The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-29
OVER A MILE A MINUTE.
[From the Albany August

The 500 is still the queen of all loco
motives. Her run of 4961s miles in
425$4 minutes stands as a worlds rec
ord, and her mile in 81 seconds has
never been equalled in this or foreign
countries. But it is more than probable
that within the next few months the
New York Central officials will order
one of those records broken by another
engine and will then give the 999 an
opportunity to enter into the record
beal0ing business again.
The 999 has a couple of twin sisters
which were recently born in the Cen
trails shops III West Albany. They are
her equal in size and workmanship IL
not in age and speed. When the plans
now under consideration by the Central
officers are completed the Empire State
Express will be down from New York
to Buffalo by the 999, the SSS and the III.
the three fastest engines in the world.
When the 999 was built She was re-
garded all over the country as an eX-
pertinent and an advertisement. She
never was an experiment, but she will
always be an advertisement. 1t
has been said by prominent
railroad men in this country
and in England that the 999
was not built for practical railroading,
but for an especial purpose and that
purpose the breaking of records. Rail
road me1 everywhere said that another
like her would never be built, but these
statements have been disproved, as the
company has two more just like her.
The statement that she was built for an
especial purpose and not for practical
railroading has no foundation upon
which to stand.
Railroad experts have stated in writ
ing time and time again that the time
table of the Empire State Express was
too fast and could never be made the
year around. 1t was argued that the
time could be made in fair weather
with a good rail and no wind, but that
when winter came, with its SHOWS and
slippery rails, or when the wind blew a
gale in the face of the train the time
could not be made. This was not an
swered on paper, but the work was left
to the engine, which answered by max
ing the run from the beginning until
the end of the year. The officials of the
road are now considering the advisable
ity of reducing the time still further
and making what is now regarded as
q phenomenal run an ordinary one.
Engines 1888 and $40 came out of the
New York CentraPs shops at West AL
bany where the 999 was built. The $40
will be rechristened and will be known
as the III. They are now running regu-
the company is experimenting with
them by running them first on one
division and then on another, under diff
ferent engineers. They have already
shown that they are capable of doing
the work which is expected of them.
At present the 999 takes the Empire
State Express from New York to this
city, the SSS from Albany to Syracuse,
and the $40 from Syracuse to Buffalo.
1t is impossible for the same engines to
bring back the train, as they meet on
their trips.
The runs these engines make are not
long ones, and they are made so quick
ily that it may seem strange that each
engine has two engineers.
1.-THE policy of the company is an eX-
Ipensive one" said the engineer, but it
IDS a safe one. 1t does not take a great
deal of time to make the runs. but the
speed is so great that it is a strain on
the engineer. He must be in perfect
physical condition all the time, and the
travelling public naturally feels safer
when it knows that 1t is not in the
hands of a man who is suffering from
lack of sleep or an overworked nervous
system. The men on the Empire are
the best on the road. They are all
veterans in the service, intelligent,
careful but not tinid, and the company
protects the man, the traveller and the
road itself by giving the engineer a fair
amount of work to do"