The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-06-02
THE FLYER.
Trip of the Exposition Special from
New York.
A FINE DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT
Considerable Excitement Along the Route
The Train Averages About a Mile
Minute, According toa
Schedule.

New YORK, May 29.-At precisely
2:22 o'clock yesterday afternoon a
| snub-nosed switch engin e backed a
! train of four new Wagner palace cars
into the Grand Central depot and along
side the third passenger platform of
the New York Central & Hudson River
Co. Then there was jingle of loosened
| couplings and the snub-nosed engine
snorted its way out into the yards
again, leaving the four cars standing.
| Meanwhile, long-barreled, high,
| siX-whecled locomotive monster was
standing at rest on short spur of
track a block or two distant.
But from within its steel ribs came
the sounds of measured breathings
The great thing seemed leisurely pant
ing. like some great beast might do
when lying at full length on sum-
mer's day. There was life in the body
of this great engine, as was proven by
the occasional dropping of glowing
Goals from the fire box to the greasy
ties where they smoldered. There was
ferocious tension on her iron thews
while she stood so ponderously quiet.
Occasionally jet of steam broke from
her throat and shot upward into the air.
Pretty soon somebody gave signal
and the man in the cab pulled out the
throttle, ever so little and the big ma
chine moved over tangle of switches,
stopped, backed down into the depot
and bunted her automatic couplings
into firm grip on the four new cars.
And thus was completed the first
Exposition flyer train which the New
York Central people had planned
should daily traverse the distance be-
tween New York and Chicago in twen-
ty hours.
The big locomotive chosen for the
first stage of the initial trip is No. sos,
, and she is full sister to No. $40. which
broke the long distance railway record
in September last, by running from
. New York to Buffalo. 1861 miles, in
the actual running time of 425 minutes
and "A seconds.
There was no nonsense about delib-
crate formalities as the pioneer twenty
hour train plunged into the Park ave
nue. tunnel after the start out of the
Grand Central station. In the gloom
/ | y
throttle bar twice after starting and
. before reaching One Hundred and
Twenty-fifth street, and each time the
huge machine took on new impulse.
, The trackmen in the tunnel hugged
. themselves close to the wall as the
train passed them and waved to Matte
Regan, the engineer, who stood by the
bar of the great boiler that was gener-
. ating power One hand was upon the
: pulse of the great machine, the other
grasped window stanchion.
e The first time point on the schedule
: was One Hundred and Twenty-ffth
t street and the glistening new train
hurried past the station there, tritie
, over four miles, six minutes and fifty
seven and a half seconds after the start.
, This is two and one-ialf seconds faster
. than the schedule. At Mott Haven the
time was exactly the schedule, a trifie
, having been lost on the bridge. a crowd
thronged the streets to see the train go
! by and minute later, when the engine
turned riverwards at the Mott Haven
p junction. Regan received a stirring
'send Off from his shopmates and col
q leagues who were in numbers at the
{ round house.
: At Kings bridge the train was tif-
teen seconds late, but at Spuyten Duy-
y vii there were ten seconds to the good:
and just there came a growl from the
+ engineer. They're draining off the
Croton." said he. while he shut of
! steam and pulled up under warning
semaphore "That'll be all right be-
: fore long, though said Matte, as he
q gave her breath again. A half minute
A had been lost and at Yonkers there was
a minute to the bad. Glcnwood went
past and up went the grimy hand OF
the engineer to the whistle lever. "A
d blast rang forth that might have
n awakened the dead in Sleepy Hollow.
e Hastings was warned and when the
: little depot flashed by there were only
|, thirty seconds to the bad. A crowd a
: Tarrytown saw the train a minute
later than the schedule promised. Al
J. Scarborough the schedule had beer
= caught and twenty-nine and one-hal
= miles had been made in thirty-eigh
d minutes.
= I'm only using seven inches of steam
on her. said the engineer, with salts
n fed smile on his face. At Montros,
thirty-nine miles were behind and th'
t time was forty-eight minutes - on,
Y minute ahead of the time.
: The country home of President De
pew, Peel1skill, was passed five seconds
g ahead of time and crowd was there t.
), see and hear its passage. There was
:, season of easy trailing with the stean
s gauge at 100 pounds. The train sool
quickcned and chain of tunnel
l. through jutting spurs of rock wa
o passed.
v At Utica she was three minutes ahea,
= of time. 1t was exactly 5 o'clock an,
d thirty seconds. 1t was well the engi
neer had been cautioned about the tor
r pedoes, for the tracks were filed wit
S them and as they were exploded b.
d the ponderous wheels they explode
h like volley of musketry. Passing un
der the street bridges the spectator
r joined their cheers with this torped
l. salute, continuing until the last ca
}. had vanished around the curve whic
r leads out of the depot.
S Vice President Webb was aboard tn
s train and will ride as far rs Albany
Superintendent William buchanan vii
n go al, the way through. by the flye
v schedule only nine stops will be mad
between New York and Chicago, thus
IS Albany, 5:45 p. m: Utica, 7:4o: Syra
|, cuse, s:45; Rochester, 1917; Buffalo
v 11:45; Erie, 1890 a. m. Central time
Cleveland, 2:37; Elkhart, 7:42.
CURRENT HUMOR.