Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-16
NINETY NINE NILES AN HOUR
Burlington Does a Little More Speedy
Running Out West,
WORLDS RECORD FOR DISTANCE COVERED
Fifteen Miles on Crooked Track In
Colorado Covered at Astounding
tate of speed by Chi
caEo Special.

For the fifth time the Burlington railroad
has made an unequaled run. The fourteen
and eight-tenths miles from Eckley to
Wray. in Colorado. was covered at a speed
Of 9s.6 miles an hour, which is far and away
the fastest gait on record for that distance.
March "a last was the date on which this
run was made. 1t has been kept under
cover by Burlington officials till absolute
proofs of the authenticity Of the time could
be assembled. Now. with the watches Of
the conductor, of the engineer, Of the sta
tiop men at both points and of many promi-
nent men on the train to vouch for the
facts, the Burlington has completed it's in
vestigations with a personal report from
Conductor ]. H. Burns, and publicly adds
the record to its other achievements.
As a comparative basis. the list OF nota-
BILE fast runs printed in the World Almanac
for 1902, contains mention Of bursts Of
speed for distances Of from twenty-one to
964 miles, ranging from 50.4 to so miles an
hour. The best is 1926 miles, done at eighty
miles an hour. by the Lehigh Valley line
Black Diamond Express between Alpine
and Geneva Junction, N. Y, in April. 1897.
Nine instances of short distance runs are
cited In the almanac, OF which four are only
-one mile long, one is two miles, one four,
two FIVE and one six. The best speed was
1870 miles an hour for "a miles. made by
the Burlington in January, 1899, between
Siding and Arion. The six-mile run was
done on the Wabash. the speed being s7.4e
miles an hour.
In a Glass by ITSELF.
This run Of 14.S miles is more than twice
as long as the longest short distance run
cited and was done much faster. Again, It
is almost as long as the shortest long dis
lance run mentioned. twenty-one miles,
and so would properly come nearer being
in that class than the other. But the speed
on that twenty-one mile run was only
1859 miles an hour, made on the New York
Central in March, 1892, between Oneida
and Dewitt, N. Y. Conductor Burns, in
telling Of the run, says:
From Eckley to Wray the track is full
Of curves and the train of nine cars was
running constantly on two of them at one
time owing to the length Of the train and
the shortness Of the curves, except in only
two cases, where they are longer. The
train consisted of engine No. Al, mail car,
baggage car, two reclining chair cars, spe-
cial Pullman car Grassemere, three sleeping
cars and dining car Prescott.
story of the Run.
1.-THE circumstances we're these: No. 6
left Denver ten minutes late. A heavy
wind prevailed to Akron, Colo, putting us
out Of there just thirty minutes late.
Nothing was said to Engineer O'Connell
about making unusual speed, as 1t has been
customary to run from Akron to Wray, the
first stop, at from seventy to seventy-three
miles an hour when late. We passed Otis
at ffty-nine miles an hour, Hyde and Yuma
at sixty-hve miles, and when we passed
Eckley we had attained seventy-four to
seventy-ive miles an hour speed. l was
In the observation car with Arthur John
son Of Denver, Wells Alley Of Los Angeles.
Traffic Manager Bush OF the Colorado Mid
land and Mr.. Foley from Omaha. Every
body was holding his watch, corroborating.
We passed Eckley at 1855 p. m. We got to
Wray so soon hat l thought for a minute
in the darkness that 1t was Robb, 81 miles
from Eckley, where we do not stop regu-
larry.
when we found out what we had done
everyone was astonished, and / went for
ward into the special car, in which was
Mr.. Lindsay of Pittsburg, manager for An
drew Carnegie, with a party OF seventeen.
Mr.. Lindsay accosted me with the remark
that he would bet that burst of speed was
the fastest he had ever ridden, although
he was not holding his watch. 1 told him
1t was the fastest that the distance had
ever been covered in"