Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-03-08
$500
miscellaneous.
Fast travelling.
WHAT Is FEASIBLE WITH YANKEE En-.
GINEs

A tabular statement OF the greatest
speed Of railway trains in Europe and the
United States. published in q German
journal, Die Verkehrszeitung, shows that
people generally exaggerate the rapidity
with which long distances are traversed.
even In the cases of trains especially fa-
nous for their speed One of these trains
Is that which runs on the Great Northern
road, from London to Edinburgh, via
York. The distance is 397 miles, and the
time il nine hours The average speed
therefore is AL miles an hour. The dis
lance from Euston is 40l miles. and Lon
don and Northwestern trains make the run
in 10 hours or 40,1 miles an hour. By the
Midland railway the distance is 40i miles.
and the time is 10 hours, five minutes. or
very nearly the same speed.
1t must be remembered, however. that
these are great distances, and that time
is necessarily lost in stops, one of which
Is q very considerable one. To get high
average speed there must be long inter
walls between stopping places, for time is
not only lost at the stations. but
also in getting into and out OF
them. The actual speed when the
train is running at its fastest is there
HluCU RTtdltI Lilhu ific dstfdSC SpCtus
and this explains why passengers who
time the train while it is getting over Ger
tain distances without stopping are sur
prised when they are given the average
rate of speed.
The fastest train in the world is the Fly
ing Dutchman, broad gauge. which m axes
the run to Swindon at j3 II miles an
hour, One train runs TO Peterborough at
81 miles an hour. which is about the speed
repeatedly made in the run from London
to Grantham, The Great Northern trains
run from London to York, lsS miles. at
the rate of ~ miles, whereas. as we have
seen. for the whole of the distance to
Edinburgh, 1897 miles. the average speed
is only AL miles. The quickest run in
the United States is that between New
York and Philadelphia. A 2-3 miles an
hour Some of the fastest trains in the
world are those run between Leeds and
London. The distance by the Great
Northern is lS6 IL miles. and special
train makes the run in four hours and five
minutes, or at an average speed of 40 1
miles an hour. The distance by the Mid
land is 1876 miles, and is traversed iii four
hours and 80 minutes, at an average
speed of 43.5 miles an hour.
About the most perfect piece of me-
chanism we have on large scale is our
modern locomotive. and it does not seem
probable that its development will go much
further. 1t is "hard to beat" as the Lon
don Engineer says; but its proportions
may be so increased that an average speed
OF sixty miles an hour for long runs may
reached in the future, and it is no doubt
not difficult of attainment, especially with
our American locomotives, less cumber-
some than those of England. But there
seems to be little disposition among rail-
way managers at present to endeavor to
reach that end The tendency is not to-
ward trains OF extraordinary rapidly.
though the averge speed of all trains may
be increasing. The reason for that is. that
the wear and tear OF the road are too great
TAR economical management with locomo-
tives so heavy and velocity So enormous.
But an average speed OF sixty miles an
hour. even for long runs, is entirely FEAST
BILE