BBC - Radio 4 Making History
City of Truro or Flying Scotsman - which was the first to reach 100mph?Listener's query"When I was young we had a book about steam trains. In it was a photograph of a steam train - 'City of Truro', of the Great Western Railway - which it was claimed reached 102mph during the first decade of the last century. Recently, there have been radio and television programmes referring to the 'Flying Scotsman' as being the first train to exceed 100mph. Which is right?"Brief summaryThe answer is that both claims are worthy. GWR's City class no. 3440, City of Truro, which was built at the Swindon Works in May 1903, was hauling a mail train from Plymouth to London in May 1904 when it reached a claimed top speed of just over 102 mph. This was while going down a slope at Whiteball near Somerset.The background of this engine is that it was one of 20 built during the first decade of the 20th century. By the 1920s it was thought to be out of date and by 1931 all of this class had been scrapped except Cit...