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Well, I read the Scotty article, and actually found the entire issue quite interesting.  I was pleasantly surprised that the overall theme was not what I expected.  I find the cover design to be particularly attractive.   <o:p></o:p> But to the issue of Scott’s speed run, Mr. Hankey says, “Let’s just say there are grounds for skepticism.”  I can’t disagree with that.  But there is a lot of distance between skepticism and debunking.  Perhaps debunk was a word chosen by the editorial staff.     <o:p></o:p> Mr. Hankey gives the following three reasons to discredit the speed claim:  <o:p></o:p> 1)      It reeks of wishful thinking and corporate spin. 2)      There is no credible scenario that it could have been accurately timed. 3)      It was physically impossible according to the law of thermodynamics.   <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> Regarding #1, if we reject claims on that basis, I would submit that 100% of the news reported today has to be 100% false.  <o:p></o:p> Regarding #2, there is no reason to assume that times were rounded off to the nearest minute just because that was the normal practice for train schedule timekeeping.  Anybody seeking to determine actual track speed over a few miles of sample is going to realize that it has to be timed to the second.  To attempt to discredit the speed claim by speculating that the railroad may not have clocks with second hands, could not set clocks to the second, or did not have clocks at all, strikes me as absurd.  Mr. Hankey says that the operators at the two stations would have had to each record the time of passage, and their clocks might not have been synchronized.   <o:p></o:p> The two station operators could have synchronized their clocks by telegraph ahead of time.  Indeed, the whole ATSF system probably synchronized their time by telegraph as an every day routine.  Or the two agents could have used one clock at one station, and recorded the passage at the other station by telegraph signal to the station with the clock being used.  Or somebody on the train could have recorded the time by each station.  It is incomprehensible to me how anyone can believe that the timing would have been technologically impossible, or even difficult.   <o:p></o:p> Regarding #3, I agree that the speed run could be proven to be either possible or impossible according to the laws of thermodynamics.  However, proving it according to that law is not the same thing as merely claiming that the law proves it.  The way the laws of physics apply to this speed record can be demonstrated.   <o:p></o:p> We know the parameters such as locomotive specifications, train weight, mechanical details of locomotive, train, and track, and the exact geographical location.  So the physics problem can be laid out for all to see.  Its terms and result are objective, and will tell us one way or the other whether the speed claim was possible.  But just claiming the laws of physics are on your side is meaningless.
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