The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-09-18
A MILE A MINUTE.
Engineer Fraser Repeats That Steam
Trains Almost Never Make 1t.
From the Mc,u York Sun.

| III Tie iOUt III uCCOuuI VI u COHNcIodIIou
between areporter and Charles Fraser, the
Erie engineer, who expressed doubt OF
the possibility of making mile minute
on railroad except under the most ad-
vantageous circumstances. That inter-
view made really stir among the loco
motive engineers of other roads, and sew
eral communications have been published
from engineers claiming to have fire.
quently made mile q minute, and even
three or four successive miles within the
space of sixty seconds each. A reporter
for the Sun called on Mr.. Fraser last
evening, in Patterson, and asked him if
lie had seen any of these communications
He replied in the affirmative, but said
that he did not consider them worth
replying to. He did not desire to get
into newspaper controversy. But he
reiterated all that he had said before,
and said that the interview about the
speed of trains was correctly reported.
Mr.. Fraser is one of the oldest engi-
neers on the Erie Railroad, if not the
Oldest. He had charge of locomotive
when but seventeen years of age, and his
gray hair and wrinkled face show that
he must now be fifty at least. He has
been continually on duty, and it would
take seven figures to enumerate the miles
he has ridden. And in all that time he
has never had an accident, nor has n
passenger on his train ever lost his life
In fact the contrary is the case, as one
day he had a birth on his train, at which
Conductor John Garrison (who was q
conductor on the Erie Railway when
there were but two conductors on the
road, and who is o conductor still) of
ficiated as q sort of godfather. Mr..
Fraser's engine, No. 300, is recognized
as being one of the finest and best on
the road. 1t has four fve-foot driv-
ing wheels, and stroke of twenty
six inches to the piston. If a mile a
minute can be made, Mr.. Fraser's engine
can make it; and yet, on one occasion only,
with load of Erie officials on special
train trying to see how fast locomotive
could 60 on down graide with full
head of steam over a straight track, has
he made mile in sixty seconds. Fra
ser's conductor, also an old railroad man,
says that in his twenty years of service
he has never ridden at the rate of mile
minute. The fastest he ever took &C
count of was on the down grade from
Ridgewood to Patterson, when one mile
was made in minute and eight seconds.
| Mr.. Fraser says that with q five
foot driving there would have to
be at least 352 revolutions minute and
the same number or double piston
strokes. There are very few engines
properly balanced for such a speed as
that. Furthermore, the engine would in
most cases run away with itself-that is,
the action of the piston would be too
rapid for the proper entrance and es-
cape of steam. There are small engines
made for 1000 strokes minute, but they
have specially arranged ports. Few To-
comotives have the proper sort of port
hole for steam 10 be used at sufficient
ly rapid rate to drive the engine mile a
minute.
In England there are some locomotives
on through trains which popular belief
makes to run q mile minute every day.
Feeling interested in the subject, Mr..
Fraser asked a friend, an engineer, 60
ing to England, to investigate the matter.
Several trains were tried, in some instances
the engineer riding on the locomotive.
Of all that were tested two trains only
that run out of London, making 70 stops,
and having the right of way the whole
distance, on a track that is perfectly
clear and guarded, so that there is
no danger of striking anything, made
anything like q run of a mile in
sixty seconds. A mile minute was
touched sometimes, but not often. Ten
passengers out of every twelve would
come back to America and relate how
trains On that road ran at the rate of a
mile minute, but this was the result of
q popular falacy on the subject. No
passenger nor a railroad man could go at
the rate of forty-fve miles an hour and
not feel sure that it was at least sixty. The
English locomotives referred to are speci-
ally arranged for fast travelling, with
driving wheels six and seven feet in di-
ameter, and with the boiler slung so that
the weight comes below the axles. The
trains consist of four or FIVE coaches,
which would not be equal in weight to
two American passenger cars. If ever
mile a minute is made they ought to
make it, but they seldom do.
Mr.. Fraser says that when the Penn
sylvania Railroad people had their tests
to see the best time they could make,
they touched mile q minute only sell
dom, and it was impossible to keep up
anything like that rate of speed. The
six and seven foot wheels were found to
make no better time OH the long run than
five. foot wheels, and so the fve-foot
wheels, were adopted as the standard,
and are now used on nearly all roads.
He repeats his former assertion that no
man could face the wind five miles at
the rate of mile u minute, and be alive
at the end of the journey. The breath
would be all blown from his body. In
regard to the time alleged to have been
made on the New Jersey Central, Mr..
Fraser says the engineers are clearly
mistaken. They could not time them
selves accurately without the most per-
feet stop watch. 1t takes two men TO
time train with stop watch. One
must notice the starting point, and the
other handle the watch, starting it and
stopping it at the very instant the points
are passed. With such test it is very
doubtful if a mile minute could be
shown, even after many trials.
Thereporter conversed with several 9TH
er engineers, who object to have their
names mentioned, and they are equally
emphatic as to the difficulty of making a
locomotive tr:yel at the rate of mile a
minute. The best balanced engine at
that speed would wabble like canter-
ing horse. Few engineers or con-
ductors can be found on the Erie
road who ever travelled mile a minute.
They all acknowledge that much faster
time is made on the local trains than on
the through express trains, and that of
the local trains there are none that are
driven faster than Engineer Fraser's.
1t may be that the narrow-gauge en-
gines, like those on the Central and