The Saint Paul globe., 1899-01-12
NEWS OF RAILROADS I )
OMAHA,s "FAsT MAIL, MAKES A
PHENOMENAL RUN THROUGH
THE NIGHT
1a9 MILES I'M Ito MINUTES
Niles and Miles Were Covered at
the Rate of a. Mile a Minute and
Even Faster Records Were
Shattered-May Mark the OPEN
Ing of New Era In Northwest
ern Passenger Service.s

The recent runs of the new fast mail
trains paled into insigni1cance yester-
day with the arrival at the union sta
tion Of Train No. g., on the Omaha All
day long the phenomenal RUN that had
been made was the one topic Of con-
versation among railroad men. Be-
fore nightfall it had reached the ears
Of the general public, and was every
where regarded as little short of a
miracle.
No. ds the regular passenger train
running over the Northwestern and
Omaha between Chicago and St. Paul.
It Is known as the Fast Mail" and
with its-arriya1 in st. Paul yesterday
morning all regular passenger run rec
ords had been shattered. Miles and
miles had been covered at the rate of
a mile a minute, and on several stretch
es the time made was even faster than
this. ss g
The train was turned over to the
Omaha at Elroy by the Northwestern
forty-two minutes late. Engineer Will
lam .Donohue determined to try the
mettle of No. 278, which he had never
yet tested to it's full capacity. The
train was in charge Of Mo Bouse, con-
ductor, and he gave the word to get
into st. Paul on time or acknowledge
that regular could not make such
time.
There were six cars to be pulled and
yet they must not fall below mile a
minute or it would never be possible
to make up three-quarters of an hour
Sixteen minutes had to be counted out
between Elroy and Eau Claire for
transferring the mail at Camp Doug
las and for two other stops. To reach
Eau Claire on time was out of the
question but the 100 miles between FL
roy and there must be made in as
many minutes. When their century
ride was over the trainmen smiled
One hundred and ten minutes time
had been used in the running and six
teen stops. The train reached Eau
Twenty-fv minutes had been made
up, but the train spulled out for St
Paul from Eau Claire still seventeen
minutes behind the card. Previous
| records were nothing now. From Eau
Claire, Roberts is sixty-siX miles, and
they were due at Roberts at 7:15 a. m
Leaving Eau Claire at Gil, they lost
| five minutes by the stop at Menominie
| junction. The train now had only five
cars Roberts was next, and No.
was on time. Sixty-sixs miles had beer
covered in sixtyfour minutes, includ-
ing the stop, Or f1fty-nine minutes
actual running time 5i
! AS the train was pulling into st. Pau
news of the phenomenal run became
noised about among the passengers
but so wonderful was 1t that they were
at first not inclined to believe so little
had they been disturbed by the f1igh1
| through the night Faster time thar
this has been made, but never before
in the history Of the passenger service
in the Northwest. Several days ago
the Omaha made UP a loss Of thirty
minutes this side Of Elroy and thu
run was regarded as a great achieve
ment, but since yesterdays run 1t ha!
become certain that if such a schedule
could be maintained the actual timt
between Chicago and ST. Paul can b.
made in eight and one half hours.
|, The, fast mail this: morning is no
the only train which has a. record ol
| the Omaha. Last evening the North
| western Limited Ne.S broke q, connec
| ton of the eccentric on the engine be
fore leaving st. Paul, and did not ge
away from here until 10 p. m. Yet b.
the time they had reached GAINESVILLE
80 miles away they had gained thei
hour and fifty minutes, showing
clipping Of practically two hours Off tn
running time between here and James
vile.