL confusing) and to Canada to the Exporail Canadian Railway Museum, respectively. 

3. Despite Gresley feeling that 126 mph was an unfair claim, this is the number on the special Record Plates she was given. The Plates read: "On July 3, 1938 this locomotive attained a world speed record for steam traction of 126 Miles Per Hour." 


Mallard's Record Plates, which she still wears. Image Credit: Wikipedia User Duvda. Used under the Creative Commons License. (This blog is not endorsed by Wikipedia user Duvda) Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mallard_Record_Plate_01.jpg

4. Mallard's older sibling Silver Link, the prototype A4, once held the world steam speed record at 112 mph. This was later beaten by sibling Silver Fox which reached 113 mph. 

5. Mallard, as you can see, was named after the duck the Mallard. According to the LNER Encyclopedia, Mallard was not the only A4 to be named after a bird. Other examples include Great Snipe, Herring Gull, Wild Swan, Falcon and preserved sibling Bittern, to name a few. 
If you'ld like to learn more about the LNER A4's,check out the LNER Enclyopedia page on them. I'll leave a link in my sources section. If you're really curious (and don't mind paying around $5 US) Mr. Chris Eden-Green of Eden-Green Media has a very nice documentary on the A4's which I highly recommend, which you can watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QbHtcXOZSI

Special Thanks to Ben Brooksbanks and Duvda for their permission via Wikipedia Creative Commons License to use their photos. The copyrights of these photos belong to their respective owners. No Copyright Infringement is intended.


Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed this look back at a moment in history. If you'd like to see more blog posts that are train related, shoot me a tweet on Twitter, @ConductorPat. Thanks for reading. Keep Writing and I'll see you on the Tramway!
Sources:

"Bittern." Icons of Steam. Accessed 3 July, 2019. www.iconsofsteam.com/locos/bittern

Holden, Michael. RailAdvent. 1st February, 2019. Accessed 3 July, 2019. "New Home for Steam Locomotive 6007 Sir Nigel Gresley."
www.railadvent.co.uk/2019/02/new-home-for-steam-locomotive-60007-sir-nigel-gresley.html

"The Gresley A4 Pacifics." LNER Enclyopedia. Accessed 3 July, 2019. www.lner.info/locos/A/a4.php

Project Updates (& Patrick Hates Clay Dust)

Hello Star Tugs,

Happy Friday!! And happy Midsummer day...I think. I hope you're all doing well. I'm pretty tired, the last few weeks have been pretty hectic for me, this one in particular with work. As I have said before, working Custodial has been given me a new appreciation for the work our janitors do to keep the buildings we work in clean. 

Patrick Hates Clay Dust

For example, I was cleaning the Art building on campus today with 2 full staff members, and I had to clean the pottery room. The clay dust was forming a mini smog/fog in the air because of the movements of the broom! We couldn't use a vacuum in there, because it would destroy the sweepers we have (I think, all I know is the Boss said not to use it, and I did as she said. After accidentally using it for a hot minute. Woops 😋). 

So back to the clay smog, me and the other custodial staff had to wear masks to clean in the room, and this was AFTER I'd already swept yesterday. We tried a shopvac today, which our boss kindly brought over. Unfortunately, the shop vac wasn't working and it started shooting clay dust back out through vents!! As my boss and supervisor were trying to figure out how to get a second shopvac to work, I jokingly sang "Hello darkness my old friend." I had the Pentatonix and Simon and Garfunkel version of that song stuck in my head most of today, and I'm listening to the Pentatonix version as I write. 

(Unrelated Edition: I shared an article with CC the Martian, shout out to them on Twitter, about Vertigo comics being shut down by DC, article for reference: www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-hc-dc-comics-vertigo-20190621-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3IiqFIlC6VvTm4poungZBYhYiqYdW3TvoFF_hP6-fV4rneTiahtTInBbQ

They responded with "Hello Darkness my old friend" while the Pentatonix cover was still playing. That honestly scared the shit out of me. We both freaked out when I told them) 

The smog began to resemble a brown cloud, and we had to leave the room and let it settle. I see why the Arts Building is the most hated building on campus to clean. And I'm pretty sure my group is going back on Monday. Yay.... *screams internally.* 😅 

Custodial workers have a lot of ridiculous stuff they have to deal with. Washing windows and sweeping might not seem like hard work, but its as tiring as any other job, I'd argue possibly even more than. Thanks Janitors around the world for keeping our lives a little cleaner. Especially if you have to clean a pottery room, that is a level of Dante's Inferno for Custodians. 

Submission

All right, I should probably discuss a project or else I will be having false advertising. I submitted a short today, "Ticket to a Wrong Time." I don't think I'm allowed to say who I'm submitting it to, so I'm not going to risk it. In any case, I feel good about the story. I wrote "Ticket to a Wrong Time" in my Writing Fiction class, based on the assignment of making a story based off of a headline. 

I chose one related to trains (because I'm me, have you seen my twitter handle? 😛) of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in the UK doing a special test run with their steam locomotive Tornado, built in 2008, as they brought her up to 100 mph. Though in mine things don't go to plan..., but I'll leave it at that, so I don't spoil it. Fingers crossed it does well. This' actually the first time I've submitted a story professionally to a non-college based group. 

Blog Work? 

So one last thing before I wrap this up. I'm sorry that I haven't been consistent with my blog posts. Work/Real Life has been getting in the way recently. I'm sure that you all understand. 

I am hoping to personalize the blog a bit more, so it's not just the standard Blogger form. I'm not sure how well this will go, since I'm still relatively new to Blogger, so please bare with me, any advice would be appreciated. 

Well, that's about it from me for now. Please feel free to subscribe here for updates, or follow me on Twitter, @ConductorPat. I sometimes run polls, and would love to interact with my readers more. Thanks for reading. Keep Writing (&/or reading) and I'll see you on the Tramway!

Pat Pitches: Scott Snyder's Batman Run

What up, Star Tugs!

Happy Tuesday, I hope you're all doing well. Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, I had some stuff in real life I needed to deal with, and that obviously takes priority. 

So, I got off of work about an hour ago, then proceeded to shave my beard off for 40 minutes (this' the reason why I kind of hate growing a beard, but I'm often too lazy to shave regularly. That's what you get I suppose. 😋) Oh yeah, and watching Angry Welshman Productions do a stream, that's totally helpful/productive.

All right, onto the topic you've all been waiting for. So today's post will be a pilot of sorts for a new set of blogs, Pat Pitches, everyone's new favorite recurring blog where I pitch a piece of media that I think you would enjoy, and that I enjoy.

So today's Pat Pitches is for Scott Snyder's run on Batman. Now, before you panic, he's NOT related to the Edge lord Zack Snyder, Scott Snyder is about the opposite of him. 

Now part of the reason I'm doing this is also to convince a certain writer friend of mind to give Scott Snyder's Batman run a chance. I keep telling my writer friend CC (who doesn't like Batman and thinks he's overrated) to give Scott Snyder's run a chance. To be fair, their logic is that Batman has had 17, count that, SEVENTEEN cinematic film appearances, and DC does rely on Batman a bit too much for films. Since I don't have a lot of time to talk to them because we're both working, I'm writing this. Shout out to CC btw, read their series Temple to Alien Gods, it's really good and is on Blogger.

For clarity, the Scott Snyder run on Batman I am referring to starts with The Court of Owls, if you are interested in the story. Please note their will be minor spoilers. 

Scott Snyder does what few writers in recent years have accomplished: add to the lore of Batman in a way that sticks. The Court of Owls feel like they have been apart of the Batman lore since Day One. The Court of Owls are Gotham's secret society, who even Batman doesn't know exist!! They're believed to be a myth, an urban legend, but do exist, and almost bring Batman to his breaking point, and prove themselves to be a formidable physical opponent. 

Throughout the stories, Scott Snyder develops the world of Gotham, and makes the city a character to itself. Scott Snyder describes the history of specific buildings, such as Gotham tower, the reasoning behind the Gargoyles' placing, and even the districts of the city. Scott Snyder makes Gotham feel like a place you could actually visit, that is if you want to die because of how many super villains reside there. 

Scott Snyder also handles Batman's Rogues and Supporting characters spectacularly. Scott Snyder develops on old characters, such as Dick Grayson, and even adds a few new characters, who feel like they belong in Gotham. My favorite character that Scott Snyder adds is Bluebird, who is developed slowly over the issues.

Let's focus on Batman a bit. Scott Snyder humanizes Batman in a way that few writers in recent years have done. In Nightshift (or is it the long night?) Batman, after losing a member of the Bat Family, goes on a rampage across the city, and nearly gets himself killed. He's called out for this, and in result hits the person trying to help him. Later, and here's the kicker, he realizes they're right, listens, and apologizes for his actions. In another story we see Superman and Batman team up to take on a supernatural threat, and Batman shows deep concern for his friend, and refers to Superman as such.

I think my favorite issues of Scott Snyder's Batman run are The Court of Owls, and Batman: Endgame (not to be confused with Avengers: Endgame). Batman: Endgame deals with the Joker, and it's truly terrifying seeing how close to totally destroying Gotham the Joker gets, as he releases his joker gas throughout the entire city, and for some reason does not appear able to die. Batman once again comes to the breaking point, and has to rely on the Bat Family and some rogues to save Gotham.

After Endgame, we see someone new take on the mantle. I won't say who, to not spoil it, but I will provide the premise, again, minor spoilers.

With Bruce Wayne no longer Batman, the city loses a source of hope. So to continue this, the police begin training police officers to become a new Batman, who works for the police, to continue Batman's legacy. I've read only the first volume that covers this arc (Volume 8 if memory serves me right), and I really enjoyed it. This volume also really humanizes Bruce, and is a very unique story in my opinion as Batman stories go.

So there you have it. If you're interested, give Scott Snyder's Batman run a try, you might find it refreshing from other Batman stories. Thank you all for reading this blog post. If you're interested, follow the blog to get email notifications, or follow me on Twitter @ConductorPat. I'll be running a poll soon after this goes live to see if people want more Pat Pitches blog posts. If you do, or don't (which is totally fair), then go give your answer on Twitter.

Thanks again. This' been a fun warm up, so once this' done I'm going to try and get some Lady Luck Vol. 1 writing done. Keep writing, and I'll see you on the Tramway!

Brightburn Reaction (No Spoilers), Iluckstrious Lady Luck Update

Hi Star Tugs,

I hope you're all doing well this Thursday. I'm currently rewatching Infinity War on Netflix, I got off of work a few hours ago and I'm feeling pretty tired. 

So in case you missed my last blog post (I think I mentioned it in there) I started work on Tuesday, for my College's Custodial Department, starting at 5 am. It's pretty tiring, but it pays good and I'm getting used to it. Having the weekend to rest will definitely help. Plus, while I work I can plan out story ideas! So that's a bonus for sacrificing time to write, granted if I was at home I'd probably be wasting it so work helps me to prioritize writing, albeit I haven't done anything besides this since I got off work. 

So, with that said, Iluckstrious Lady Luck Vol. 1 updates might slow down, but I'll get to that in a second. 

Brightburn

I saw Brightburn on Memorial Day with a group of friends (and my sister but she's not important 😜). I'm glad I saw Brightburn on the big screen. Let me tell you all, Brightburn is a scary film, and is spectacular. One of the best R-rated Superhero/Horror films I've seen in a long time. It's pretty much the best Elseworlds DC Superman film we're going to get for a long time. 

As I said in the title, there won't be spoilers. I will recommend the film, and suggest that you give it chance. 

Iluckstrious Lady Luck Update

So as I mentioned earlier, because of work my time to work on The Iluckstrious Adventures of Lady Luck Vol. 1 "The Monorail Conspiracy" is not as much as before work started. I'll probably do most of my writing on the weekend when I have time, and after work. I'm probably going to work on it after work paragraph by paragraph. 

I'm not going to give up on the story, so you can rest assured I'm not giving up. I have an idea for where I want to take the story and what the conclusion is going to be for Vol. 1 (I sort of have it planned up to Vol. 3 mentally, and possibly Vol. 4.), but that's not the priority right now, finishing Vol 1 is. After I finish it I'm going to take a break from Lady Luck, perhaps work on a new article to pitch, then move into the editing stage, and start fleshing out the characters more.

I realized yesterday that when I write I focus so much on the action of the superhero stories that I don't have them do stuff when not being superheroes. I don't really KNOW the characters, if that makes sense. For example, what does Brenda Banks do when she's not fighting crime? The most I have her do is shopping and go dancing (granted it's part of her character growth, but I won't say more to not spoil the story), but what are her career goals, her passions? 

This' a problem I realize affects a lot of my stories and characters. So after I finish Iluckstrious Lady Luck Vol. 1 I'm going to start creating character sheets for the characters in "The Monorail Conspiracy," and flesh them out. This might time time, but will be worth it in the long run. 

All right, that's about it from me. I think I'm going to give Disney's John Carter a watch on Netflix and start working on Iluckstrious Lady Luck Vol. 1 some more.

Thanks for reading. If you want to keep up to date on my writer's journey, follow me here on Blogger and also on Twitter, @ConductorPat, where you can interact with me, see what I'm doing, see other cool writers to follow, etc. 

Next time on the Blog I will be releasing a Prototype Blog Post for a blog series I have called Pat Pitches. I'll explain it in the next one (gotta get people to come back again, right? 😜 Keep writing, and I'll see you on the Tramway!

Visiting Writer Abbie Gascho Landis's Reading & Dealing with Rejections

Hello Star Tugs and new readers,

welcome back. Happy Memorial Day. I hope you're all having a good day.

So this blog post, fun fact, was going to be released about a month ago, unfortunately I ran out of time and couldn't finish it. I did want to talk about my writing workshop, so here we are.

Abbie Gascho Landis & Writing Outside

I attended the workshop "Writing Outside" at my college for 1 credit. I really enjoyed this workshop, it was a lot of fun writing about nature. I don't really consider myself a nature person, but I really enjoyed it. 

Abbie Gascho Landis was the PERFECT teacher for this class. She's a veterinarian, writer, mother and mussel nerd. On top of this, she's really cool person and wrote a book on Mussels. Apparently there's a convention for Mussels specialists, and I'm happy that it exists. I think we often get caught up in things of interest to us that we forget that everyone is different. 

As a train enthusiast I sometimes feel ashamed of that, like it's too weird or odd. And THEN, there's a Mussels Convention!! As Mr. Sunday Movies and Nick Mason of the Weekly Planet Podcast say, everyone's a nerd for something. And that's totally okay. 

Mrs. Landis did a reading of a few of her pieces towards the last days of the class. Hearing her discuss raising chickens for meat was very eye opening. I don't like the idea of chickens growing so fat that they can't really move. But, at least (in Mrs. Landis' case) they lived a happy life.

If you're interested in Mrs. Landis, you can find her website here: www.abbiegascholandis.com

Dealing with Rejections

Yesterday I received a rejection email for "Keeping up with the New Builds." I'm not going to say which magazine it was (that would be unprofessional and make me look like a salty boi!!) I'm not mad, by the way. Does it hurt? Yeah, it's frustrated seeing your work be rejected.

However, it's not something to get mad about. The Editor explained his magazine was already working on two articles that were similar to mine in house, and that they don't accept mass submissions (where you submit an article to more than one place). Which is fair, he explained they had a problem where they published an article that was already published. I'm sure that was a nasty situation. 

I wanted to talk to you all about dealing with rejections. Rejections are, as I'm sure more experienced writers will tell you, a part of the writing game. 

So, why do rejections happen? For lots of reasons. An editor might not feel a piece fits their general publication (that happened to me with "Keeping up with the New Builds" come to think of it), or maybe they don't feel a piece is ready (this has happened to me when I tried submitting a funnies article to my school magazine). 

Rejection is just something we must face. I've heard that you have to get a piece (such as a novel) rejected 20+ times before it will be published. I reached out to the #WritingCommunity on Twitter to ask how people deal with rejections. I'll leave the link to the thread here if you want to read it: https://twitter.com/ConductorPat/status/1132757647126683650 One quote I really like was from Gabi Bird "Never give up! Every great writer has faced rejection and has come so far. :)" I like this a lot, and it's true. You can't give up.

So to my fellow young and old writers alike, if you get a rejection, don't let it affect you. It doesn't mean you're not a good writer or that the piece is trash. (It might be, but don't assume that, and I don't mean that in a bad way. All pieces can use more editing, but just because a piece is 'trash' doesn't mean it's not a treasure). Keep writing, and keep submitting. And don't give up. Writers like Stephen King got rejected, and still do. My friend CC told me that Stephen King used to keep rejection letters on a meat hook, and he filled the whole thing! So remember, even the greats get rejected.

A thing of advice I suggest which another #WritingCommunity member said was to keep a collection of rejections, so that you can remind yourself that it's normal. And remember, when you get that acceptance letter or email, because of the rejections that led you to there, it will be a whole lot sweeter.

Thanks for reading everyone. If you want to keep up with me, subscribe to my blog! Want to ask questions? Follow me on Twitter, @ConductorPat. Also, for new writers, use the # #WritingCommunity on Twitter to meet new people, and interact with fellow writers. Thanks again for reading. Keep writing and I'll see you on the Tramway!

(Now if you'll excuse me I have scholarship essays to write and I'm going to see Brightburn in a few hours. So excited!)