The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-08-07
ZONE HUNDRED 7FMILEs AN
% eai h'iV HOUR g' :"

The highest railway speeds IN tn
, world are attained in England, an'
the highest railway speed in Eng
land is attained on the Great Yves
tern Railway, and this speed may b
taken roundly as fifty miles an hour
} There is a tradition in existence tina
Brunei once travelled from aSwindor
\ to London ateighty miles an hour:
but we have never been able to OBJ.
tain a shadow of proof that this
speed has been reached under any
circumstances or at any time what
ever on railway. Mr.. Stirling has
run with one of his great, outside
lcylinder express engines and train
of sixteen carriages at Seventy miles
an hour on the Great Northern, on
a level or with q slightly falling
gradient; and We know that the Var
mouth express on the Great Eastern
sometimes has reached a speed OF
sixty-four miles an hour down t e
Brentwood bank. On two occasions
some years ago in Trland, we ran A
miles in(sixtee minutes with q pow
erful engine, and a train of but two
carriages. Much of the run was
done atovers65 miles per hour. On
the Boston and Albany road, United
States, the 81 miles between Spring
field and Worcester were run by an
engine with Is inches cylinder, %
inches stroke, and 81 feet driving
wheel, in filty-eight minutes. e.o
Much of the run was done at
nearly seventy miles an hour. On a
first class line there can be no ques-
ton, therefore, but that a speed of
sixty five to seveny miles an hour
may be available with safety. We
believe that it would be possible to
lay permanent way so we'll, and to
MAINTAIN it in such excellent order,
that trains might travel on it with
perfect safety at 100 miles an hour.
Miles upon miles Of such track are
to be found now. on most ofour great
main lines, but it is not to be disput-
ed that nowhere can 100 consecutive
miles ofpermanent way in perec-
ton be found; and as "a chain is no
stronger than Its weakest link, so a
few hundred yards of bad track
would spoil for the purpose of
travelling at 100 miles an hour a
whole line. 1t would not be i'm
possible, however to maintain a line
Of such rails from London to Liv-
erpool or York. The really import
ant question is, given the line and
the carriages fit for it, what shall the
engine be like, and is it possible to
construct an engine at all which,
with moderately heavy train, will
attain and maintain a velocity of
100 miles an hour, on line with no
grade heavier than, say, l In 300.
The first points to be settled are,
how much power can a locomotive
of a given size develope, and how
much power shall we require to
haul train which will suffice to
satisfy the demand Of that portion of
the public wishing to travel at 100
miles an hour. At 80 miles an hour
on an ordinary line, and making due
allowance for contingencies, theI
resistance to be overcome. cannot.
according to experiments carefully
carried out both in France and in
this country, be much under 40 Ids,
per tun. At 80 miles an hour the
resistance is about 20 Ids. per tun;
at AZ miles an hour the resistance
reaches 1875 Ids. If the resistance
goes on increasing in this proportion
then the resistance at 100 miles an
hour cannot be less than 75lds. per
tun; but it may be very much more
and it would not, we think, be safe
to take itat less than 120 Ids per
tun. Now speed of 100 miles an
hour is 1868, or in round numbers,
l46 feet per second, or $500 per
minute. This, Emultiplied by 100
and divided by $4,000, gives, say,
80 horse power. Therefore each
tun moved at 100 miles an hour will
represent 81 horse power. The
Great Britain" broad guage Great West
ern engine, with its tender, in running