Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-22
Locomotives Of Forty Years Ago as
Speedy as Those of Today.
GREAT SPEED FOR SHORT RUNS
The "Governor Paine" Running a
Mile in Forty-Three Seconds.
OLD-TIME RAILROADING

tive as at the present time seems ridiculous
| Yet this is fact substantiated by docu-
| rnentary evidence"
This assertion was made to a Star re-
| porter recently by Z. NJ. Stevenson, for
merly train dispatcher on the Pennsyl-
vania system. Mr.. Stevenson entered rail-
road life as a very young man in the early
| CO.'S, and for twenty years thereafter
learned about all there was to know in
| connection with the practical side of NOV
ing locomotives and cars and the speed
| of the same.
'Of course I don't mean that long dis
| lance runs were made in as short time
then as now continued Mr.. Stevenson,
but that for short stretches and with light
| loads the old time locomotive could cut
the air fully as fast as that almost per-
| feet machine blowing off steam outside
| there now"
The machine referred to had just come
| into the 9th street depot shed, direct from
New York, at an average speed of forty
| five miles an hour, and had, no doubt, in
places easily touched the sxty-five- miles
| an-hour mark. Being of the younger gen.
Grafton the reporter was naturally dubious
| and prodded the speaker for facts and
figures. The ex-railroader continued:
In the early days of the steam engine
gard to electricity. Steam was an IN
known quantity. We believed that If the
driving wheels were large enough; IL the
engine could be made to keep the track
and IL we could find the man to drive ii,
| speed of a hundred miles an hour could
easily be obtained. Consequently all the
locomotives of that time ran to tall wheels
On many of the roads the engines were
named after prominent public men in
stead of being numbered and the greatest
interest and enthusiasm prevailed over the
speed attained. i would like to see one
of those high-wheelers given a trial these
days with the perfect roadhed in use.' In
those days the roadbed was a secondary
consideration and it was more than even
chances that unless speed was slackened
considerably at the first curve the train
would jump the track.
Wheels Seven Feet High.
Now for facts and figures, the truth of
which can be vouched for through docu-
ments held by the Baldwin locomotive
works over in Philadelphia. During the
early months Of 1913 the Central Vermont
| road was approaching completion and Gov
Paine, the president of the company, con-
ceived the idea that the passenger service
of the road would require locomotives cap
able OF running at very high rate of
speed. man by the name of Campbell
was the contractor in building the line and
he was authorized by Gov. Paine to go to
Philadelphia and offer Baldwin a cool ten
thousand dollars for an engine which could
run with passenger train at a speed of
sixty miles an hour.
THE great locomotive builder accepted
the proposition and Immediately under
took to meet the conditions stipulated.
The work was begun early in 1S4S and in.
March OF that year Baldwin filed cayeat
for his design. The engine was completed
in lSi", and was named the Gov. Paine.
My father, who was a railroad man before
me, has frequently told me of the excite
ment created by this locomotive upon its
appearance in the eastern states. People
gathered at the stations to it go by
in crowds that resemble the political gath
erings of the present time.
To describe this locomotive without go
ing into technicalities is q hard matter,
but L will try and make it understand
able. There was one pair of driving
wheels nearly seven feet high, placed di-
rectly back of the fire-box. Another pair
of wheels, but smaller and unconnected.
was placed directly in front of the fire.
box, and a four-wheeled truck carried the
front Of the engine. The cylinders were
nearly eighteen inches in diameter and
OF twenty-inch stroke, and were placed
horizontally between the frames and the
boiler at about the middle of the waist.
The connecting rods took hold upon half
cranks aside from the driving wheels. The
object of placing the cylinders at the mid
die of the boiler, l have been told, was
to lessen the lateral motion of the engine
produced when the cylinders were at
tached to the smoke arch. The bearings
on the two rear axles were so contrived
that, by means of a lever, a part of the
weight of the engine usually carried on
the wheels in front of the fire-boX could
be transferred to the driving axle.
She Was Flyer.
''The first trial Of the Gov. Paine was a
great success, the speed attained being a
fraction over sixty miles an hour, but the
passengers on the train could be counted
on ones hand even the officials being
chary of trusting their, lives in the engi-
neer's keeping. That locomotive was used
for several years on the Central Vermont
road and then rebuilt into a four-coupled
machine, that is, making a straight con-
nection to four driving wheels, as at the
present time instead of to two. During the
career of this engine it was stated by
officers of the road il could be started
from state of rest and run a mile in
forty-three seconds. This was equivalent
10 speed of nearly eighty-three miles an
hour, and If due allowance be made for
the start from a state of rest, it will be
found that that locomotive capable of
going at the rate of fully hundred miles
an hour.
This speed If attained by the congress
sional limited or the royal blue line would
make the distance from Washington to
New York in a little over two hours TAX
ing in the stops at Baltimore and Phila-
delphia, thereby gaining in time nearly
three hours.
In that year three engines on the same
plan were turned out by Baldwin, but
with cylinders ii by 20 inches and with
six-foot driving wheels. and were used on
the Pennsylvania road They weighed
about 1900 pounds and were considered
wonders.
President TayIOr's Joke.
"A speed of four miles in three minues
or eighty miles an hour, was recorded for
them, and upon one occasion President
Zach Taylor was taken in q special train
over the road by one of these machines at
speed of sixty miles an hour 1t is said
that President Taylor at the conclusion
of the trip fathered joke that has come
down to us in various forms. He was ask
ed how he enjoyed the trip and exclaimed
with apparent enthusiasm:
livery much, very much
"'When will you be ready to return"
inquired the conductor.
THAT is hard to say replied the Pres
ident, but when l am ready I'll take the
regular train
The New York Central, not to be out
done, ordered one of these engines and
for several years thereafter remarkable
speed was made on that road You no
doubt wonder why these engines were
not retained UP to the present time. The
answer is that they We're too expensive,
the high rate of speed shaking them to
Pieces and in five years making them prac-
ucally worthless. Money was not as plen-