TRAINS THAT TRAVEL AT 70 m.p.h. AND OVER

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6803, 5 January 1929, Page 3

TRAINS THAT TRAVEL AT 70 m.p.h. AND OVER

MARVELLOUS RAILWAY SPEEDS, OLD AND NEW RECORDS. Although there has been a general speeding up of express trains in Great Britain, on tire Continent. ar:d in the United States, maximum speed records have not been lowered for many years (writes “Metre,” in the Argus). Much lias been written, for instance, about the Flying Scotsman’s non-stop schedule from King's Cross, London, to Edinburgh, which was inaugurate! in May this year. The distance is 592 miles, and in the opening run the lime occupied Slirs i'.min, the train arriving a few minutes ahead of time. Although its average speed for the journey is slightly under 50 miles an hour, this must be regarded as a very fast train, because of the severe gradients that have to be surmounted and tlie number of railway yards which the train has to run through at greatly reduced speed. To maintain an average of 50 miles an hour, therefore, the Flying Scotsman for the greater part of the journey must be speeding along at 70 miles an hour and more. But to those who can remember the famous races between London and the Scottisli capital inaugurated in 1895, in which the competing cast coast and west coast companies took part, the tun referred to seems rather tame. On August 21 the first racing train loft King’s Cross at 5.23 p.m., and 6hrs ISmin later it had pulled up at Waverley street station, Edinburgh. There is no comparison between the old and the new runs, for that which was accomplished 33 years ago was the quicker by nearly two hours. Soon afterwards a west coast train ran from Euston to Aberdeen, 540 miles, in 512 minutes, with stops at Crewe, Carlisle, and Perth, an extraordinary record, which was not •challenged by the rival companies, both sides agreeing to return to normal schedules. Thcso racing trains were very light (about U-0 tons behind (he tender), and all traffic was carefully cleared off the course so that they might have an unchecked tun. The instructions given to tlie drivers were to run at tlie maximum speed tlicir engines wore capable of on the straight, but to slacken speed in going through yards and when traversing curves. British anti French Trains.

In Great Britain tlie Great Western Railway holds the speed record, having a number of trains timed for an average of GO miles an hour. One of these expresses makes a non-stop run between Paddington and Bath in 107 minutes. A still faster but a shorter run is that of the Cheltenham-London express, 77.3 miles in 75 minutes. This company, indeed, has always led the wav so far as speed is concerned, and should continue to do so, for Sir Isambard Brunei, the famous engineer, laid the railway as far as was practicable without cither curves or gradients. As far back as 1845 the company was running trains which would have been reckoned fast even to-day. The Bristol express, for instance, which left Paddington at 9.45 a.m., arrived at Didcot, 53 miles, at 10.53 a.m., thus maintaining an average speed of just under 50 miles an. hour for the first part of its journey. Tho fastest long-distance train in France is the Paris-Lille express, which is timed to run tho 156 miles between tho terminals in 155 minutes, but a more meritorious performance, on account of the difficulty of the route and an intermediate stop for engine purposes, is that of the Paris-Calais boat train, which runs tho 1844 miles in 190 minutes. A strict regulation enforced on all French railways is that drivers shall not exceed a speed of 74 miles an hour. The regulation, mafic in the interests of safety, has probably had the opposite effect, for as tho train crews are penalised for late running unless they can prove that it was unavoidable, they arc inclined to travel at speeds through yards and on curves which • would bo regarded as dangerous in Great Britain, where, however, speeds approaching 90 miles au hour arc daily recorded on long, straight stretches of track. Highest Speed Ever Attained.

Tho record for tho lughest; speed ever attained on rails is held by Germany.'. Many years age the German Government (I think it was), in order to ascertain what was the maximum speed practicable on a railway, had a length of special perfectly straight track laid, with very heavy rails, ml au extra depth of ballast. Over this au electrically-driven car was run at increasing speeds. Up to 105 miles au hour there was but little oscillation, but w'hen the speed had reached almost 125 miles an hour the car began to sway dangerously, and the speed was checked. The official speed record for a steam locomotive is held by the Great Western Company’s City o? Truro, which once, when hauling a special mail train, w-as tinted on *i down-grade at 102.3 miles an hour. In the United States it is claimed that tho New York Central Company’s “999,” exhibited in Chicago in 1895, attained it speed of 104 miles an hour, but ike figure cannot be verified officially-.