The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-02-05
RAPID RUNNING.
Tho High Rate Of Speed Attained BY FAss
Trains.

RAPID RUNNING.
Tho High rate Of Speed Attained BY rass
Trains.
When railroads were first introduced
the engineers, as we call them--or the
engine-drivers, as they are called In
England--ran their trains almost as
they liked, making up time when they
had fallen behind, picking up such in
formation as they could as to the state
of the track ahead of them, and for the
most part plunging ahead with their
machines without much more than a
surmise whether they should bring up
at their destination or at the bottom of
some high embankment.
Some Of the results of this want Of
system. says Youths Companion, would
have been amusing II they had not been
disastrous. Mr.. Laurence Oliphant, an
English traveller and author, tells in
one of his books rather grim story of
trip which he made by rail in 1856
from Chicago TO New York. Over a part
Of the distance the train made the ex-
traordinary speed, for that time, of fifty
miles an hour, and presently it ran off
the track.
gOIJuudVc1y tu0 C0I9 WCI0 An1OCQOsD<k
in a soft clay ditch and no one was
seriously hurt and In the midst Of the
commotion Mr.. O1iphant says he heard
the engineer thus admonish the switch
man whose carelessness had caused the
accident:
s.Now, Tom, this Is the third time
you've forgot to set that switch, and
the last time there was twenty people
went under, and tho rest was bruised.
So mind what you're about and don't
forget that switch again, for II you do
I'll tell the bossi''
In tho course Of time IL was found
necessary to limit the running Of trains
to q very strict system, which almost
makes the engineer . part Of his ma
chine; but even as late as within the
past two years races between express
trains running between London and
Edinburgh have been run, and great In
teres@has been shown in the results Of
the contests.
In France steam races are not per-
mitted. Instead, an official test Of the
power, speed and steadiness of loco
motives on different lines Of the Repub-
lie has been made lately and prize
awarded to the winner, locomotive No.
604 Of the ''Chemin de Fer de rEst," !" OF
Eastern railroad.
In this test several locomotives with
out any load to pull attained speed Of
from seventy-ive to eighty-five miles an
hour. The locomotive No. 604 Just
spoken Of accomplishes regularly the
feat Of hauling at full speed the heavy
trains of the Swiss express between
Rheims and Dele at a single pull, dis
tance Of about two hundred and forty
miles.
The engine always arrives after this
long haul with steam still on and in
perfect running condition.
4 The maximum speed which French
passenger trains are permitted to make
is about seventy miles an hour, and this
is uncommon.
In England the fastest schedule time
is sixty miles an hour, though in some
of the races seventy-five miles an
hour have been made. There are reg
ular freight trains in England which
make speed Of from thirty to forty
miles an hour.
In Germany tho ordinary speed Of
passenger trains Il only about tz,irty-
fve to forty miles an hour, and this Il
probably about the average rate Of
speed in other European countries.
In the United Stetes the speed OF
trains varies 70 much on different rail-
ways and in different parts Of the coun-
try that 1t is practically impossible TO
strike an average. Thirty to forty
miles an hour Is regarded as very
good rate, but a speed Of from sixty to
seventy-fve miles an hour Is often at
tanned by fast trains under special cir
cumstances.