The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-08-21
OVER THE Pa. RI. BY DAYLIGHT.

Probably the best specimen cf du
American highway TO be found anywh-r--
is the Pennsylvania Railroad. betw-ci,
Pittsburg and New York In Solidity OF
construction. superiority of bridge arch
itecture. and smOOthneSS Of track. il l.
unriValed. Throughout it, entire l-nsIh
it is laid with a double track Of steel
rails, weighing SiXty-seveu pounds Io tile
yard. These rails are fastened on oak
ties. imbedded in broken stone ballast
with splice-iOintS between the ties. and
so arranged that the connection on one
side comes opposite TO the centre of the
rail on the other, thus preventing the
uncomfortable and monOtonOUs jar eN-
perienced on tracks constructed accord
ing TO the ordinary plan. The rolling
stock is as near perfection as human
ingenuity ana skill has, up TO the pres
ent time, been able TO make it. Loco
motives and cars are alike built by the
Company in their own shops, and III the
details of materials, design, and finish,
combine the highest excellence attaina-
BILE. To all this is added a rigid policy
of management, eXacting the utmost
care and courtesyfrOm employees of every
grade, and the application of those eff
fectiye safeguards-the Westinghouse
air-brake, and the block-signal system
showing that whatever can be accom-
plished for the safety of travellers has
been done on this great line of roadway.
This high standard of excellence hav-
ing been reached, the managers of the
Pennsylvania Railroad feel warranted in
taking another advance step for the
special benefit of through travel, and on
the 1st of June commenced running
fast daylight train from Pittsburg to
Philadelphia and New York, with close
connection at Harrisburg for Baltimore
and Washington on the follOwins sched-
ule:
Leave Pittsburg..-.-.-..-.........75;;i55 A. NJ
Altoona ll--o
harrisDurS,..-.-..-.-.---.-. .'5:zo T. NJ
Arrive Baltimore 5000. .................6:55P p. NJ.
Warrington n,----.....-----....-9O2 -
Arrive Philadelphia. p. NJ.
- New York .-..--...........-...-9,jO -
The magnificent run of four hundred
and forty-four miles between Pittsburg
and New York is made with but three
stoppages, s,-the first, of only five min
uteS, at Altoona, after a stretch of one
hundred and seventeen miles; the sec
ond, of twenty minutes for dinner, mt
Harrisburg, after an unbroken dash of
one hundred and thirty-two miles, and
the third and last. Of only five minutes,
at Philadelphia, after Il run Of one hun
dred and five miles. leaving "a single
stretch of ninety miles across New Jer-
sey to destination. No time being lost
in stopping, the wonderful locomotive
engines work away with the regularity
of fixed Misunderstanding their supply
of water from the track-tanks as they
20. and carrying their fuel with them;
and the time is made by the uniformity
of progress more than by an increased
rate of speed. The train IS made up Of
Pullman parlor cars and the best Of the
COmpany's day coaches, all Splcndidly
upholstered, mounted on combination
springs, and furnished with plategiass
windows, through which the landscape
can be distinctly seen.
And here comes in the great charm Of
this daylight ride through Pennsylvania,
for the train leaves Pittsburg at a quar-
ter before eight IN the morning and
reaches Philadelphia at 4 quarter before
seven in the evening. Ii il no new thing
to say that the scenery on the line of the
PENNSYLVANIA road is beautiful. and. in
many places, grand. Every American
who travels or reads has seen or heard
of it, and the pencils of many artists
have labored lovingly to portray, for
popular qualification, the attractions of
the Allegheny mountains; the .juniata,
Susquehanna, and Conemaugh rivers,
and the wondeaful agricultural wales OF
Lancaster and Chester counties, through
which this road runs. Long sweeps OF
wooded hills; lofty mountains and dark
ravines; picturesque valleys opening in
to each other; sparkling and placid wa
tiers; wide. rolling, pastoral landscapes,
follow in rapid rucceSsion. \ ciang of
the bell. sinking away in the rush of the
train, signals town after town and vii
Iage after village. The dusty turnpike,
dreamy canal, and the shaded by-rOads
are crossed and passed in a fash. ON,
on, on, goes this tireless train, over IL
clear track, carrying the traveller by IL
panorama, the like of which can be found
nowhere else on this continent, and
probably not in the world. After hav-
ing breakfasted in the Mississippi valley
and dined at the capital of Pennsylvania,
the passenger finds himself seated at sup
per in the metropolis of New York,
where the Atlantic throbs and swells in
its ceaselesS activity.
A few years ago the man who should
have predicted such a ride would have
been pronounced utterly and hopelessly
insane Not even the most sanguine
enthusiast on railroads, when their CON
struction was commenced, dreamed OF
overcoming distance at such rate; and IL
is only because Of the perfection oi ma
chinery ard the inventions of science
that it can be done now. But it Is a fact
accomplished reality of the day, and
all that is left for the people i to wonder