THE FASTEST RAILROAD TIME ON RECORD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 237, 16 November 1877, Page 3

THE FASTEST RAILROAD TIME ON RECORD.

There was only one stop in one hundred and eleven miles that separates St. Thomas from Amherstburgh on the Canada Southern Railroad. The engineer, Mncomber, was surrounded by an admiring throng, and passengers and railroaders commented on the handsome appearance of his iron steed. The steam gnage just before starting showed a pressure of eighty-five pounds, a moderate figure for a locomotive. Conductor Crawford sang out " All aboard ! " and the special train with Bishop Borgess on board pulled out from St. Thomas at 5.27 p.m. A grand hurrah from the platform signalled the depnrturc. Once the bridge was cleared Macomber " let her out." Bishop Borgess in the palace-car, after receiving the salutations of the gentlemen of the party, sat down, and dinner was served to him and his travelling companions upon a small table. No one noticed any particular motion in the car. There was no disarrangement of the dishes, crowded and small as was the table. The hum of the train was somewhat sharper than usual, and the rushing air against the windows sounded like the sweeping of a rain-storm. Otherwise there was no indication of unusual speed to a person in the car. Presently watches were taken out and observations made. The reverend clergy, as well as the more worldly laity, became interested.

" A mile in sixty seconds I " ejaculated one. Shortly after — " A mile in fifty-eight seconds ! " Again — " A mile in fifty-seven seconds ! "' and the enthusiastic Frank Morgan, with a cheer that intensified the excitement, announced that his stop-watch marked but fifty-five seconds to the mile.

Before one could point out an object it had vanished. Before a question could be asked and answered a mile had sped ; five miles vycrc traversed in the interval while cigai-s were handed around and lighted by as many men. A flock of blackbirds flying toward the west with all their flcctness in cleaving the air, were soon left behind and lost to view.

The wires on the telegraph poles swung up and down from the movement of the train. The bushes on the side of the ditches shook us if swept by a hurricane, and the tall and gaudy yellow coxcombs tbat grew beside the fences bent to the ground in a seemingly overpowering desire to get loose from the earth and follow the lushing train. The dust from newly ballasted portions of the track and the chips and leaves rose up fiercely against the force of gravitation and whirled and gyrated like vapory clouds in a tempest. A thin line of smoke stretched interminably in the distance. The impetus of the train increased ; the vehemence with which it rushed forward created a vacuum tbat apparently took nature some seconds to overcome, and the spirits of the passengers were exhilarated by the unprecedented speed at which they moved through space. A side-track passenger-train saluted us with cheers and loconiomotive whistles. Neither was heard ; before the sound could reach the ears of the passengers in the special it was beyond hearing. One could see the rushing steam and the waving of handkerchiefs. Train Despatchcr Noble reported that six miles between Highwood and Ridgcton were made in five minutes ; the fifty-seven miles between St. Thomas and Charing Cross were made in fifty-six and a-half minutes. A halt at Charing Cross of four minutes for water, and then on again with the same overpowering velocity. But go as fast as it might, the Canada Southern train could not overtake the sun ; it sank, and nightfall came on. Then could be seen the work of the fireman. Each time he opened the furnace a volume of sparks shot out, and the trailing fire came down upon the track like the pyrotechnics of an aerial mine.

Finally, a sharp twist that sent the standing passengers over to the right, ami directly another that sent them in the other direction and the yard of Amherstburgh Station was reached. Hurrah ! One hundred and eleven miles in one hundred and nine minutes ! The fastest time in America — beating by three minutes the remarkable run of Vandcrbilt's special train. — Detroit Free Press, September 14.