The 4468 dashes down Stoke Bank.
A distinctive livery of garter blue.
168 tonnes of dashing, rattling steel.
Careering through my field of view.

The Mallard makes 126 miles per hour.
Racing far ahead of its own steam cloud.
A steam train record still to this day.
On and on to King’s Cross it ploughed.

Young Mallard hauled a seven-coach train.
Around 250 paying passengers on board.
The Mallard now rests in exaltation in York.
A train and a record that cannot be ignored.