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GWR 3440 City of Truro

Power type	Steam
Builder	GWR Swindon Works
Build date	1903
Configuration	4-4-0
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Career	Great Western Railway
Class	3700, City Class
Number	3440, renum 3717 in 1912
Official name	City of Truro
Retired	1961
Restored	1984
Current owner	National Railway Museum

Great Western Railway City Class 4-4-0 locomotive number 3440 City Of Truro was designed by George Jackson Churchward and built at the GWR Swindon Works in 1903. (It was renumbered 3717 in 1912). It was reputedly the first steam locomotive in Europe to travel in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h), reaching a speed of 102.3 mph (164 km/h) whilst hauling the "Ocean Mails" special from Plymouth to London Paddington on 9 May 1904. This speed was recorded from the footplate by Charles Rous-Marten, a writer employed by The Railway Magazine, but the journal did not publish the exact figure until 1907: Initially, mindful of the need to preserve their reputation for safety, the railway company allowed only the overall timings for the run to be put into print. Furthermore, for the record to have been proven conclusively, the presence of two timekeepers would have been needed and this was not the case. However, the milepost timings provided by Rous-Marten are fully consistent with a speed of 100 mph or just over.

The historical significance of City of Truro led to its continued survival after withdrawal from service in 1931. It was purchased by the London and North Eastern Railway and was subsequently displayed at a new museum in York. In 1957, the locomotive was returned to service by British Railways and based at Didcot it was used for hauling special excursion trains, usually on the Newbury and Southampton branch line and was renumbered back to 3440.

It was finally retired from traffic in 1961, and passed into the National Collection (based at the National Railway Museum in York) as a static exhibit. The locomotive was restored once more in 1984 to take part in the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Great Western Railway. City Of Truro was recently restored to full working order, at a cost of £130,000 to mark the 100th anniversary of its record-breaking run.

City of Truro on display in its namesake Truro, Cornwall

City of Truro - as seen in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends

City of Truro featured as a character in the book Duck and the Diesel Engine, part of The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry. The loco has also appeared in the television spin-off Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, and was released as a diecast model in the Ertl range.

• Allen, Cecil J. (1949). Locomotive Practice and Performance in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: W Heffer and Sons. 
• Tuplin, W.A. (1956). Great Western Steam. George Allen and Unwin. 
• Tuplin, W.A. (1965). Great Western Saints and Sinners. George Allen and Unwin.  COOL!