SIXTY MILES AN HOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14906, 3 February 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

SIXTY MILES AN HOUR.

IS THE "STANDARD" POSSIBLE. Is it possible to time trains at 60 miles an hour, and to keep up the average on ordinary train journeys, in ordinary conditions? The t question is asked, and some, answer* are suggested by Mr. Humphrey Baker in the Railway and Travel Monthly. Speed in railway travel lias so much increased during recent years that, as Mr. Baker remarks, 50 miles an hour is considered slow, and it is to-day attained in surburban services. "Is not the time- at hand," he asks', "when 60 should take the place of 50?" Many of thecrack expresses already exceed the 50 ; they are nearer 56. "It will be objected," says Mr. Baker, " that 56 is not 60, and that it is the last few miles that tell. No doubt this is so; but the same argument could be, and doubtless was, used against the increase from 50 to' 56 when that was being made. Progress must be gradual, but it must, be matie, nor can it stop now any more than it could in the past. We cannot say: 'It was all very well to come so far, but this .is far enough; hero we will rest.' The unattained ideal of one generation becomes the commonplaco of the next, and this process is unending. "Next, the general arguments for acceleration wherever possible are strong. Most important, it encourages travelling. It is p. common argument that a few minutes saved on a, journey of hours is of no importance; that eight hours and a quarter, for instance, from London to Edinburgh, servo the purposo as well as eight. Probably they doalmost ; but minutes soon breed hours, and the acceleration of one year does not stand by itself, but, is added to those of the preceding ana succeeding years, so that even a minute is worth saving. It is doubtful if anyone would take the train from "Bristol to London and back to pay an afternoon call—a thing which has happened before now—if the two hour booking had never been instituted; yet this two hour booking was but the. accumulation of a number of small accelerations of five minutes at a time, of which the ordinary traveller was hardly aware. Granted, then, that faster trains bring more passengers, and that small accelerations are not to bo despised, there is the question of expense." On this point much is to be said on both sides. Mr. Baker seems to be in favour of high speed on the ground of economy in various ways. He goes on to describe a number of ,l a mile a minute" runs on the. Great Western Railway, and adds:—

"The truth is that modern locomotives can do tilings which were, undreamt of when 50 miles an hour was made the standard express speed. Three features are prominent in the instances given. First, the rate of acceleration was reasonably rapid. If 60 miles an hour can he attained on the level at the sixth mile post from the start (which is not overstating what was done, nor asking a very great deal), some nine minutes only willhave been spent in reaching this point, and the three minutes leeway at once begins to bb made up. Secondly, sustained speeds on the level of 70 or "thereabouts ajo now possible. The runs quoted include cases of 71 and 75 miles an hour being maintained for 20 miles over almost the same piece of line in opposite directions. This enables time to be gained without help from gradients. Thirdly, 60 miles an hour can bo kept up on contrary grades, if not much steeper than one in 300; so that even where the conditions are verso the standard can be adhered to.

"A feature which might have been present, but was not, is very high speed on down gradients. This power remains in reserve, and sinco no one suggests now-a-days that even the highest speeds are in any way dangerous when the configuration of the line and permanent-way conditions are favourable, there is no reason why they should not bo resorted to down hill if delays have occurred and too much time has been lost to be recovered in oilier ways. These features, then, of modern locomotive ability ought to make 60 miles an hour from start to stop a practical proposal, not an idle fancy.'