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

Shannon News, 11 January 1929, Page 4

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

MARVELLOUS RAILWAY SPEEDS. OLD AND NEW RECORDS. ■. • - * - / Although there has been a general speeding i up of , express trains in Great Britain, on the Continent, and in the United States, maximum speed records have riot been lowered’for many years (writes ‘‘Metre,’’, *. in the, Argus). Much has been written, for instance, about tho Flying Scotsman’s non-stop schedule from' King’s. Cross, London, ! to .Edinburgh, which was ...inaugurated' in May this .year. The distance is 392 miles,, and in the opening run * the time occupied Bhrs 3min, 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 gradi ent3 that have to be surmounted and the 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 th 6 famous races between London and the Scottish capital inaugurated in 3895, in, which the competing cast coast and west coast compariies took part, the run referred to seems rather tame. On August 21 the first racing, train left King’s Cross at 5.23 p.m., and 6hrs ISmin later it had pulled up at Waverley street/station, Edinburgh. There is* no corirparisoh between the old and the new runs, for (hat which was accomplished/33 years ago was. the quicker by nearly' two hours. Soon after:-, winds a west coast train ran from Eustoji to Aberdeen, 540 miles, in 512 minutes, with stops at Crewe, Carlisle, end Perth, an extraordinary > record, which was not challenged by the rival companies, both sides agreeing to return to normal schedules. These racing trains were very light (about 100 tons behind trie tender), and all traffic was carefully cleared off, the course so that they might have an unchecked run. The instructions given-" to the drivers were to run, at the maximum speed their engines were capable of on the straight, but to slacken speed in going through yards and -when traversing curves. ,

British and Trench Trains. In Great Britain the Great Western Railway holds the speed ’record, having a. number of trains timed for an pverage of ,60 miles an hour. One of these \ expresses makes a non-stop run between Paddingtpn and Bath ip lp7 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 way so far as speed, is concerned, and should continue' to do so, for Sir Isainbard Brunei, the famous engineer, laid tlie railway as far as was practicable without either 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 ju.se under 50 miles an hour for the first part of its journey. The fastest long : distanee train in France is the Paris-Lille express, which is timed to run the 156 miles between the terminals in 155 minutes, but a more meritorious performance, on nc count of the difficulty of tlict- route arid an intermediate stop for -engine purposes, is that, of the Paris-Calais boat train, which runs the 1844 miles in .19.0 minutes. A strict regulation enfo;cod on ail French railways is thpt drivers shall not exceed a - speed ot. f 74 miles an hour. The regulation, made in the interests of safety, has probably had the opposite effect, for as the train crcwa are penalised for late running unless they can prove tliat it was unavoidable, they are in dined to travel at speeds through yards and on curves which would be regarded aB dangerous in Great Britain, where, h'owever, speeds approaching 90 miles an hour are -laily recorded on iong, straight stretches of track. Highest Speed Ever Attained.

The record - for the highest speed over attained on rails is held by Germany/. Many years age the German Government "(I think it was), in order to ascertain what was the njaximum speed practicable on a railway,, had a length of special : perfectly straight tiack laid, with very heavy rails, mi an extra depth of ballast. Over this an electrically-driven ear was run ,ai increasing speeds. Up to 105 miles an hour there was but little oscillation, but whon the speed had reached almost. 125 miles an hour tho car began to, sway dangerously, and the speed was checked. The official speod record for a steam locomotive is held by the Great Western Company’s; City of Truro, which once, when hauling a special train, was timed on n down-grade at 102.3 miles an hour, in the United States it is claimed that the New York Central Company’s “999,”, exhibited in Chicago in 1895, attained a speed of 104 miles an hour, but the figure cannot be verified officially.