Evening star., 1933-06-04

| Railroads have had a fascination for
the American people from the days
when bets were laid on races between
fast horses and the first chugging loco
motives. The horses sometimes won.
The era of railroad building in the
United States was, perhaps. the great
| est single era of industrial advance
ment in history. Then the first flush
Of enthusiasm waned, next the rail-
roads were attacked as monopolistic
enemies of the people and finally, with
| the advent of the automobile and the
airplane. practically ignored as an out
moded means Of transportation.
Today there appears to have devel-
| oped a revival of interest and enthusi-
asm and once more the people are
displaying the keenest interest. The
Century of Progress Exposition at Chi
| cago hes had something to do with the
renewal of attention but. also, 1t ap-
pears that a cycle was about due. For
one thing, the exigencies of the depres-
sion have focused attsn ion on these
| carriers The Nation has been warned
| that there is danger of practical
abandonment of whole systems unless
some relief for them can be found.
The people have suddenly come to the
realization that, after all, they cannot
afford to lose their great steam trans
portation system They think too much
of Casey Jones and the long tradition
of American railroading. So many
| Americans have been workin' on the
railroad all the live-long day.
One thing which has stimulated
Americans into a new pride In their
railroads Is the visit of a foreign ex-
| hibition train. The Ion5on, Midland
| and Scottish Railway Co. has cone the
unprecedented thing of sending an en-
tire passenger train across the At'antlc
to show Americans how B-itishors
ride. Before going on exhibition at the
! Chicago Fair. the train is being oper-
ated as a guest over certain American
| lines, and Midwestern farmers have
stopped in their fields to see the
strengthening apparition flash by-for
British trains do not look like Amer1-
can trains at all.
While the guest has been warmly
welcomed. the chip is off the American
railroad shoulder because of the claim
| that this British train, the Royal Scot,
is the fastest train in the world. The
Royal Scot operates between London
and Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1t runs
from London to Edinburgh, distance
of 400 miles, in 7 hours and 40 minutes.
It runs from London to Glasgow, 401 1a
miles, in hours and As minutes The
average Summer speed is 52.4 miles
per hour.
| Some American Fast Runs.
No sooner had these figures been
| submitted to substantiate the claim to a
worlds speed record than America rose,
almost as one man, to invite atten-
ton to the New York Centra.'s Twen-
tieth Century Limited. New York to
Chicago in IT hours As minutes, at an
average speed of 54 miles per hour.
Speed Is a characteristic American
mania just as railroading Is charac-
/ teristic American job. Way back In
1893 when the first Chicago Worlds
Fair was being held. the Empire state
Express went 112.5 miles per hour. IL
is interesting to note that Old 999,
which made the run, will be at Chi
cago with Charles H. Hogan. the or1g1-
nal driver. now 83 years old. at the
throttle He'll take the engine over a
half-mile track, but at slower pace
| because the spectators want to see IL
pass.
There is. inceed, difference between
! sprinting engine records and long sus-
| tanned high speeds and, next to the
| Twentieth Century's 54mile gait, the
! Royal Scot probably has claim. Amer
| ican trains do not run as fast as they
used to. In fact, there is rule on
| some railroads that no train must move
faster than 10 miles an hour. In 1901
a train moved from Fleming to Jack
sonville, Fla, at 120 miles per hour,