Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-10-27
THEY TAKE THECAKE
enc, 1914 PAPERS ADMIT THAT YAM
KEE TRAINS ARE FASTEST.
Tn, p,rm,ngham Mail Hears Of the FER
formancs on the n. Y. Central ANA says
Record. on the other side Arc
"smaIi Bcer"

"smaii Beer"
IN the second day after the special tram
ofthe New York Central railroad made us
famous trip Of mile o minute from new
York to Buffalo. several English newspa-
nars published editorials admitting that
this country took the cake" Tor iass
trains. Here are some of the remarks OF
the Birmingham Daily Mail on the suo
ject
ut seems to be beyond dispute that tine
vraat American nation has done another
hest on record. 1t has shown that there
"a nothing TO prevent q railway tram from
running a long distance ut the rate OF u
mile a minute. Such a possibility mas al-
ways been admitted by people VINO know
ANYTHING at all about engineering. nere
is no reason beyond considerations OF per,
sonal safety why train should not travei
at the rate of q hundred miles an hour.
There are expresses at the present moment
running III England at the rate OF con.
siderabiy over sixty miles an hour, OUT
only. of course. for limited distances.
"iTbere il a general impression. on TINS
side of the Atlantic that we have develop
ed far more rapid rate of railway travel
ling than has been attained IN America.
We naturally pride ourselves upon our
splendid tracks. which are incomparao,y
better than the average American TRACK,
and it is one OF our insular poas.s
that no nation in the world can
show such a service of trains as are 10
be found. say between London and Man
chester. London and Edinburgh. or even
between Liverpool and Manchester. But
the Fnolishman who has not left the con-
fnes of his own country must make some
allowance for the progress when o.her
nations are making in the direction Oh
rapid locomotion. Nothing strikes the
visitor 10 the United States more power
fully than the extraordinary improve
ment which the American railway
system has undergone during the last
few wears. One has only to travel
from New York to Niagara. dis
tance of about 500 miles. at the rate OF more
than FORTY miles an hour, or 70 take one
~ their ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS expresses
10 Chicago and cover mre than double o0O
miles at a still faster rate OF speed, 10 pc
put somewhat out of concert Win tne
iightning-like qualities OF our Englisn
trains. Nevertheless, the Americans nave
not disputed till this moment that the
finest hit of railway travelling in the wide,
wide world has been cone on an Lngilsn
line.
"A BACK SEAT"
This distinction was achieved by the
Iondon and Northwestern in their race
with the Great Northern from London TO
Edinburgh. In running from London 10
Crewe. 146 miles, without stop. IN three
hours and five minutes, the Northwestern
fairly opened the eyes of the Americans rs
TO what could be done in the shape OF
speed by the best possible engine on the
best possible track. But If we are TO pc
lieye the New York correspondent OF the
Sidnddrd-he is supported III his statement
by Dalziels news egency-this smart per-
Torrance from London to Crewe mas oeeh
releeated TO that 81 back seat wnlcn'
sooner or later. is the fate of all best on
records in this age.
1.-The story goes that on Monday. In an
experimental trip, train. composed OF an
engine of 100 tons and three private car
riages weighing 100 tons, made the run
from New York 10 East Buffalo-436 miles
in 439 minutes. BY the side of this our
little spurts in England appear very small
beer.
1--WE are inclined to believe that the de-
tails of this extraordinary trip are capable
of complete verlfcation. Ii is prellIni-
nary boom for the Chicago Exhibition.
All of the railroad companies will be try
ing to increase their rates of speed IN view
OF the competition for traffic The great
drawback to the Worlds FAIR Is
generally recognized to be the dis
lance which separates Chicago from
the Seaboard. Travellers from Europe
will not relish thousand miles railway
Journey on the top of their ocean trip.
The expresses at present running between
New York and Chicago do the distance in
a trihe under twenty-four hours; but now
that the New York Central railway has
shown what simple thing it Is TO run
train hundreds of miles at the rate OF %
mile minute, there is a prospect OF the
visitors to the coming exhibition being
whirled TO their destination in about six
teen hours. Americans Will scarcely be
staggered by such o wonderful upheaval
of the record. They have witnessed, as
we have said some mighty transformations
in their railway system during the last few
years.
UNDYING RENowE.
1T is TO be hoped that this will not de-
velop craze for dangerous speed. Mr.
James Gordon Bennett secured wonder
full advertisement by running newspaper
train from New York to Chicago in TWEEN
tv-four hours, or an improvement upon
the previous time to the extent of nearly
A dozen hours. Now 1t is the turn for the
New York Central to earn undying renown
as the first railway company in the world
TO run a long distance at the rate or
mile minute. Now that this has been
done, tho go-ahead American, when IN
hurrying-up" humor. will not consider
that he is moving at all unless his train is
whizzing him along at sixty miles an hour
There are many people who consider them
selves far safer in an express Tying along
at the rate of sixty or seventy miles an
hour than in a local train moving at about
q quarter of the speed. fast train COM
mands respect. There is no perfunctory
supervision of points and signals when the
express is due.
zone probable, we might almost say
certain, effect of this experimental railway
trip in America will be the revival OF the
familiar controversy about the duration OF
the journey between Birmingham and
London. We are by no means inclined TO
disparage the splendid service between
New street and Euston. There are mo
trains in the world that keep more reliable
time or are under better management than
the Euston expresses. But would 1t not
be possible 10 clip off few minutes from
the regulation run? The distance be-
tween New street and Euston is 1l3 miles,
and the time has been brought down by
careful gradations TO two hours and half.
Now, it is quite obvious that if mile
a minute can be safely done on an Ameri-
can track 1t should be possible to travel
from Birmingham to London in O couple
of hours or so, which would be conside-
rable saving of valuable time for business
men. But it will be said there is the ques-
ton of stops to be taken into account
That is quite true. But then the complaint
of businessmen is that there are too many
stops on the London line. The experiment
might at any rate be tried of running two
or three trains during the day with one.
or, at the outside, two stops. Only one
train-the $50 in the morning from New
street-does the journey in two and half
hours.
YANKEE RUNNING.
THE first stop in the remarkable run
from New York TO Buffalo was at the end
of the 143d mile to change engines, the
time then being 40 minutes. Then there
was another run Of i4S miles in LAG min
utes. 1t is to DO hoped that the success
of the venture will not drive the world to
risky experiments in the way of rapid To-
comotion. The whole thing suggests
creepy reflections of what might happen
if something occurred to check
an express moving at the rate of
q mile a minute. OF course, with tho
line in good order and the wheels and
axles all RIGHT and the SIGNALLING and