In celebration of King George VI's and Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1937 five new Locomotives known as The Coronation Scot Class were built to exacting standards for use on Top Link work between London and Glasgow at full speed every day - twice.

there's some great footage of the locomotives being built at the BR Crewe Railway Works in late 1936. The first half of the film is interspersed with shots of the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, whilst not to everyone's taste the engine footage that follows more than makes up for it!

With their streamlined casing painted in Blue and Silver they looked exceedingly modern and smart. Later versions were painted in ornate red (Crimson Lake) embellished with gilt stripes. A great deal of research had been done on the benefits of air smoothing the casing. This was also a publicity film for the LMS who were in constant battle with the other rail companies for the travellers custom. No expense was spared in the making of these films and on the speed-days all other traffic was kept well out of the way so as to not impeded the Coronation Scot!

the engine had 6' 9" Driving Wheels, measured approximately 74 ft long and weighed in at about 108 tons with another 12 tons of coal and water giving about 120 tons total. they had a boiler that operated at 250 lbs per sq in, they had 4 cylinders, two outside and two between the frames underneath the boiler. Their power output was measured at c3300 horse power making them more powerful than the diesel engines which eventually replaced them in the early 1960's.

They were magnificent machines built for power and for speed - they were called the Kings of Locomotives! Coronation went on to take record after record with 114 MPH being achieved on one of it's first runs out. The ground shuddered as one of these thundered past with a trailing load of c375 tons at high speed.

Three have survived in preservation although the air smoothed casing was removed not long after manufacture because the Chief Mechanical Engineer decided that the benefits obtained at high speed were out matched by the problems encountered by fitters and drivers alike with everyday tasks like oiling and lubrication.

wiki provided the info on the technical aspects.

please note; this is a rail related film about steam locomotives, if it's not your idea of fun you'd be best advised to go no further for you will positively dislike it, for those that do like steam engines stick with it and have a look at this beaut!