Wellington Bank, Somerset

Bristol merchants were anxious to secure a railway route to Exeter, which was an important commercial centre, and which had a harbour on the south coast, in the English Channel.

[3] The first 7 ft (2,134 mm), broad gauge, section of the line was completed to Bridgwater on 14 June 1841, and the extension to Taunton in July 1842 – both using trains leased from the Great Western.

At Norton Fitzwarren just west of Taunton, the intention was to split the railway three ways: From Creech St Michael westwards, the B&ER had followed the gently flowing valley of the River Tone.

A temporary terminus was established in the hamlet of Beam Bridge on 1 May 1843, from which passengers were taken by carriage to the far side of the hill, and then taken by another train from Burlescombe, Devon to Exeter.

3440 City of Truro was timed at 8.8 seconds between two quarter-mile posts, whilst hauling the "Ocean Mails" special from Plymouth[8] to London Paddington.

However the morning after the run two local Plymouth newspapers did report that the train had reached a speed between 99 and 100 miles an hour whilst descending Wellington Bank.

[10] Rous-Marten first published the maximum speed in 1905, though he did not name the locomotive or railway company:[11] On one occasion when special experimental tests were being made with an engine having 6 ft. 8 in.

Official confirmation from the Great Western Railway came in 1922 when they published a letter written in June 1905 by Rous-Marten to James Inglis, the general manager, giving further details of the record.

However, in May 1904 City of Truro was not the fastest vehicle in the world, as 130 mph (210 km/h) had been reached the previous year on an experimental electric railway near Berlin.