The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-08-22
FALLEN FROM IT'S HIGH ESTATE
A. C. L. No. 21O, Which Won a Big
Mail Contract for Its Road
Twenty Years Ago
ASSOCIATED Press)

Jacksonville, Aug. 22.-Pulling a
slow local passenger train in Georgia
is the '4ten wheeler" which one day
twenty years ago travelled at a speed
greater than that of any steam loco
motive ever built, 120 miles an hour.
This engine, now Atlantic Coast
Line No. 210, was Plant System No.
Ill when it set the worlds record for
sprinting. At the same time it won
"a United Sttaes mail contract be-
tween Washington and Jacksonville.
The Seaboard Air Line and the At
lantic Coast Line plant System) in
March 1901, were conducting tests un-
der observation of postal authorities.
Each road, it was agreed, should run
three trains to determine which could
handle the Florida and Cuban mail
the quicker 1t was while pulling the
third test train between Savannah and
Jacksonville that No. Ill of the Sa-
vannah, Florida and Western, just de-
livered by her builders ami still stiff
from lack of use, Unexpectedly set its
record that still stands.
Shortly after leaving Savannah, No.
107, new locomotive, assigned to the
test, developed hot driving box and
the Seaboard test train passed it at
Burroughs, eleven miles out, the two
railroads paralleling to that point.
At Fleming, twenty-three miles
from Savannah, No. 107 was still ex-
periencing trouble and when passen7
ger train No. %, southbound, with
engine No. Ill in charge of Engineer
Lodge overlook the test train, officials
substituted the Ill for the 107, order
ed dispatchers to clear the road be-
tween Fleming and Jacksonville and
instructed Lodge to push his engine to
the limit.
A fire some years ago destroyed the
records on the run between Fleming
and Waycross but reports show that
No. Ill made the 76 miles between
Waycross and Jacksonville in SO min
utes, an average speed of 78 miles an
hour.
The worlds record was set near
Screven, Ca, twelve miles south of
Jesup, where No. Ill and her train
covered five miles in two minutes and
thirty seconds.
No. III arrived at the union station
in Jacksonville ahead of the Seaboard
test train and the Atlantic Coast Line
and Plant System was awarded the
mail contract.
Some time later the Atlantic Coast
Line absorbed the Plant System and
No. Ill became A. C.. l.. No. 210.
There is nothing out of the ordinary
in the design of the engine, which is
of the typical "ten wheeler" type,
three pairs of drivers and four pony
truck wheels. She has nineteen inch
cylinders with stroke of % inches,
72-inch driving wheels, and carries a
boiler pressure of $50 pounds. The en-
CINE weighs 150.5OO pounds. Her
rated tractive power is p, ,4s0 pounds.
The old Plant System track be-
tween Savannah and Jacksonville is
known among railroad men, in the
southeast as ''The Speedway" because
of the fast time that has been made
on it. No. III made her notable run
in 1901, and after the Atlantic Coast
Line took over the Plant System q
special train was handled at rate of
1856 miles an hour This instance
was on March 9, 1903, when a train
chartered by the family of George
Gould was run the 172 miles from
Jacksonville to Savannah IN 152 min
utes, or at a speed Of 70.7 miles an
hour Engine 271, with Engineer
Thomas Leake in charge, which pull
ed the train, ran the seven miles be-
tween Walthourville and Mcintosh,
Ca, in four minutes, exceeding 1854
miles an hour.