The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-07-08
TWENTY HOUR TRAINS
Successful Trips Of the Chicago
New York Fliers.
MARVELLOUS BURSTS OF SPEED.

MARVELLOUS BURSTS OF SPEED.
Long Stretches Of Track Covered 1t
the Rate of More Than Eighty-fve
Miles an HOur-Schedule Beaten ON
Both New York Central and Penn
s~ylvania Roads.
Speeding at times at more than
Eighty miles an hour and maintaining
an average of nearly fifty miles an
hour, including stops, between New
York city and Chicago, new records
In ~railroading were established by the
New York Central and Pennsylvania
railroads the other day, says the New
York Herald. Duplicate trains on each
road, moving east and west with the
speed Of the wind and yet controlled
with the precision of clockwork, COW
cred the distance Of $50 miles on one
road and 912 miles on the other and
arrived at their destinations before
they were due.
1t was just 9:26 O'Clock the other
morning when the Twentieth Century
limited Of the New York Central pulled
into the Grand Central station. The
train was four minutes ahead of time.
The Pennsylvania special arrived in
Jersey City at S:36 o'clock, which was
two minutes before the train was due.
Filters on both roads made the west
ward run in three minutes less than
the scheduled time Of twenty hours.
By the Inauguration of the twenty
hour service between New York and
Chicago, length of run considered,
American railroads take the first place
among the great carriers Of the world
for long distance runs. The Sud ex-
press OF the Orleans and Midi railroad,
which makes the 4S6A miles from
Paris to Bayonne in eight hours and
ffty-nine minutes, is the worlds fast
est train, as it averages 54.13 miles an
hour for the distance travelled. which
is approximately one-half the distance
from New York to Chicago.
The Twentieth Century limited in
covering $50 miles, or more than dou-
BILE the French road, with an average
of forty-nine miles an hour is, in the
opinion Of railroad men. entitled to pre-
eminence as the worlds most famous
train. The Empire State express e
nearly equals the speed record of the
Sud express, but the new fier to Chi
cago does all that the Empire State
does and much more besides. The
two great trains of England, the East
Coast express and the West Coast ex-
press, n running to Edinburgh and
the other to Glasgow from London, av-
erage fifty miles an hour for a distance
of 400 miles. which is less than from
this city to Buffalo.
Even faster time for short stretches
was made by the westward bound
trains. which reached a maximum Of
ninety-ive miles an hour on the Penn
sylvania.
Possibilities Of even shorter runs to
Chicago are suggested by the speeding
of the Central and Pennsylvania fiers
when long stretches Of fat country
We're reached. The Twentieth Century
limited made its fastest miles in In
diana. The train shot past Rolling
Prairie, a small town in that state, go
Ing a mile in forty-two seconds or at
the rate of S5.7 miles an hour. For
three miles this great speed was kept
up. but s. smooth was the track and
the train SO well balanced that the pas
sengers could hardly believe the testi-
mony of their stop watches. Between
Chicago and New York there were
eight stops for the Twentieth Century
limited.
Locomotives We're changed at each of
these, involving a few minutes delay.
From Albany locomotive No. 1880.
with Colonel Van Voorhees, at the
throttle, brought the train to New
York. The run down the Hudson was
in two hours and fifty-one min
utes, or an average of fifty miles an
hour. All of the passengers agreed that ?
the trip was delightful and that no in
convenience had been felt by the great
speed.
With it's shorter route the Pennsyl-
vania reaches Chicago in twenty hours,
with an average of only 45H miles an
hour, but it has some heavy grades to
climb in crossing the Allegheny noun
.ains. The Pennsylvania special which
the eastward run left Philadel-
ohia twelve minutes late. During the
to New York the lost time was
up and the highest rate of speed
If the trip from Chicago was reached.
Between Philadelphia and Newark sew
sral miles were timed at the rate of
sighty-six miles an hour. It was thirty.
Tx minutes after 8 o'clock when the
pulled in at Jersey City, which
vas two minutes ahead of the sched-
lie.
Arriving in Chicago, the Lake Shore
Tier was four minutes in advance of
time and the Pennsylvania
hree minutes. Officials in Chicago on
10Th roads say that an eighteen hour