Passenger Train Drag Races

[Anonymous]

Here is a little horseplay that turned into a race, which then turned into a disaster.  From the Railroad Gazette 117 years ago.  My emphasis added in red:

June 1890

30^th, on Southern Pacific, South Pacific Coast Division, at Oakland, Cal., a passenger train consisting of engine and one passenger car of a train of three ran into San Antonio Creek, the drawbridge at that point having been opened and only partially closed.  Thirteen passengers were drowned.  The engineer (Dunn) and fireman jumped off and saved themselves.  The danger signal in use at this place consisted of a small red flag upon a stick which was fixed upright in a sleeper between the rails on the end of the fixed span next to the draw.  The train approached the bridge on a curve turning to the left, and this flag is not plainly visible to the engineer until he gets within about 150 ft. of it; but in clear weather the bridge is in full view from the left-hand side of the engine for nearly a mile, and there was no excuse for the engineer not seeing that the bridge was open in this case.  A witness states that this train ran side by side with another one on an adjoining track for some distance, and that the two engineers were engaged in sport, the men on the other train turning a small hose on Dunn, and the latter increased his speed to get away from the other train.  The draw had been revolved to within 15 ft. of its closed position when the train struck it, and prevented the last two cars from going over.  The train was running about 15 miles an hour when the engineer saw the situation and reversed his engine, which was within less than 200 feet of the draw.  This accident was reported in the Railroad Gazette of June 6, page 400.

[jimrice4449]

Here's a case of the importance of timing.   The race between the SoShore train and the Panama would have been impossible in 1950.  Why?   Well, in 1950 I was going to Mt Carmel High School at 64th St and the IC tracks and whenever I would get detention the good fathers would provide me w/ train fare for the IC suburban trains.   Normally I would take streetcars but, since I lived at 114th st, that would get me home too late, and I suppose some arrangement was made for reimbursment.   The sting was taken out of the "punisnment" by the fact that the IC suburban train was non-stop from 63d st to 115th and left at the same time as the Panama on an adjacent track and I would head to the rear door of the train (my normal post was the front so I could play engineer).   We would pull out and the Panama would be almost out of sight between 75th and 79th and would then start catching up and be by us by 111th st (which gave me a chance to check out what exotic paint scemes were drying outside the Pullman paint shop building)    By the time I got off at 115th st the only trace of the Panama was a flashing yellow signal south of the station.   The timing conflict arises from the fact that the non-stop IC suburban trains used the same track the the SoShore trains would later (or previously) use.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

There was a delightful article in the June 1968 TRAINS titled "Three Lovely Ladies" which described the race between a four-car South Shore train and the Panama Limited between 63rd Street and Kensington.

[M636C]

In 1964 I was riding a railfan trip south of Sydney, Australia, with a 4-4-2 tank locomotive 1301 converted from an 1877 4-4-0 early in the 1900s. The 4-4-2T was being driven by the Assistant Chief Mechanical Engineer, a man well known in locomotive design and someone that was so high in the organisation that he could get away with a lot.

We had come up the old main line via Granville, and as we approached Strathfield on the four track main, No 14 passenger hauled by the newest Pacific, 3830, whose four car train weighed  more than twice as much as our old wooden cars, swept past at line speed.

No 14 stopped at Strathfield and we didn't so we were just ahead as we left the station with the Pacific clearly in full throttle as it drew alongside. We ran neck and neck until we were stopped to cross over and follow the passenger by a signalman with no sense of humour.

 

M636C

[PBenham]

I witnessed a slow drag race between Nickel Plate 765 (plus 23 passenger cars) and a Conrail freight to see which train would get CP 437 first. (For those not familiar with Mudville, NYSSR, USA-CP 437 is were the CSX Buffalo sub meets the Belt Sub.) 765 was on belt track 1 and the freight was coming out of the north side of Frontier yard on belt 2, side by side. I was in a coach roughly 10 cars back as the freight's head end came up along side us. The conductor looked at us and said "My brother's gonna whup my If I beat him into the plant at 437". The DS, however, being the genius he is () gave 765 the route on to the Niagara branch (Niagara Sub to XCS.., CSX) crossing over ahead of that freight. The Conrail Road Foreman on 765's train was indeed the bro of the conductor on that freight. Bet some $$ changed hands, there.

[TomDiehl]

Not really a drag race, but more of a road race:

I was on a mainline steam excursion in 1968 run by the High Iron Company, using NKP Berkshire #759. It was a two day trip from New York City to Niagra Falls and back. On the way back, I believe on the Water Level Route past Albany, a short (about 6 cars and two F units) passenger train was slowly overtaking us on a parallel track. When we got even with the last car, which probably put the diesels even with the 759, we noticed the other train was no longer passing us. Shortly, we noticed it falling behind. This ran like this for several miles until our train slowed and the diesel passed us. Rumor has it that the PC pilot engineer "put the arm" on the steam engineer and made him slow down. The Berk was pulling about a 20 car train.

[jimrice4449]

OK! In the late 40s I left St Louis Union Station on the IC Daylight and running along w/ us on an adjacent track (and somewhat lower due to the dif in car hts) was one of the Q "Shovel Nose" Zephyrs, probably the Mark Twain.   On another trip between Chicago and the Twin Cities on the Afternoon Hiawatha we overtook a C&NW psgr train just west of Tunnel City on a parallel line.   He lost. We had one of the 84" drivered F-7 Hudsons on the point and were running late.   The NP North Coast Limited and the Milw Olympian used to leave Missoula at about the same time and there are photos showing both trains on what was almost double track east of there.

[dabug]

Who has a tale, or tales, of drag races between passenger trains here in the states?  (I have a story of two drag races - on the same trip! - while riding the Santa Fe more than 45 years ago, if anyone's interested.)

To limit discussion to the more exotic, the following obvious categories should be excluded: 1) the Northeast Corridor, where traffic density, past and present, make drag races almost a foregone conclusion; 2) the long gone, time-honored races between NYC and PRR out of Englewood IL; 3) commuter operations in large cities with multiple-track mainlines, such as METRA in Chicago.   

Don't be afraid to be verbose; minutia is useful for those of us who weren't with you. 

Look forward to your replies.