Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-12-22
FASTEST JOURNEY EVER MADE.
From Berlin to Zossen at 1870 Miles
Per Hour.

From Berlin to Zossen at 1870 Miles
Per Hour.
Note-the fastest journey ever made
was the recent run Of an electric car
from Berlin to Zossen, at the rate OF
over 100 miles an hour. The follow
ing vivid description Is written by one
of the engineers in the car. II Is
gratifying to know that the motorman
was an American engineer, from Pitts
burg:
With whirr the car starts on its
memorable journey from Marienfelde.
The overhead wires are swaying In a
strong wind. "A mile and a quarter
has been covered. The speed indica-
tor show a velocity Of rs miles an
hour.
Each second the speed increases.
Just before the station Of Mahlow ap-
peares a curve of $500 feet radius
looms up. The speed is now 10s miles
an hour. We seem to be leaping to-
ward the curve. No bend can be
seen; the track apparently ends alb
ruptly. We know there Is a curve,
and yet we are anxious; we brace our
selves for q shock. Just as we reach
the curve the track seems to bend
into a gentle arc into which the car
runs easily.
We climb a grade Of 26 feet to the
mile-slight, to be sure, and yet to as
cend 1t at full speed we must expend
800 power more. The train is
flying on faster and faster. We rush
through Mahlow at speed Of 115
miles an hour. No vibration or shock
Is felt. 1t seems as II the car itself
were not moving, as II buildings, poles,
trees were Pickering past. Only the
humming Of the wheels assures US that
It is we who are moving.
The finger Of the speed Indicator
slips along to a mark which shows that
the car Is making 121 miles an hour.
At every crossing a loud ringing note
can be heard, caused by the wheels.
Fragments Of ballast as large as wal
nuts are sucked up into the air and
fall back as the train rushes on. At
first the speed Is bewildering, almost
stupefying.
Suddenly q smashing blow Is heard
against the window Of the cab, as II a
man brought his fist heavily down up
on a table. It was a bird overtaken In
It's flight and killed. The speed indi-
Gator finger climbs up past the 124
mile mark.
A quarter Of a mile before reaching
the curve near Rangsdorf we shut of
the current and apply the full power
of the brakes. The speed Of the car
drops to 1O2 miles. The curve Is
rounded in a noble swing. The brake
is released, and the car glides along
under it's own momentum without any
current whatever until Zossen is
reached. In eight minutes we have
leaped from Marienfelde to Zossen.
We crowd around the telegraph in
struments. which. have recorded a
speed never before attained in the an
nails Of railroading. The telegrapher
can hardly attend to his instruments,
so many heads are pressing about him.
Finally he succeeds in reading off the
record-130.4 miles an hour.
+ Every one smiles; hands are shak-
en-, congratulations exchanged. An
officer rushes off to the telegraph sta
ton to announce to his majesty, the
kaiser, the feat which German engi-
lneers have succeeded in performing.
The front end Of the car is covered
with flies, bees and small insects,
crushed, as If by a thumb against the
iron and glass.-Dr. Deichel In Scien-
tific American.