The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-02-20

GREAT SPEED OF A TRAIN FOR A
LONG DISTANCE.

4 Mne In 500 st 81 Miles IN Hour.
News came from Denver the othe
day Of remarkable railroad run mad
by . special train which arrived at Den
Ter ON Monday morning from Chicag'
and made record which appears neve
20 have been equaled for such distance
The train had been hired by H. J.
Mahan, broker, who was trying t.
reach the bedside of his 81 -year-old son.
who lay dying at Denver. .t
Death won the race, for Mr.. Mahan'
son expired just about the time his train
entered the borders Of Colorado, and
-four hours before he arrived at Denver.
} The train travelled over the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy road 10 Pacific
Function, and from there over the Bur
nington and Missouri road b Denver.
Everything along the road was cleared
for its passage. The total run is figured
TO be l,02O miles, according to the rail
roads own tables, and the distance was
run from station to station in IS hours
and 90 minutes This is little moro
than an average of 81 miles an hour for
the whole trip.
This is not only the fastest run ON
record for such distance. but it also
appears to have been one of the very
few such trips ever made with Q private
train, II not the only one
To realize what such q flying trip
means 1t might be well to compare the
run with some of the long railroad runs
that are looked upon as record makers
! The New York Central and Hudson
River railroad claimed to hold the rec.
ord until recently with the trial trip
made from New York to Buffalo ON
Sept. II, 1891. The train consisted of
IAN engine and two Wagner palace cars
and Central private car, and weighed
altogether about 46O, 900 pounds.
The run from New York to Albany,
I4S miles, was made without stop in
40 minutes, that of 148 miles. from
Albany to Syracuse in 146 minutes, and
that from Syracuse to East Buffalo, 146
miles, In lat minutes "a seconds
Including the stops, the whole time |
of the trip was 439H minutes, and the
distance was 4361a miles, or a trife less
than 60 miles an hour. Since then this
road made q new record, on Sept. IL,
1895, when, with q train weighing
S61, 200 pounds, the same run was made
in hours, 81 minutes and 56 seconds
ut an average speed of 6S. 50 miles e.
hour.
The Lake Shore and Michigan South.
ern railroad claims to have beaten this
ON Oct. "a, 1895, with special run
from Chicago to Buffalo distance Of
BIO. 1 miles, with train weighing S04,
500 pounds.
The trip was divided into FIVE stages,
and the first, of S7.4 miles, WINS made
Mt the rate of 81. 3S miles an htsr; the
second, Of 1884 miles, at the ratio OF
64.24 miles an hour; the third, II TOT. 8
miles, at 60.96 miles an hour; the
fourth, Of 95.5 miles, at &C. 80 miles an
hour, and the fifth, of Sc miles, at al
average rate of 1921 miles an hour.
The total distance was covered in
hours. l minute and seconds, actual
time from station to station, which gave
an average speed, including stops, OF
1851 miles an hour.
Remarkable as these results were, il |
run of twice the distance of the longest |
of them, for as distances increase the |
difficulties of making high speed alst
increase. Grades, adverse winds, bad ]
pieces Of track and all the other ele |
ments which work against high contin
ned speeds multiply usually in sort of
Reometrical progression to make diff.
culties.
To give some idea of this, the greatest
runs which the New York Central and
Hudson River railroad has recorded for
trips across the continent will offer a
fair basis Of comparison.
The fastest of these was one with the
China and Japan mails from Vancouver
to New York by way Of the Canadian
Pacific, the Rome, Watertown and Og.
densburg and the New York Central
and Hudson river roads,
The distance travelled was S,21Sl
miles, and the time was days IL hours
and ~ minutes, or an average speed Of |
37.9 miles an hour.
The reason that private trains are sci.
dom sent out at high speeds will be oh.
vious II one considers the conditions
that would DO required to run them. In |
the first place, every train on the road |
tnat would be likely to be in their way
must be side tracked, and in addition to |
these the dozens or perhaps hundreds of |
freight and yard trains, which usuallv |
work along the lines by simply keeping
clear OF the times Of scheduled trains
would all have to he run by special or
ders 10 Keep them out of the way of a
fast special.
The loss Of time thus occasioned 70
train crews would amount to large
sum, and this would have TO be added
TO the railroad mans usual estimate of |
about 20 cents a mile for the actual |
cost OF running such n train. It 4,
doubtful il railroads would care TO run |
such trains even at double that price.
which would make such n run u Mr..
0ahan's cost 81, 500 or more.
The most remarkable part Of his run