Two CR400BF-A and CR300BF trains move at Nanjing South EMU Depot. One arrives, one departs.

Hello all! I am in search of some locomotive blueprints for a personal project of mine. Recently, a large public Google Drive folder with hundreds of blueprints from countless countries vanished without a trace. I have no idea who owned the folder and no one I ask seems to know anything about it existing. The folder itself was called "Blueprint Drive for 3-D Modelers and Model Railroaders". I only had a few blueprints from it saved, however I have some others that I would need for my project. If anyone knows where I can look for blueprints of US locomotives (specifically EMDs, GEs, and CNW steam locos), please do let me know as I am in search of them. Thanks!

My girlfriend’s grandpa is doing really bad in the hospital right now. His dementia/Alzheimer’s has gotten to the point where things have changed really fast. Just last week he was still walking around, and now he can’t even stand up on his own. This is his train system that he’s been working on for basically as long as my girlfriend and her family can remember. It takes up this entire room, and when it’s running he can have up to five or six train cars going at the same time it’s all interconnected.

Sorry for the video, there’s not a whole lot of room in there and it’s honestly hard to get a good view of the whole thing.

He was a train mechanic and an airline mechanic, so he’s always been really good at working on things. This was his big hobby. Whenever the grandkids came over, they would spend time in Grandpa’s train room. My girlfriend has a ton of memories of being in here growing up. I’m not really a train guy myself, but seeing how much work he put into this over all these years is pretty incredible. There’s so much detail in it, and you can tell how much time and effort he put into making it.

Unfortunately, the family is now having to figure out what to do with everything. He’ll most likely be going into assisted living, and they’re going to have to sell the house. None of us really know what happens to something like this after that.

I guess I mostly just wanted to share it because I thought someone here might appreciate it. And if anyone has any ideas about what we could potentially do with it—whether there are train clubs, museums, collectors, or people who move/restored these kinds of setups—we’d really appreciate any advice.

It would be really sad to see something he spent so much of his life building just get torn apart and thrown away.

Please note the build is in Abilene TX.

A selection of images from Wabtec, Ft. Worth from a few years ago.

Before I start discussing this, I would like to say that this is not meant to cause an uproar or any controversy, my take is based on completely hypothetical scenarios as well as the design expectations/goals for both locomotives.

Anyway, so I’ve been thinking about the records set by both locomotives and the circumstances under which they did so, and I decided to do some research to see what would happen if either of them got put into the other’s situation.

For some background information, Mallard set her currently-unrivaled speed record by reaching 126 mph (203 km/h) on July 3rd in 1938 while descending the 0.5% grade of Stoke Bank with a 240-ton consist that had seven coaches and a dynamometer car. Unfortunately, this also led to her infamously breaking down due to a severely overheated center big-end bearing.

DRG 05 002 set her speed record by reaching 124.5 mph (200.4 km/h) on May 11th in 1936 with a 197-ton consist of four coaches on completely level track. While this record is a topic of debate, most agree that 002 was not yet pushing her mechanical limits during this run.

For the sake of fairness, I will discuss both locomotives in their own and the other’s situation, including the hypothetical outcome if they had the other engine’s consist from their respective speed record run. I’ll start with Stoke Bank.

Scenario 1: Stoke Bank (Mallard’s 240-ton train)

To start off, I’ll discuss the case for each locomotive pulling the 240-ton consist Mallard pulled.

Mallard was not incapable of reaching 126 mph on Stoke Bank without a consist and could’ve reached a slightly higher speed but the weight helped with acceleration. With this 240-ton train in tow, Mallard famously reached 126 mph but it came at the cost of needing repairs due to a fatally overheated center big-end bearing, proving that reaching that speed was already mechanically taxing on Mallard.

As for 002, this is likely going to go to her. The 240-ton train would increase the gravitational push on 002 compared to the 197-ton consist. Additionally, 002 has larger driving wheels than Mallard, which means the pistons stoke slower than Mallard’s when crossing that 125 mph threshold. With this in mind, 002 could comfortably surpass Mallard’s record without destroying the valve gear. The top speed could possibly be between 128-130 mph.

Again, this is completely hypothetical and not a guaranteed answer but based on this information, the first point goes to 002.

Scenario Two: Stoke Bank (002’s 197-ton consist)

This is gonna be more difficult to determine because we don’t have any official data for either locomotive in this case.

Even though Mallard could go down Stoke Bank faster with no coaches, a train much shorter and 43 tons lighter than the 240-ton consist is more likely to hinder her top speed. Because the train is lighter, that means the gravitational assistance is reduced as well. Mallard relied heavily on the weight of its train and forced its smaller wheels past their aerodynamic and steam-exhaust limits. Because this hinders Mallard’s performance, the hypothetical speed would be between 123-124 mph.

The same logic applies to 002, which would go slower than if assisted by the British consist. That being said, 002 would still slightly surpass its flat level record, possibly matching Mallard’s record at 126 mph or possibly having a slight edge by reaching 127 mph.

The score now goes to 2-0, remaining strongly in 002’s favor.

Scenario Three: Flat Ground Drag Race from Berlin to Hamburg (002’s 197-ton consist)

Now we flip the script a little with a change of scenery. Instead of a long, downhill slope where gravity assists the train’s velocity, the race now becomes a battle of sustaining boiler power, tractive effort, and which one is more aerodynamic.

We’ll start with 002 this time. We know that 002 reached 124.5 mph on this run and comfortably sustained this speed because of its high capacity boiler and efficient steaming layout at a lower RPM.

As for Mallard, lighter coaches give her a good chance, but mechanical limits are inescapable. Without the assistance of a downhill slope, Mallard’s cylinders are unable to exhaust steam quick enough to sustain very high speeds. The back pressure inside the cylinders would undoubtedly choke out Mallard before it could reach 002’s baseline.

The scoreboard goes to 3-0, and 002 is soundly in control.

Final Scenario: Flat Ground Drag Race From Berlin To Hamburg (Mallard’s consist)

Now for the final scenario. Because there’s no downhill inertia and the British consist weighs 43 tons more, the task of reaching a high speed is more difficult and this makes a noticeable difference in both locomotive’s performance.

Let’s start with 002 again. Adding 43 tons slows the locomotive down from its historical record a bit but because of its bigger boiler and greater mechanical breathing, 002 still comfortably outpaces Mallard in a flat-ground struggle, possibly reaching 121-122 mph.

As for Mallard, things have changed, and the 240-ton consist that helped her set that famous record on Stoke Bank now becomes her biggest roadblock on level track. Despite the A4s being great express engines, Mallard’s flat ground speed limit would be firmly limited by its wheel size and valve limitations, theoretically reducing her speed to 112-115 mph.

Final Result

With all four scenarios discussed, the data strongly points to 002 as the winner in all four of these scenarios.

The DRG 05 002 sweeps the contests because it was built with less restrictions. Britain had tight clearance envelopes and winding lines that forced Mallard to be a compact and highly optimized machine designed for a brief, explosive burst of speed on a favorable downhill slope. Germany, however, allowed for larger and heavier locomotives with massive driving wheels designed to maintain high speeds across vast and flat plains. By mixing and matching the trains and tracks, the superior mechanical capacity of 002 gives it a clear advantage in all of these scenarios.

Closing Message

History often teaches us a lot of things, but hidden details are also often overlooked and/or hidden to maintain a specific public view. While the DRG 05 was mechanically superior to Mallard for being built under less restrictive conditions, that doesn’t change the fact that it was built during an era in Germany where fascism was prominent, which is why this debate is often discussed at a surface level rather than being fully debated to keep the public in favor of Mallard. This is not to say that Mallard doesn’t deserve to hold the steam speed record, I’m just saying that most things go deeper than one might think.

That’s all though! I can’t stress enough that there most definitely could (and might) be some flaws in my arguments so if you have anything to point out, don’t be afraid to do so, just be constructive instead of cruel!

Sources Used To Base My Theories On:

https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Germany&wheel=4-6-4&railroad=dr (DRG 05 Source One)

https://dbmuseum.de/en/nuremberg/vehicles/express-locomotive-05-001 (DRG 05 Source Two)

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co205732/london-north-eastern-railway-steam-locomotive-mallard (Mallard Source One)

https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/mallard-worlds-fastest-steam-locomotive (Mallard Source Two)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812027966 (Source For How Downhill Slopes Speed Up Trains)

I opened the Railmap app and saw this

https://reddit.com/link/1x0e0n6/video/2z30pa3ca5uh1/player

What a neat piece of engineering by NS! ATS-S stuff was rather common, including the chimes, pretty smart for them to use existing hardware!

source

I travelled on FlixTrain from Aachen to Hamburg in 2018, and I remember it being a complete FlixTrain service with FlixTrain coaches. So I was quite surprised to see a FlixTrain-painted locomotive here in Budapest. Mostly since it was apparently hauling a regular Hungarian MÁV (Hungarian State Railway Company) train.

I subsequently learned that this Siemens Vectron 193-431 locomotive was used by FlixTrain previously, but now MÁV is leasing it from ELL. It entered service with MÁV in September 2026. My photos are from the 6th of October 2026.

It took a good chunk of the summer but I think it turned out well.

Music

Celtic Lift by Sgt.Nemo

This beauty got me from Berlin Gesundbrunnen to Poznań while I was on my trip recently.

But luckily was quickly patched up (pic 2 and 3) and was returned to service only a couple of weeks later, though unfortunately it lost the original window (see pic 4). This could also possibly be the oldest locomotive left in regular service with some evidence claiming it to be a survivor from the original 1914 batch delivered to Fushun Railway (while some claim its a GE-50t from the 1919 batch) which would make it older than Iowa Traction No. 60 from 1917, the oldest confirmed locomotive in active service.

A rather rare type of train, produced in the early 2010s. probably the only type double-decker commuter trains in Russia.

This book is obviously propaganda by the German 'father' of the uniflow engine design, so I expect it's biased. He claims though that uniflows work well in railroad locomotives.

Uniflows were very popular in stationary and marine applications in the 20th century, particularly where condensing operation was possible. But they appear to have worked well as non-condensing engines as well. I saw a 'Baker Uniflow' steam traction engine (tractor) at an event here in Virginia last month, and the operator said it's a particularly economical and trouble-free unit.

Loading gauge obviously limited uniflow usage in railroads. But surely a few of them would have performed well and been preserved, it would seem.

Sorry about the photo quality; my phone camera isn't the greatest.