RAILWAY SPEEDS.

Evening Star, Issue 22004, 13 April 1935, Page 2

RAILWAY SPEEDS.

The most notable event of the week in the railway world (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne ‘Age’) has been the record-breaking run made on the London and Northeastern- by the seven-year-old Pacific type engine Papyrus, which reached a speed of 108 m.'p.h. on a twelve-mile stretch near Grantham. The ostensible purpose of this run was to show that a steam locomotive could at least hold its own against the oil-driven “ Flying Hamburger,” which maintains an average speed of 77 m.p.h. The German train incidentally runs along a specially straight track, and could not obtain its speed upon the winding routes common to English railways. The L.N.E.R. train has also deprived the Great Western of the railway speed record for this country. The competitive spirit is at work not only between railway and road transport, but between the engineers of the different companies, and no doubt train services generally aro gradually being speeded up. It will-be a Jong time, liowever, before normal passenger trains in this country or anywhere else, for that matter, will habitually travel at anything approaching 100 m.p.h.