LONG RUNS ON ENGLISH RAILROADS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11046, 25 February 1898, Page 3

LONG RUNS ON ENGLISH RAILROADS.

i Norailway development within recent month s has been more marked than the.great increase in the number of long-distance runs. . A- few years back the liumber of trains which made a Journey of upward of 100 Vmiles without a stop could almost be''pounted-on the' finger|s of ,bne. ha.rid,-. Now every 'day 65'traius make a run ol 100 miles and over without a stop.;- ■.-,.; ■•; . . "".- -,;■ '■ v -; ■ ■[- ■' ■■ '■

In the actual nambar. of snoh runs the Grte\b Northern railway stands first, as 19 of its expres««s run distances varying from 102-1----miles to 120 miles without a stop. The NorihWeetern has 15 daily 100-mile runs, including four of 153 miles, and three oM52£ miles. The Gceat Western Compuiy's runs include the longest daily run without a stop in the world— viz., that between P.iddingtoa and Exeter 194----miles. The total number :of daily runs on thlf line, amounts t0.12. '

The Great Northern Oompmy were probably the ovig.uators of the longdistance run, as for years their Scotch, 'Sheffield, and other ex-' presses have travelled to Grantham, 105^ miles, without a stop, arid at present thei-a are 15 of these trains running daily. ■' Bub f,ha mammoth runs of 150 and 200 miles could never have been attempted without Mr Ramsbottom's in- • ventio-a of picking up water while travelling at full'speed by meaus of troughs phced betweeW the rails, into which a canvas scoop is lowered! the spead at which the train is travelling forcing the water uo into the teuder. For many years the. North-Western was the only line to possess these troughs, and that is why this company's tenders are so much smaller and lighter than those of most other companies, though wHhin recent yearsother Hne3 have out down troughs, notably the Lancashire and Yorkshire and the Graat Western companies. The longest run >without a stop ever made is said to have been made by a Pennsylvania railroad train, 439 miles being accomplished in 10 hours aedfive minutes. The iptigest run mad ß ! in this country .-was one on the North-Western ■ between Euston and Carlisieiva distance of over' 299 miles. Thie remarkable journey took place on September 7, 1395. The train consisted oE (seven 42ft coaches, weighing about 112 tons ■ and was drawnby the lonic,' one of Mr Webb's medium-sized compound locomotives.' The rate of speed w*s slightly over 50 miles an hour, and the only passengers were officials, who expressed great satisfaction with the result. They carefully examined the.train, but no single bearing had heated, and every.tb.iqg was in thorough order. " ' .'.-'..

uome months since .this company started running boat trains to Liverpool from Boston to Edgehill without a stop. I v this case the distance is just 200 miles;. but the longest daily journey on' this system is between Euston and Crewe. This run was first started during the I?,? 6*0 Edinburgh in 1886, andit held the rtcord till the Great Western started-its Exeter run a few months.ago. • . The Great Western seemed determined to* win back that reputation for speed which they had in the old days of the broad-gauge .Flying Dutchman," and such leeway has it made up during the last 18 months that now it is second to none either in rate of speed or distance of .run. This, improvement was. accomplished by buying up the refreshment room at bwmdon—thereby saving the stop at that station, which had formerly been necessary, as they were under contract to the proprietors to stop all trains there—and putting down watetrough* near Goring and Bristol. The result is that now " Coniishmin " runs daily from Paddington to Exeter, a distance of 194 miles at S? aT4 gl Speed of &'% miles an-honr; and the Welsnman" cover* the 143 miles-from Newport to Paddington at a'little over 48 miles an hour. . •■•■■•:..

The longest runs on some of the other lines are the^ Great Northern's 120 miles -between Kings Croas and Newark, at just over 51 miles lU^- uUC; the North-E Bern's Newcastle and Edinburgh run, 12*£ miles at 52 miles per hour ;tlie Midland's St. Panccas to Nottingham, 124- miles at the same rate of speed as the previous one; arid the excellsnt run of 1172----miles between Carlisle aud Stirling-over soms of the worst hits of line-iu the country—on the Caledonian, which is accomplished in 2ar at an average speed of 493 miles an hour. The Great Eastern has one long daily run—viz., that between Liverpool street and Cromer (really North 'WaUliam), a distance of 161 miles, which ia covered at a speed of 49 miles; while the lines south of the Tham-s are represented by the South-Western's Bournemouth to Vauxhall train-106i miles in 2hr l^min, or at a rate of just over 1-8 miles an hour.^-Daily.Mail.