Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-10-20
AT FULL STEAM.
Speeds Attained ON Railroads In Various
Countries.


Speeds Attained ON Railroads In Various
Countries.
| When railroads were first intro
duccd, the engineers. as we cal
l'them, -or the engine-drivers, as they
are called in England, ran their
trains almost as they liked, making
uD time when they had fallen behind,
picking up such information as they
could as tothe estate of the track ahead
OF them, and for the most part plung-
ing ahead with their machines without
much more than surmise whether
they'should bring up at their destina-
tlon, or at the bottom OF some high
embankment.
Some Of the results of this want of
system would have been amusing ii
they had not been disastrous. Mr.
Laurence Oliphant, an English trav-
eler and author, tells. in one of his
books a rather grim story OF trip
which he made by rail, in 1855, from
Chicago to New York. Over a part
OF the distance the train made the
extraordinary speed, for that time, Of
nifty miles an hour, and presently 1T
ran of the track.
Fortunately, the cars were i'm
bedded in a soft clay ditch, and no
one was seriously hurt; and in the
midst OF the commotion. Mr.. Oliphant
says he heard the engineer thus ad-
monish the switchman, whose care
lessness had caused the accident:
Now, Tom, this is the third time
you've forgot 10 set that switch, and
the last time there was twenty people
went under, and the rest was bruised.
So mind what you're about, and don't
forget that switch again, for if you
do I'll tell the bossw
In the course of time il was found
necessary to limit the running of
trains to very strict system, which
almost makes the engineer q part OF
his machine; but even as late as
within the past two years races be-
tween express trains running between
London and Edinburgh have been
run, and great interest 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 |
locomotives on different lines of the |
republic has been made lately, and a |
prize awarded to the winner, loco |
motive No. GOA of the '.Chemin de
Fer de 'ESt," or Eastern Railroad.
In this test several locomotives,
without any load to pull, attained
speed of from seventy-flve TO eighty
i've miles an hour The locomotive.
iO4, just spoken Of, accomplishes
regularly the feat of hauling, at full
speed, the heavy trains OF the Swiss
express between Rheims and Dele at
single pull, distance of about two
hundred and forty miles
The engine always arrives after
his long haul, with steam still on,
md in perfect running condition.
The maximum speed which French
passenger trains are permitted to
make is about seventy miles an hour,
nd this is uncommon.
In England, the fastest schedule
ime is sixty miles an hour, though in
ONE OF the races seventy-hve miles
ave been made. There are regular
reight trains in England which make
speed OF from thirty to forty miles
n hour.
In Germany, the ordinary speed of {
assenger trains Is only about thirty I
we to forty miles an hour, and this
probably about the average rate Of ;
peed in other Europeans countries.
In the United States, the speed OF Z
rains varies so much on different :
and in different parts of the
ountry, that it is practically impossi- ]
lie to strike an average. Thirty to a
)rty miles an hour is regarded as a
cry good rate, but speed of from
xty TO .seventy-tive miles an hour is '
ften attained by fast trains under q
)ecial circumstances