The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1903-11-05
ANOTHER FAST MAIL RUN.
Burlington's No. is Goes 200 Miles
in 200 Minutes.

Burlington, a distance OF 206 miles in
even 200 minutes, which was made on
Sunday night, Oct. 4, brings the name Of
Engineer f. ID. Gillet to the notice of
railroad men all over the world and will |
give him a place in the chronicles of
those old railroaders who have broken
the worlds speed records. !
Previous to engineer Gillet's record
Engineer Kelley, of Burlington, who was
killed on his run last year, held the
record from Chicago to Burlington, hav-
ing made the trip in 205 minutes on No.
Is with engine No. 1872 and four mail
cars in 1899. Not only did Mr.. Gillet
lower the record by five minutes, but he
drew five mail cars and an express car,
which is one more car than usual on the
train. His engine was compound P2.
S4-inch drivers, No 1884
Mr.. Gillet is too modest to boast of
his run, but described it in few words as
follows, to Burlington Gazette rep
rcsentative: Gas we pulled out of
Chicago | looked at my watch and saw
that we were thirty minutes late. We
had some important foreign mail, called
black strap mail, and / realized that if
it could possibly be done we should
make Burlington on time. We made
two stops getting out of Chicago, one at
Canal and Sixteenth streets, and the
other at Western avenue which DELAYED
us five minutes. The run to Mendoza,
1913 miles, took so minutes, and we were
still u minutes late. There we stopped
another five minutes.
AS we pulled out of Mendoza, / saw
that if there We're no unnecessary de-
| lays it would be possible to reach Bur-
| lington about on time by crowding a
little. When we stopped at Galesburg
for water, which delayed us five minutes
longer, | saw that we had less than
forty minutes to make Burlington, ~
miles away. The speed the remainder
of the way was terrific, but we pulled
into Burlington station fully two min
utes ahead of time. During the trip my
fireman, S. G. Clark, of Burlington, once
between shoveling spells, looked up and
said, I'VE are going little too fast for
comfort
When asked if he thought it possible
to lower the record between Mendoza
and Galesburg to less than 20 minutes,
Mr.. Gillet>s said that sit may be done, but
l don't think it is probable with the
engines that are now used"
! "Do you think that the company in
the near future will try to lower the
record or make the schedule for No.
10 between Chicago and Burlington
less than three hours and fifty-two
minutes.?'
81 do not think the company will I'M
less competition compels it to in order to
carry the mail" he answered. "On the
ordinary trips the time is plenty short
enough. These fast runs were always
made under the most favorable sur
roundings, with the right atmospheric
conditions, and when the engineer was
satisfied that the track was clear there
were no delays"
In describing the sensation of fast
ride Mr.. Gillet said: IL always thor.
oughly inspect my engine before TAX
ing her out and as soon as come in
If am acquainted with the engine that
| am on and have the proper signals fol-
a clear track, feel that everything is
all right. There is considerable strair
1 because Of the close watch on every
thing about the engine and ahead that
must keep, but feel at home because
have been raised to the place. But
when geta signal for quick stop
which is seldom given unless there il
danger ahead, want to stop mos
awfully bad.
"In running in foggy weather we de
pend entirely on the block system
which insures us that the track is clea
from trains but leaves us to the mercy o
any other obstruction that might b,
ahead of u.s.
| w. A. Herren, of Finch, Ark, writes
81 wish to report that Foley's Kidne,
Cure has cured terrible case of kid
new and bladder trouble that tw