The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-10-11
FAST TRAINS.

The New York Times special CORE
spondent in Edinburgh, cables that
paper, under date August 9th, as fol-
lows: Flying Scotchman' has been
beaten by the west Coast Flyer
When the London and Northwestern, or
West Coast Express, ran into Edinburgh
station at 3 :52 o'clock this evening it
broke all previous records of high rail
road speed, not only for England, but in
the railway world in general, This was
the first day of the great 400-mile race
between two of the biggest English COM
panies, and the faster train of the two
traversed the greater part of that dis
lance at a speed of a mile a minute"
The correspondent further states that
be, in company with Assistant Superin-
tendent Turnbull, of the West Coast
Line, and William ACwOrth, railway eX-
pert of the London Times, Conferred a
tirstclass compartment at Euston this
morning just before 10 o'clock. The two
trains pulled out at the same moment,
the 'ScOtchman' from Kings Cross and
the West Coast from EustOn. Every
body in our compartment fOurished
watch. The engine had a single pair of
driving wheels, seven feet, six inches in
diameter, and weighed A27 tons. 1t
burned "a pounds of coaNper mile dur
ing the run. The tender, loaded, weigh
ed % tons. Behind it were four coaches
filled with passengers, making a weight
of 20 tons each, or so tons in ALL" The
time to Tring, up grade, distance of
311a miles, was made in 40 minutes.
After leaving this place the speed was
increased to IL miles an hour, the next
10 miles being made in II minutes and
80 seconds. From EustOn to Rugby the
distance is 8234 miles, and the time
occupied in going over this space was 81
minutes. The distance to Crewe, 158
miles, was run without a stop in hours
and SO minutes. At Crewe five minutes
was spent in changing the single wheel
driver engine for 81 ton engine with
two pairs of driving-wheels. The
speed was then increased; the run from
Crewe to Preston, 81 miles, was made in
81 minutes 20 minutes were spent there
in eating luncheon. At Carlisle 10 min
utes were spent in changing engines.
The 101 miles from Carlisle to Edin-
burgh was run in 104 minutes, and this
too over a pass ,015 feet high. The en-
tire distance run from EuStOn to Edin-
burgh was 400 miles, and the actual time
occupied on the trip, excluding stops,
was hours and % minutes, an average
of SO $3.50 miles per hour. ''The fastest
continuous record in England hitherto
was that of the special train which took
the Prince of Wales from Liverpool to
London, 200 miles, in hours and SO
minutes, an average slightly over 81
miles" The ''West Coast Flyer beat
the ''FIying Scotchman'' minutes in
time and miles in distance.
The Times of August Sth SAYS: The |
best run on record in this country which |
can be fairly compared with the English |
run was made over the West Shore Road |
from Buffalo to New York on July 9, |
1885, when 426 miles were covered in 7 |
hours and u minutes. Quite a large |
number of railroad men, including Of |
ficials of the Baltimore and Ohio, Wabash, |
Grand Trunk and West Shore Roads, |
happened at Buffalo together enroute for |
New York. 1t was decided to see how |
quickly they could move over the new |
road. At the start the railroad men had |
their watches out and soon the mile posts |
were flying past every 40 seconds. That |
speed was held so steadily that the |
greater part of the run was made at the |
rate of As seconds to the mile, or from 20 |
to SO miles an hour. From East Buffalo |
to Genesee Junction, 81 miles, took Sc |
from East Buffalo to Newark,
1874 miles, 81 minutes; from Alabama
to Genesee Junction, 1868 miles, 80 min
utes. The 81 minutes to Newark in
Guided stops of minutes, making the |
actual running time for the 90 4 miles SO
minutes. From Newark to Frankfort,
where the conditions for running were
not SO good as before, the run of 1888
miles was made in 1874 minutes, includ-
ing II minutes for stops. From East
Buffalo to Frankfort, POP miles, the time
was 240 minutes, of which 80 minutes
were consumed in stops. There was only
a single track at that time on the road
good part of the way between Buffalo
and Syracuse, and that journey had to
be made at reduced speed, especially over
the switches. The journey was timed
with the utmost care for the purpose of
5abulatIon. In the table there are
marked several miles which were made
At the rate of IS miles an hour, l at "a
miles, and the next, between Genesee
Junction and Chilli, at 81 miles New
engines took the train at Buffalo, New
ark, Frankfort and Coeymans.
On Oct. s, 1885, over the same road,
BURST OF speed was tried for IL miles, be-
ween Genesee Junction and East Buff
alo, to satisfy Superintendent J. E.
laying, who was on the train The run
512 seconds, an average rate of
a miles an hour. Three of the miles
we're made at the rate of so miles an
hour, l at II, and / at rs.