on Thanksgiving Day. He had been ill for some time. He wrote the classic books on The Hiawatha and on The 400 trains, as well as books for Kalmbach and others on the Milwaukee Road.
Dave Nelson
As I recall, he prepared, for several years, surveys of the fastest trains in the U.S.A.--which I appreciated seeing greatly.
Johnny
You may be thinking of the annual Donald Steffee speed surveys that ran in Trains for several years.
Deggesty As I recall, he prepared, for several years, surveys of the fastest trains in the U.S.A.--which I appreciated seeing greatly.
I believe that Donald Steffee was the compiler of TRAINS' annual speed survey.
Jim Scribbins did not do the speed surveys but Johnny is correctly remembering a long series of articles by Scribbins in Trains about a variety of high speed runs on various midwestern roads, often with him in the cab (he was a long time Milwaukee Road employee), in articles from the early 1950s to the mid 1960s. It was in a sense a speed survey but not titled as such.
One sometimes sees or hears references to "the Scribbins shot" or "capturing the Scribbins shot." The reference is to a particular photo by Scribbins of the east and west bound Hiawathas meeting at speed -- a combined 140 mph -- at Powerton (a railroad name for the Waterford Avenue grade crossing on Milwaukee's south side) in 1947. A "Scribbins shot" is anytime you capture the east and west bound versions of the same train, meeting at speed, in a close broadside view.
Even today photographers go to Powerton hoping to catch the same shot of the east and west bound Amtrak Empire Builders. I came close once but it wasn't a broadside view. If the trains are on time they meet well away from Powerton.
The original Scribbins shot is in his Hiawatha Story p. 92. It has been reproduced elsewhere.
In case anyone hasn’t read it yet, Kevin Keefe’s article…
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2014/12/author-historian-jim-scribbins-dies
Article in The Milwaukee Road Magazine, July 1954
http://milwaukeeroadarchives.com/MilwaukeeRoadMagazine/1954July.pdf
Railway Historical Special Marks 100 Years of Milwaukee-Madison Service
By Jim Scribbins
Last fall members of Milwaukee chapter of the National Railway Historical Society took a ride to Madison on Trains 33 and 14. Well pleased, they lost no time accepting an offer of cooperation from two local historical groups to sponsor a special train trip commemorating, almost to the hour, the 100th anniversary of passenger train service between Milwaukee and the capitol.
Chapter President J. W. Koehler went into a huddle with C. F. Dahnke, assistant general passenger agent, and G. M. Kapke, city passenger agent, at Milwaukee. As a result of their efforts, approximately 540 persons were aboard when Conductor "Chick" Knight gave Engineman Pete Voss the highball on Sunday, May 23. Most were from the Milwaukee area, including former Mayor Daniel Hoan; ex-Police Chief Joseph Kluchesky; William Shearer, a retired Trans-Missouri Division engineman with 50 years of service; and Rosemary Entringer and Betty McKenzie of Trains magazine. A sizable delegation was present from Chicago, while others came from Topeka, Kans.; Conneaut, Ohio; Othello, Wash.; Denver and New York.
Most of the 540 were attracted by the promise of a ride behind a steam locomotive over 50 miles of freight-only line between Brookfield and Milton, and the opportunity to photograph elderly steam engines at Janesville and Madison.
Made up of nine air conditioned Hiawatha-type coaches and a baggage-bar car, the special was pulled, by special request, by locomotive No. 171, one of The Milwaukee Road's few remaining class F-3 Pacifics. Gil Kapke represented the passenger department; Lt. Bob Riordan, the police department; and S. F. Philpot, assistant superintendent of the Madison Division was along on the westward trip.
It quickly became apparent that the baggage car was the most popular since it offered not only an assortment of soft drinks, ice cream, and lunch, but exceptionally fine vantage points through its four open doors. Box lunches were included in the price of the tickets.
Because of advance newspaper publicity on the part of NRHS, the special attracted crowds at Wauwatosa, Waukesha, Whitewater, Milton and Janesville, and the next day each of the Milwaukee papers featured the run.
Nearly everyone had a camera and untold rolls of film were exposed on the locomotives lined up at Janesville and Madison, and the special itself posed on the railroad crossing at Lake Monona, Madison, much to the delight of the photographers and the wonderment of motorists on the lake shore road.
The historical-minded sight-seers had a field day too, for they saw the freight station at Waukesha which is the state's oldest railroad structure, and visited local historical museums in Janesville and Madison. For most of them the train trip was a new experience, as the Wisconsin Museums' Centennial Group and the Milwaukee County Historical Society had conducted their previous tours by bus. Judging by their remarks, however, they were entirely satisfied with modern train travel.
The return to Milwaukee was more relaxed. A fiddler and accordionist led group singing in two coaches and several portable radios were tuned to the tail end of a Braves-Cubs double-header. East of Watertown, the train made a spirited run, arriving in Wauwatosa and Milwaukee ahead of the advertised schedule. Then, as though they still had not acquired their fill, several of the railfans headed for the Milwaukee shops to photograph still more steam locomotives.
*J. R. Scribbins, author of the accompanying article, is a ticket salesman in the Milwaukee Road depot ticket office in Milwaukee. As secretary of the Milwaukee chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, he has more than a casual interest in anything relating to railroad history, particularly if the railroad is the Milwaukee.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.