The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-09-18
LIGHTNING SPEED.
A Careful Time Test on the Pennsylvania
RailrOad-One Mile in 90 IA Seconds
Three Miles in 2 Minutes SO Seconds.
A-.a,.- N-cor.l- E1,r.

: question as to whether any railroad train
in this country has attained a speed of g
mile a minute is continued by a number
of your correspondents, and inasmuch
as l am one of those who maintain that
such a rate is very ordinary one, Il con-
cluded upon the best means of settling
the question beyond all doubt. l applied
to superintendent James McCrea of the
Pennsylvania Railroad for permission to
ride on the engine from West Philadel-
phia to Jersey City, with view of max
ing an absolutely correct test of the We
lOcity attained, and to-day Thursday,
Sept. ~ l boarded Engine No. 724 at
the West Philadelphia depot and seated
myself in the cab. Passing Il cigar over
to Edward Osmond, the engineer, |
stated my business, which was really a
repetition of that of a year ago, when
took a like ride with him. Osmond
laughed as he remarked that he suppOs-
ed this was caused by the San cOntro-
versy.
While we were talking the bell over
the head of the engineer clinked, and
the engine started at precisely % min
utes to 8, Philadelphia time. In order
! that there could be no room for mistake,
| | had provided myself with a Saltzman
| stOp-watch, which records the seconds,
being the time-piece which has officially
| recorded the speed of Goldsmith Maid
and over a score of other well known
| trotters at the State Fairs held in New
| Jersey for dozen years past. The sec
ond and quarter-second hands were set
| together at u, ready to be started on the
| instant.
The h1ain was no more than fairly 90
ing wheh the fireman kindly handed me
| a clOse-fitting skull cap, suggesting that
| it would be more likely to stay on my
head than my hat. Then, as the wind,
rushing in the open door III front, began
| to assume the nature of a tornado, it
was partly closed and secured, and we
all settled down to business. You Will
| remember that one of your correspond
ents said that an engineer could not
| breathe with his engine going a mile
minute. The facilities for respiration
on the locomotive can be made precisely
the same as in the passenger cars, as the
| engineer can close every thing in front
and at the sides if he so elects. During
warm weather the glass door is gener-
| ally shut about half way, thus admitting
a cool and delightful breeze.
l asked OsmOnd whether he had ever
| experienced any difficulty in breathing
when running at a very rapid rate. ''Not
| that / am aware of he answered as
| he gave another twitch at the throttle,
and we began climbing around the
| switches at Mantua, a few miles this side
of West Philadelphia. We were spin
ming along at a comfortable rate,
| when the speed began slacken-
ing for Germantown Junction, five
miles out. Here brief halt was made,
and when we started again there was no
stop until we reached Jersey City, over
| so miles away.
! We had four cars and 163 passengers,
as 1 was assured by Conductor Lewis
| Silance, and the driving-wheels of the
engine were five feet eight inches in di-
ameter. 1t was my intention to time
the train for a tive-mile, three-mile, and
| One-mile stretch, and l asked Osmond,
the engineer, to indicate the point where
! | should begin. A short distance east
of Deans Station he turned and nodded
his head, just as mile-poSt came in
sight. / took out my watch, and, at the
very instant the post was reached, start
ed the timepiece. The engine was run
| ming smoothly, but there could be no
doubt of our prodigiOus speed. L saw
as we shot by the next post that we had
made the distance in about minute, as
was the case with the succeeding mile;
but the speed rapidly increased, and, at
whisked past my elbow, l stopped the
watch. The five miles had been passed
in exactly four minutes and fiftv-fiye and
a quarter seconds. During those same
five miles Conductor Silance stood in the
baggage-car jotting down the time for
each mile. When we compared notes,
we differed only a quarter of a second,
his time being that much less than mine
Silance now climbed over upon the
engine and took his seat behind me, on
the left side of the cab, next the mile
posts. l set my watch, with the second
and quarter-secOnds pointing to the fig
ure y, and held it thus ready for bust
ness. :" will keep it for three miles, -
said Silance, " and you may take the
last of the three" 1t will be understood
that could record only one stretch of
road at a time, as Engineer OsmOnd
didn't manifest any disposition to stop
the engine, after each mile, to wait
while | got the hands of the watch in
position again. Silance sat, stop-watch
in hand, and wrote the figures with a
snap, and then nudged me to take in the
next mile post. As before, l started the
second and quarter-secOnd hands at the
precise moment the engine bounded past
the mile post" Looking over / noted
that the driving-wheels seemed to be alb
sOlUtely stationary, but the pOnderous
connecting rods were quivering back
and forth at the rate of more than three
hundred and fifty times a minute. A
year ago, Osmond was - grabbing
ground . in this fashion, when suddenly
he felt thump beneath him. As quick
as thought he made bound from his
seat astride of the rear of the boiler, shut
off steam and put on the air brakes.
The next moment one whole side of the
engineers cab was hewn off as clean as
though smitten with a gigantic broadax.
OsmOnd knew what the OminOus thump
meant. In following the spinning peri
pheries of the driving wheels, the cen
trifugal force at the parallel rod tore it
loose, and it demolished the cab with the
suddenness of a glycerine explosion.
The train was brought to standstill,
without any passenger suspecting the
frightful peril that had been averted by
the wonderful GOODNESS and presence of
mind of the engineer. In a moment
more the engine would have been off the
track and the train wrecked.
However, there was hardly time to
recall this, when l caught sight of the
next mile post swOoping down upon Us.
When exactly abreast L stopped the
watch and looked at the hands. They
marked precisely fifty and one-quarter
seconds This is the exact time in which
the last mile was made. Conductor
Silance now reached his slip of paper
over my shoulder, and handed it to me.
This is his record as he took it down
First mile, 81 seconds; second mile, 81
seconds; third mile, 80 seconds-mak-
ing the three miles in 2 m 80 sec,
which corresponds precisely with the
same run made a year ago over the same
piece of track, near Menlo Park 1t