The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-15
AMERICAN TRAINS FASTEST.
English Records Have Been Shatter-
ed, and n Mile n Minute Is Now

, bene and probably always will be the
leaders of the world in all matters per
tanning to railways and the speed of
trains. Between the two countries there
has always existed more or less rivalry
over the speed accomplishments of their
respective locomotives, and the rivalry
will likely continue as long as it is posi-
Bile to make Improvements of any char
acter. Perhaps Americans, as a whole
give the subject greater attention than
do the British for we seem to be inter-
ested in all things of the superlauve de-
gree much more deeply than our cousins.
Every now and then friendly rivalry
sometimes, however, it is not extremely
acknowledgements out between the various
great railways of the country, end every
time there is a contest one great record
or more is completely smashed.
Beating an English Record.
One of the greatest, if not the great
est, runs ever made in the world was ac-
complished on the Lake Shore and Mich
igan Southern Railroad between Chicago
and Buffalo on Oct. "A. 1895. 1t seems
that one cause of this race against time
was a desire to eclipse an English record
made on the 22d of the preceding August
between London and Aberdeen. The dis
lance between these two towns is $40
miles, and a train on the London and
Northwestern made the trip at an aver
age speed of So SO miles per hour. The
English public was quite jubiiant over
the fact that this trip broke. all previous
records and that the worlds record was
once more held in England. But the very
next month a train on the New York Cen
trail road ran from New York to East
Buffalo, a distance of a little over 436
miles, at an average speed of 64.26 miles
per hour. OF course, this beat the Eng
lish record, but it seems that there was
objection to it from across the water on
the ground the trip was not long enough
to be classed rs a long distance run.
which should be at least 500 miles in
length. So the record for a run of 800
miles and over was still in England
There are few stretches of railroad 500
miles in length in this country which
are perfectly adapted for remarkable
runs There are hills TO mount or curves
to cut around which interfere more or
less with efforts to break records. One
of the stretches of road having no such
impediments is on the Lake Shore and
Michigan Southern line between Chicago
and Buffalo. The officers of the road con-
Guided that they would try to beat the
long-distance record over this bit OF
track.
A Mile in Forty Seconds.
Arrangements for the speed test were
quietly made. for in view of the POSSIBLE
ity of a failure the officials did not care
for any premature advertisement. At $3.50
o'clock in the morning of Oct. "a the train
pulled away from the starting point,
which was at One Hundredth street, and
plunged into the darkness on what was
to be a remarkable and a record-breaking
trip 1t goes without saying that the few
. ke fan
est possible changes of engines were ar
ranged for. The train stopped about FIVE
times. at four of which engines were
changed In less than eight hours the
train shot into Buffalo with the English
record hanging in tatters on the cow
catcher of the engine. The distance OF
SOL miles had been covered at an aver
age speed of 6507 miles per hour During
the trip 1898 miles were made at the rate
of 666S miles per hour, 1915 miles at 69.67
miles per hour. eighty-ive miles at 1872
miles per hour, seventy-one miles at 1906
miles per hour, fifty-nine miles at 1908
miles per hour, fifty-two miles at Is
miles per hour. forty-two miles at 1914
miles per hour, thirty-three miles at 80.07
miles per hour and eight miles at the
rate of S5A miles per hour. During one
burst of speed the train few over the
tracks at the rate of 1928 miles per hour
Although great records for single miles
had been previously made it is said that
never before did train reach speed of
eight miles an hour and maintain 1t for
half and hour, eighty-hve miles an hour
and hold II for ten minutes or ninety
miles an hour and hold it for three or
four consecutive miles.
100 Miles nm Hour.
Everyone who was in Chicago or most
alg in
ago will well remember the great races
which took place for several days between
the Burlington and Chicago and North
western roads over their routes between
Chicago and Omaha. The distance be-
tween the two cities is 800 miles in round
numbers. The Northwestern route is 1893
miles long, while the Burlington Is 5O0.2
miles. The Northwestern train was due
TO leave Chicago at 10 O'Clock at night and
to arrive in Omaha the next morning at
s15 The Burlington left at $3.50 in the
mornine and arrived in the Nebraska city
al 1855 the next morning. Thus the two
trains ran at practically the same rate OF
speed.
The Burlington train had a little over
ten miles more than the Northwestern to
run and she used ten minutes more than
the latter to make Omaha. so IL would be
splitting hairs to soy which road operated
the faster train. In the contests Whlcn
took place the trains Of both roads did
such remarkable work that the govern
ment mail contract, for which they we're
contending. wes divided between the two
lines. It is said that no trains on earth
ever made such remarkable runs daily
and kept up the pace as these trains
These runs Of about fifty miles an hour
were made without making any allow
anee whatever for stoDpages. slow downs
and delays Of any kind. This means that
the trains necessarily attain a speed Ia
some parts OF the routes OF eighty or
ninety or perhaps even a hundred miles
an hour Some have made the claim that
the trains occasionally reach speed OF
i20 miles an hour. but there r. no way Of
verifying this statement. and many are
doubtful Of its correctness.
Across the Plains.
Less than three years ago another great
run was made which attracted much at
ientlon. cspeciallr IN Chicago and The
West The Rock Island road had rom
Guided 10 Increase ~ service between Chi
cago and Denver by che addition Of four
new trains Two Of these trains were sent
cut 10 Denver ana Two we're kept here N