The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-23
TRAINS ID MAKE
 MUCH FASTER TIME A Hundred Mile Schedule is
 Bound to Come RAILROAD NEWS OPINION Officials Say That Limit of Speed Has Not Yet Been Reaohed-oreat-
 est Trouble Railroads Con
 tend With Is Trespassers.


 Has the limit of speed on railroads been reached?" was the question put to a score of practical railroad men in view of the statement made recently by Presi- dent Newman of the New York Central.
 The reply was unanimous that 1t had not been reached and would not be reach- ed until the electric locomotive had been until the electric locomotives had been developel to It's highest point of efficiency and was in general use. Electricity will be the motive power of the railroad or the future, they declared. and experiments are being conducted in this country and abroad to perfect the electric engine.
 The New York Central railroad has been making tests with an electric engine for some time on a six mile stretch or track outside of Schenectady. This engine, with a train Of flat cars, loaded with sandbags to represent the weight of pas sengers, has attained a speed of eighty five miles an hour.
 That 1t can go faster there Is little doubt. When the demand comes for fas- ter trains than are now run the big railroads will be able to supply the de- mand
 Tho public does demand fast trains, else the railroads would not supply them. The public uses fast trains and makes them profitable, or the railroads would not run them The railroad business is not con ducted by philanthropists, as everybody but the pass flends knows. One of the officials of the New York Central rail-
 41... tl.., l
 "The business of the railroads is to sell transportation, the same as the druggist sells drugs. If railroad runs fast trains, there is a demand for fast trains. If speedier train than any road Is running is put in operation 1t is because there Is commercial necessity for it.
 And to speed limit, we have not reach ed 1t and won't for years to come. There is always something new in the railroad business. It may be better make of car or maybe a way to make better road bed.
 With modern equipment and first class roadbed with level stretch of track no one can tell the limit of speed that can be obtained on first-class road. The modern locomotives are not asked to go the limit.
 "There is a limit to their speed, but no one is interested in the limit, particularly as lOnR as they tfdNel as ldSL liit puOiS demands. When the time comes that the electric engines take the place of steam engines speed will be greatly increased.
 Safety Limit.
 "IIow fast can trains run with safety?' this official was asked.
 That is a rather difficult question to answer President Newman of the New York Central recently put himself on rec ord as saying that he thought modern trains ran too fast. l rather think he was in error when he said that he thought all railroad men believed as he did.
 As a matter of fact, most railroad men would rather ride on a fast train than slow one, because they know the fast ones are the safest. If there is an open swith like that on the Lake Shore when the Twentieth Century was wrecked, the slow train is going to be wrecked as well as the fast one.
 If l knew I was going to be in train wreck 1 would take the fast train in pref erence to the slow one. To begin with, the fast train is made up of the best equipment and manned by the best men the company has employed. The fier never has as many cars as slow train and there is less to smash when the crash comes
 Every employe of road that has a fler is always on the lookout for the fast train It has a clear track and extraor- dinary precautions are taken for its safety.
 Few trains have been wrecked, and when one does meet with that misfortune it makes a great impression upon the minds of the public. The general public has sort of fool notion that all wrecks are due to high speed. That is a false impression. as any one can learn by taking the trouble to investigate.
 If you are walking briskly and you bump into a man who is walking slowly, you will bump that man out of the way. If you are running and hit another person coming toward you slowly you will hit him with more force still.
 "The same principle holds good with the fast train. If 1t runs into a solid wall 1t Is going to be wrecked, but if it hits an obstruction, on the track the chances are that it won't. It will shunt the obstruc tion aside just as the running man shunts his slow moving brother out of his way.
 "The train that is running slowly and hits an obstruction Is apt to be derailed, at least. The Twentieth Century once hit freight car and cut it in two and none of the passenger knew of the &C., cident.
 Greatest Trouble.
 "The greatest trouble the railroads in this country have to contend with is the trespassers, the persons who walk on rail- road tracks. good percentage of per sons killed by the trains of this coun try are trespassers.
 England, France and Germany are free from this trouble In those countries it is a misdemeanor to go on a railroad track. Persons who do it and have no right to trespass are punished. In this freeborn land of our there would be an awful howl if the railroads got together and tried to free themselves of trespassers.
 "A man walking along a railroad track might become suddenly insane, or he may see switch and tamper with 1t and be sane. The result is wreck.
 ''No one knows what the railroads suf- fer from trespassers. The interstate com merce commission reports that nearly 6000 trespassers were killed by railroads in this country last year.
 This railroad man voiced the sentiments of d majority of railroad men. As to the limit of speed few will contradict him.
 This country still holds the palm for high speed trains although 1t may be taken away from 1t if the syndicate that was recently formed in Brussels makes good it's boast. This syndicate was formed to construct a straight line railroad from Brussels to Berlin. the motive power to be electricity.
 It has been planned to make the run in seven hours and to do 1t will require a speed in excess of ninety miles an hour. To do this the railroad will have to be built as heartily in a straight line as pos sible and high power electric engines will be used. German railroads have done good deal of experimenting with electric engines and for short distances they have attained great speed. What the railroad men of