My Favourite Object: Flaman Speed Recorder – National Railway Museum blog
Volunteer Keith Taylor explains the story behind an intriguing object from our collection.
For a long time, most of the world’s railway locomotives were not fitted with any kind of speed indicating device. In France, however, Nicolas Flaman designed a unit which was fitted to most French locomotives even before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Eventually, these same recording devices were fitted to British locomotives.
One was fitted to Mallard and was no doubt studied with interest on 3 July 1938, when it would have shown a maximum speed of just over 126 miles per hour. It is still in place in the cab of our locomotive and you can see another example in the Warehouse.
