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3717 City of Truro

3717 City of Truro - a 4-4-0 express locomotive which achieved fame as the first locomotive to achieve a recorded 100 mph, on 9 May 1904. Owned by the National Railway Museum, City of Truro made its inaugural run after a major overhaul on the GWR in 2004 and is now based at Toddington. Unfortunately it has recently suffered a serious boiler problem and is out of service for the foreseeable future.

4-4-0
Great Western Railway, designed by G J Churchward
1903
58 tons
3,000 gallons
Express passenger work. The 27 ‘City’ class locomotives (10 were 'new build' and 17 were rebuilds of Dean 'Atbara' class 4-4-0s)quickly gained a reputation for nimble performance. City of Truro achieved notoriety by reaching a claimed top speed of just over 102mph when hauling a London-bound mail train from Plymouth, when it was less than a year old, in 1904. However, the class became confined to secondary lines, including the route of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, as larger locomotives were introduced. All had been withdrawn from service by 1931.