City of Truro: Life - Legend - Legacy (Lightmoor)

£24.00

During the GWR’s turn of the century locomotive development programme, the ‘City’ class emerged in 1902. Their evolution is outlined in the text, a design which became one of the final steps for the lineage of outside double-framed 4-4-0s. 

Early successes by No. 3433 City of Bath and No. 3440 City of Truro are discussed. The latter made a ‘record’ run, purportedly touching 100mph, the first such documented high speed on a railway, achieving a very fast journey time between Plymouth (Millbay) and Bristol hauling an ‘Ocean Mails’ special’ on 9th May 1904. 

‘City’ Class engines hauling premiére services were short-lived, as they were soon superseded by later designs of 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s. The class had all been withdrawn by 1931 but City of Truro’s ‘record’ performance was a principal factor in its long term preservation, during which periods of active main line and heritage railway service have taken place, which are also considered in these pages. 

The final chapter describes the celebrations of City of Truro’s run of 1904, in the form of railtours and special runs, including the ‘Ocean Mail 100’ of 2004, commemorating the centenary of that event almost to the day. 

Detailed speed comparison tables with City of Truro’s 1904 performance of all these tours, along with tables covering numerous earlier runs by ‘City’s and other contemporary classes, are also presented. 120 pages.