The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-08
From the London Answers.


 NNNN July 1 the Great Western rail- AO/ way opened its new short cut to
 the west. This line avoids Bristol altogether, and, running via Castle Cary and Langport, shortens the distance to Exeter by twenty-two miles, reducing 1t from 194 to 172 miles.
 To Queen street, Exeter. by the South western route is 171s4 miles from Water- loo; so the Great Western new line is practically exactly identical in length and has the very considerable advantage of running over a much less hilly country.
 The rivalry between these two great railways for the Exeter and Plymouth traffic has always been keen, and the Southwestern. though they cannot short en their line. have replied by building new engines which are, perhaps, the finest in the world. These are four-cylinder six-coupled bogle engines, and eclipse even the Great Western Atantics in the area of their heating surface. The total heat ing surface is 2.727 square feet, and the whole monstrous machine weights-ex- elusive of tender seventy-three tons. If racing is indulged in the public will see something worth seeing.
 From a strictly official point of view, there Is no such thing-in this country, at least-as railway racing. But it some- times happens that two companies whose lines run to the same destination 'acceler- ate their services" simultaneously Then some sensational time records are made.
 The most celebrated case of this kind was eleven years ago, when, in July, 1895, the Great Northern. which controls the East Coast route to the north, and the Northwestern and Caledonian lines, con- trolling the West Coast route. both began a series of attempts to beat the record to Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The East Coast had one point decidedly in their favor. Their line to Aberdeen was only 523 miles long, against $40 by the West Coast route.
 The first really big performance was on August 21, when the East Coast express, with a train of six coaches. did the 5I3 miles in 5M minutes. That, we believe, was a worlds record to date. But the West Coast flier was only beaten by ten minutes, and considering the seventeen miles extra distance its speed was actu- ally greater than that of the Great North ern express.
 On the very next night, however. even these amazing records went to smash The Northwestern made supreme effort. With a train of only three carriages, the record breaking engine reached Aberdeen at 4.32 a. m., having covered the o4o miles in 5l2 minutes and beaten the East Coast fiier by 12 minutes.
 After that an agreement was made pe- tween the two companies that neither should exceed a certain speed and timing to Edinburgh and Aberdeen; and though there were rumors of fresh race in Au- gust, 1901, yet they came to nothing. ins chief objection to this kind of racing Is the fearful strain upon the engine driver Only very few men can be found to stand it. In the states. when racing IS inouigea in. a relief crew is carried. But there IS not room for a double crew on the foot plate of the ordinary British engine
 There was some very fine racing on the other side of the Atlantic in the year 1902 The two competing lines from New York to Chicago took off their coats and went for the records. By the Pennsyiva- mia route the distance is 9so miles, by the New York Central it is 912 miles. The time by both lines had been twenty-four hours; but in June of that year it was suddenly reduced by four hours. The locomotives were new ones weighing eighty tons apiece. and the speed was at times appalling. Of course, the road beds are not so good as ours. and the