That sure is one nice looking compound American Standard 4-4-0.
Yes Wanswheel, that picture you posted is the old girl herself. Only 97 miles an hour. Oh well, I'm corrected, dejected, but not disaffected. I still love the CNJ! Somebody better tell Mr. Carleton. (It ain't gonna be me!)
Next someone's going to tell me there's no Easter Bunny!
American Machinist (1892)
The Central Railroad of New Jersey has put on one of the Vauclain compound engines, and this fact gives the Plainfleld correspondent of the Times an opportunity to distinguish himself. He says: "The engine has double cylinders, and this adds greatly to its power, for the steam is made to do almost double work." We are further informed that "the New York commuters unite in declaring it to be the best engine they ever rode behind." The ordinary mechanic would have to pursue a course very different from merely riding in a car behind an engine in order to determine its relative excellence, but the New York commuters, most of whom are business men, and know little more of locomotives than locomotives know of them, can determine all about it, we suppose, by looking out of the car windows and observing the landscape as they pass along.
The Railroad and Engineering Journal (1892)
It is claimed that the best time on record was made on the evening of November 18 on the Central Railroad of New Jersey by one of the large Vauclain compound passenger engines, which were illustrated and described in the Journal for June last. On the evening in question the engine, running with a regular train, consisting of a combination car, two day coaches and a Pullman car, ran one mile, near Fanwood, N. J., in 38 seconds, and the succeeding mile in 37 seconds; or at the rate of 94.74 and 97.30 miles per hour respectively. The engine had previously made a mile in 39 seconds. At the time of the run there was a high wind.
Cassier's Magazine (1893)
[The] fastest one-mile record, according to all accounts, belongs to the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Particulars of the rather unpretentious looking engine with which this record has been gained will be of interest in this connection. The engine is of the compound type, with cylinders thirteen and twenty-two inches in diameter by twenty-four inch stroke. The drivers measure seventy-eight inches in diameter; driving wheel base, seven feet six inches; total wheel base twenty-two feet three and one half inches. The boiler is fifty-eight inches in diameter, and has 250 two-inch tubes, eleven feet ten inches long. The total weight of the engine is 123,800 pounds, of which 88,400 come on the drivers. The tender has a capacity for 3500 gallons of water. In one of the trial runs made from Philadelphia to Jersey City with the compound engine No. 385, the train hauled weighed about 140 tons. The weight of locomotive and tender together amounted to 102 tons. Philadelphia was left at 5.15 P. M., and the train ran at the rate of forty miles per hour to Wayne Junction, which was reached at 5.26. At 5.29 the train again started on the eighty-five-mile stretch to Jersey City. At Tabor Junction the train was slowed down, and near Jenkintown it was flagged. The uphill grade is there seventy-eight feet to the mile, but still five miles were covered in four minutes. On toward Langhorne, thirteen miles distant, the schedule time was fourteen minutes, one mile of the distance, however, being made in forty-four seconds. From Somerton to Parkland, five miles, was made in forty-two, forty-one, forty, forty and forty-two seconds respectively, the hourly rate of speed thus varying from eighty-six to ninety miles. The five miles were passed over in three minutes and twenty-five seconds. Langhorne was reached at 5.51, the thirteen-mile stretch having been covered in twelve minutes. The best time for one mile on this section was thirty-nine seconds. Further on the way, to Plainfield, no noteworthy speed was made, but there were, instead, several delays. From Plainfield on, however, the world's record was to be broken. Leaving Plainfield at 6.57 (three minutes late), Fanwood was passed, and beyond this point the chronograph recorded a mile in thirty-seven seconds, and another one in thirty-eight seconds, the hourly rate of speed being ninety-seven miles. Jersey City was reached two minutes ahead of time. A boiler pressure of 180 pounds was carried. The track, it should be remarked, was in favorable condition, there having been a heavy downpour of rain along the line.
Locomotives of this type are used to haul the Royal Blue Line trains part of the way between Jersey City, N. J., and Washington, D. C, a distance of 224.5 miles. This line is a through express service over the Baltimore and Ohio and Philadelphia and Reading Railroads, and the Central Railroad of New Jersey, making the distance in five hours, including the ferry New York to Jersey City.
Encyclopedia Americana (1904)
Samuel M. Vauclain, superintendent of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, designed a four-cylinder compound locomotive, in which a high-pressure and a low-pressure cylinder are placed one above the other on each side of the locomotive, both formed within a single casting, together with the steam-chest, and occupying the same place as the ordinary single-expansion cylinders. The two piston-rods connect to a common crosshead, but back of the cross-head pin there is no essential difference from the ordinary engine....
Up to 1889, when the compound system was introduced, there did not exist a demand for sustained speeds exceeding 50 miles an hour. In November 1892, one of Vauclain's compounds, No. 385, running on the Philadelphia and Reading and the Jersey Central railroads, between Philadelphia and Jersey City, with a train of four heavy cars attained a speed of 97 miles per hour by covering one mile in 37 seconds.
Arkansas Runner speed debunker: 1 mile in 37 seconds = 97.29729 mph.
http://www.arkansasrunner.com/calculators/mileperhr.htm
While it probably couldn't make steam fast enough to sustain very high speeds, that may not preclude short sprints, especially if downhill too. But how many of the newsmen were actually timing the run themselve? More than likely only one person decided out of interest to get his watch out, and everybody else just copied what he told them.
What size were the drivers on that particular class of steam locomotive?
John
Bucyrus Firelock76: Did you know MY New Jersey Central was the first to break the 100 mph mark? It's true. In 1892 the brand spankin' new Baldwin Vauclain compound 4-4-0 Number 385 ran from Jersey City to Philadelphia and back in four hours and twenty five minutes. On the straightaway beyond Fanwood hill 385 ran two miles in 75 seconds, that's 105 miles an hour! There were a number of newsmen on board witnessing the run, there was no doubt about it. 105 mph? Oh come on. How could they make the steam? How could they shovel the coal that fast? Did their clocks even turn clockwise back in that antique era? I must say that the whole thing just reeks of corporate spin. I have a friend that knows all about the laws of physics, and he says this speed record had to be a hoax.
Firelock76: Did you know MY New Jersey Central was the first to break the 100 mph mark? It's true. In 1892 the brand spankin' new Baldwin Vauclain compound 4-4-0 Number 385 ran from Jersey City to Philadelphia and back in four hours and twenty five minutes. On the straightaway beyond Fanwood hill 385 ran two miles in 75 seconds, that's 105 miles an hour! There were a number of newsmen on board witnessing the run, there was no doubt about it.
On the straightaway beyond Fanwood hill 385 ran two miles in 75 seconds, that's 105 miles an hour! There were a number of newsmen on board witnessing the run, there was no doubt about it.
I have a friend that knows all about the laws of physics, and he says this speed record had to be a hoax.
The descent from Fanwood is 0.4% westward and 0.6% eastward, so nobody can disprove the 96 mph CNJ claim. Might even be true.
Well, EVERYBODY should have a hobby, you know. Just kidding, love ya John!
Yes, so much debunking to do and so little time.
Sounds like another potential project for Mr. Hankey.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
I don't know man, I wasn't there. But Paul Carleton in "The Jersey Central Story" (D. Carlton Railbooks, copyright 1992) says it, and I believe it, and that settles it! Go "Big Little Railroad"!!!
PS: Maybe they used high-octane bituminous?
Firelock76Did you know MY New Jersey Central was the first to break the 100 mph mark? It's true. In 1892 the brand spankin' new Baldwin Vauclain compound 4-4-0 Number 385 ran from Jersey City to Philadelphia and back in four hours and twenty five minutes. On the straightaway beyond Fanwood hill 385 ran two miles in 75 seconds, that's 105 miles an hour! There were a number of newsmen on board witnessing the run, there was no doubt about it.
105 mph?
Oh come on. How could they make the steam? How could they shovel the coal that fast? Did their clocks even turn clockwise back in that antique era? I must say that the whole thing just reeks of corporate spin.
OK, that's enough of the Santa Fe and "did they or didn't they" do 106.1 miles-per-hour. I'm going to do a little rootin' for the home team,
Did you know MY New Jersey Central was the first to break the 100 mph mark? It's true. In 1892 the brand spankin' new Baldwin Vauclain compound 4-4-0 Number 385 ran from Jersey City to Philadelphia and back in four hours and twenty five minutes. On the straightaway beyond Fanwood hill 385 ran two miles in 75 seconds, that's 105 miles an hour! There were a number of newsmen on board witnessing the run, there was no doubt about it.
Of course, the record was broken a year later by New York Central's 999, but the Jersey Central was the first to pass the "Century" mark. As Maestro Buddy Valastro, the "Cake Boss" says: "That's Jersey, Baby! We know how to get it done!"
Death Valley Scotty was a fraud, a product of an era when people enjoyed his showmanship and didn't worry about whether he was honest and trustworthy.
There is certainly a big disconnect between the AT&SF claim of the speed record and Mr. Hankey’s view of it. But there is also a big disconnect between Mr. Hankey’s view of Death Valley Scotty and his public image at the time of the speed run. In fact, when reading the article, I get the impression that Mr. Hankey is mainly trying to debunk Walter Scott.
It seems pretty obvious, by the details in the piece posted by wanswheel, that Death Valley Scotty was a much beloved and honored hero in the era of the speed record. I wonder when he turned into the person Mr. Hankey describes.
It never happened....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Excerpt from The Story of Scotty by Charles A. Taylor (1906).
http://books.google.com/books?id=Li0XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1[
CHAPTER IV.
VAN LOAN'S STORY OF THE "COYOTE'' SPECIAL.
One July evening, seated in the reception room of the Hollenbeck Hotel, Los Angeles, two friends of mine from San Francisco were talking of "Scotty's" wild ride on the "Coyote" special. Old Jim Haswell, a well-known California character and an ardent admirer of "Scotty," came in and joined us with a "Hello, fellows! Did you hear what Charlie Van Loan, the Examiner man, said about 'Scotty?' No? Then wait a moment. Who ordered that last round? No, thanks; no more cigarettes for me, not since I left New York. Yes, waiter, cigars for four; best you have. Now, then, I just came from the editorial rooms of the Examiner and have a proof of Van's story. Never mind how I got it. Listen while I read it to you:
" 'All aboard!' called Conductor George Simpson, of Walter Scott's special record-breaker train to Chicago at one minute of 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. A minute later he waved his hand to Engineer John Finley, and the greatest race against time in railroad history commenced.
"Scott and his wife stood on the rear platform, with C.E. Van Loan, the Examiner's recorder of this most remarkable journey across the continent. The crowd of fifteen hundred people gave a cheer, and shouted: 'Hit it up, Scotty!' 'Get your money's worth, old man!' 'You're wild and wooly, but you're a dandy!' 'Good luck, old Death Valley sport!' to which Scotty smiled and waved a farewell.
"Long before noon the depot grounds were filled with the curious to see the 'Man of the Earth,' as he is called in New York clubs, take his departure.
"The special train stood glistening as brightly as the force that worked on it all night could make paint, brass and nickel. There was a Pullman, the 'Muskegon,' dining-car No. 1407, baggage-car No. 210, and a ten-wheel Baldwin locomotive No. 442, which made the run to Barstow.
"Engineer John Finley was in command, with Traveling Engineer J.B. Gallivan supervising, and Charles Ashleigh as fireman. Conductor George Simpson and Brakeman F.A. King had charge of the coaches, and Dining Car Conductor Thomas Lee, with Chef Fred Geyer, looked after the commissary, with a corps of waiters and dishwashers.
"Every table in the diner was set and each was adorned with a bouquet of carnations.
" 'Here he comes! Here he comes!' and Walter Scott was seen pushing his way through the jam leading a dog. He started as he saw the immense throng in front of him. 'What in Hades is this, a funeral?' he said to a friend, as the dog showed fright. Now here's a story about that dog which is illustrative of the man, whose sense of dramatic proportion is most keen.
"Late Saturday night Scott sent for a friend and said: 'Bill, I want a dog. Not one with a pedigree, not one that knows any one; I want a dog that has no owner, that is, just a homeless, hungry cur, which hasn't had a square meal for a week, and doesn't know where it is going to get the next one. I want the most friendless, forlorn, unhappy yellow pup that you can find, and I want you to have it at my room early to-morrow.'
"That was the dog Scott led through the crowd in the hour of his greatest prominence. Scott smiled greetings to various friends. He did not head for the Pullman, but straight for the baggage car, where he called the conductor, and had the dog made fast, provided with water and given all the comforts of a Pullman special.
"More abashed by the vast crowd the dog hung back, but Scott coddled it, and said: 'Come along, pard, don't buck now. I'm going to give you a time that you'll remember all your life.'
"The frightened little animal looked whimperingly about the sea of faces and then at the countenance of the 'Man of the Earth,' the Death Valley human enigma. What he saw in the man's face satisfied him. With all his fear gone he trotted confidently after his new master, and never even looked a question as he was quartered in the baggage car. He had read Walter Scott's heart as most men read it who know him.
"After the dog was made comfortable, Scott started to go, presumably to the comfort of the Pullman, but that is not his manner. He swung off the baggage car -and, by the way, that dog will have the car entirely to himself - and headed for the locomotive. The crowd rushed after him. He climbed into the cab and gripped the grimy hand of Engineer Finley. 'Glad you're going to pull us, pard,' he said; 'guess you'll rush her along some. This is the same game we played coming in from Barstow. You're the best ever.' There was a rustle of crisp new bank notes, but that is not necessary for publication, and after greetings all along the crew of the machine, Scott climbed down and again there was a wild scramble of the curious onlookers as he made his way to the Pullman. As he climbed the steps there were shouts of 'Speech, Scotty!' and for the first time he showed a trace of self-consciousness.
"He came to a standstill on the platform and smilingly faced the throng. 'You all look good to me,' he said, heartily; 'I can't shake hands with you all, but I wish you good-by and good luck,' and he shook hands with himself, waving his hands toward the crowd in a farewell.
"Whatever they may have thought about Scott's sense in spending his money to make a railway record, he had the people with him. His alert, unpretentious personality, his way of doing something, even if it were a folly; the indomitability of his character and his hearty amiability had won their hearts, and they cheered him again and again.
"Meanwhile the Santa Fe officials were busy. General Passenger Agent John J. Byrne, who had conducted this tremendous sporting event, which will form the most striking advertisement the Santa Fe Company possibly could obtain; General Superintendent Hibbard, Chief Clerk Heid of the passenger department, City Ticket and Passenger Agent McGee, Division Superintendent John Hitchcock and Assistant General Manager Brewer were among those who assisted in seeing that everything was set right for the trip over this division.
" 'The time from here to Barstow is scheduled at three hours and twenty minutes,' said General Superintendent Hibbard, 'but we are liable to cut that down. I figure the trip through at about fifty-two hours. If we cut that it will be a wonder. There is a stretch of 200 miles of track from Derby to La Junta where we will shake him up a bit. I expect that the indicator will show seventy-five or eighty miles an hour along there.
"'We have arranged a clear track for miles ahead of him. Every switch will be watched and a man will be at every crossing with a flag, so there will be no slowing up.
" 'Safe? Why the train is safer than a regular train. We have got a good bit at stake in getting her through in safety. We will not take any wild chances with it, but that train will go to Chicago - well, you wait and watch the returns.'
"All the same, just as the engine pulled out, an insurance agent was sent for by the company and instructed to write an accident policy on Scott's life for $10,000 in favor of the Santa Fe Company.
"For forty odd hours its system must be practically surrendered to Scott's train. While traffic can be performed on some sections, all must be subordinated to the special. By the time it pulls into Chicago sixteen full crews of trainmen, or eighty-five men, will have been employed. It will have been pulled by sixteen different engines. All along the line the station agents and telegraphers will be kept on watch during the time the train is on their sections and divisions. Every switch and every crossing of road or railway will be under watch, and, more than all, the entire detective force of the company will be on guard.
"How much cash Scott has with him no one but himself knows. It certainly is a large amount, for he never carries drafts or checks. His pockets had a very enticing bulge yesterday, and his favorite place for carrying his roll - the inside pockets in his blue shirts - were distinctly overcrowded.
" 'Well, you Examiner boys are satisfied, I hope,' said Scott to a newspaper friend, just before the train left, 'When you had me on the wire at Barstow on Thursday I told you not to worry; that I'd make the trip all right, but that I wanted to know I would get what I paid for.
"'I keep hearing that I have got some scheme, something to sell, and that this is advertising myself. I can't help the advertising. I wanted to do this and I am going to do it. But if people make it their business it is not my fault.
" 'I want to tell you again that I have nothing to sell. No one can buy my mine for any price, for it is as good as any quantity of money to me. I have it safe, and have kept its location secret for a long time. But I'm not foolish enough to imagine that I can keep it to myself much longer. This fall will see a rush into my region such as has never been seen before; but my mine is safe, and I have got enough to last me.
" 'When the boys find my district it will be up to them. But I had to find it myself, and it was no picnic. See here,' and he rolled up the sleeve of his blue shirt and showed an angry-looking scar. 'I woke up one morning in my bed on the sands - hot sands, too - and on my bare arm was a rattlesnake. He looked at me as I moved and I looked at him. He did not seem to like my face, for before I could move he had sunk his fangs in my arm where you see that scar. I whipped out my knife and first did for the snake, for he irritated me. Then I slashed open my arm and sucked the wound. It bothered me a few days, but that's all. Those are the sort of things you meet with in a desert life, so it seems right a man should be well paid for staying in such a country. Maybe I am foolish in traveling this way and hunting fun and comfort; but, my boy, if you had spent so many years alone, in utter isolation, maybe people would say you were silly for spending a little money when you had come into more than you could get rid of even in buying trains. Well, so long. See you when I come back.'
"There was the grip of a powerful hand and a smile, the bell rang, the crowd cheered, and Scott, the mystery of Death Valley, had started to make the quickest journey on record from Los Angeles to New York, with the prospect ahead of him of many impossibilities to be accomplished. That is all he wants to be told in order to do something - that it is impossible.
"The Scott party comprises: Mr. Walter Scott, Mrs. Walter Scott, Mr. C.E. Van Loan. His entourage comprises: 1 engineer, 1 fireman, 1 train conductor, 1 Pullman conductor, 1 dining car conductor, 1 brakeman, 1 Pullman porter, 1 chef, 2 assistant cooks, 2 waiters, 1 dog and 1 stowaway."
CHAPTER V.
Story Of The Dog That Ate In A Diner.
Menu.
Caviar Sandwich a la Death Valley.
Iced Consomme.
Porterhouse Steak a la Coyote, two inches thick, and a Marvel of Tenderness.
Broiled Squab on Toast, with Strips of Bacon au Scotty.
Stuffed Tomatoes.
Ice Cream with Colored Trimmings.
Cheese. Coffee. Cigars.
"On board the Coyote Special, Williams, A. T., July 9. - Conductor A. L. Dunklin in charge, Trainmaster J. Kinucan, third district, on board.
"The Arizona moon is looking down on the Coyote now. Heaviest mountain division in front of us. Engineer Charlie Wood is running wide open, bent on keeping the Coyote ahead of the Examiner 46-hour schedule.
"Running seventy miles an hour at present, and she will do eighty between Winona and Winslow, forty-three miles. Old 485 is waiting at Williams with Dave Lenhart at the throttle. Four hundred and eighty-five is the fastest engine on the third district of the Albuquerque division. They call 485 the shadow down here. Lenhart is the man who took the Lowe special over the mountains. No sleep to-night. The 'Shadow' will make eighty miles an hour without a struggle. Scott woke up in time to climb over the tender and hand Engineer Jackson a $20 gold piece.
" 'Why?' said he - 'Well, I think Jackson earned it. Almost two hours ahead of the best time ever made so far. Nothing but a breakdown can keep the Coyote from smashing the Peacock special's time by twelve hours.'
"Scotty is passing out the celebrated yellowback cigars and offering to bet even money, no limit, that we make it in forty-five hours.
"The stray dog does not like the game. He howls dismally in the baggage coach ahead. It might have been more charitable to have allowed the newspaper stowaway to keep him company.
"It seems a long time since we left Los Angeles. Passed through Ash Fork at 11.34 1-2, Los Angeles time. Big crowd there to cheer the Coyote. Railroad time jumped an hour at Seligman. In just nine hours and forty-eight minutes the Coyote ran down one hour in its great dash across the country.
"Four hundred and sixty miles of mountain and plain in 588 minutes, including stops. Great railroading. E. J. Gibson, division superintendent, is sitting up at Williams to carry the Coyote through to Albuquerque.
"Scotty says: 'No common yap of a cowpuncher ever got such a run as this for his money.' I can see where he is right.
"On board the Coyote Special, Crozier Canyon, 9:35 p. m., July 9. - Walter Scott has just called the dining crew into the Fullman and made them the following characteristic speech: 'Men, it's going to be pretty rough sledding to-night, and I hear that you have no place to sleep in that diner. Come right in here and make yourselves at home. If she skips the ditch you'll stand a better chance back here in the sleeper than you will there.'
"Now, that's a nice comfortable speech to go to sleep on, isn't it? It is some satisfaction to know that every train crew is composed of picked men - the best to be had in the different divisions.
"These old railroad men are wonders. They know that they are making railroad history which will stand for years - they know they are setting a mark which may never be lowered by this sort of equipment, and yet they treat the whole thing as a part of the day's work.
"There is no wild enthusiasm excepting at the stations where the great crowds cheer as the Coyote special sweeps through the dark Arizona night. On board the train everything is taken as a matter of course. The conductor says that the train is doing well - very well. The impassive darkies grin and say nothing. And yet the Scott special is writing railroad history to-night.
"She is making marvelous time over a mountain division which was washed out no later than last winter. Most of the track is new track, yet there has been no slackening of the terrific speed.
"Engineer Jackson is a man to be proud of.
"Nine-fifty, Los Angeles time. Just passed through Cherokee. These little towns flit by like a handful of sparks in the night. At times the cheers of the watchers penetrate the Pullman. Scotty is sleeping. This man of iron seems able to lie down and sleep like a child at any time. He has no nerves - no imagination.
"His last words before dropping off were: 'How do you like it as far as she's hopped?' But while the miner sleeps the Sante Fe system is awake. Men are patrolling every mile of the track ahead of the Coyote; a man stands at every switch.
"There will be no sleep for roadmasters and section bosses until the special has passed. Arizona is sitting up with the Coyote to-night.
"On board the Coyote Special, Seligman, A. T., July 9. - Needles broke the record for short stops. W. H. Mills, trainmaster for the new division, rehearsed his little program and had everything in readiness when the Coyote showed up some miles away.
"Incredible as it may seem, Gallegher took old 1005 away and 1010, the new engine, had the Coyote on the move again in exactly one minute by the watch.
"But things can happen in one minute. The cowboy Croesus showed himself at the door of his coach and immediately there was a wild stampede to catch a glimpse of the now famous miner. Three very black gentlemen stationed themselves at the step of the coach and sang a short song about Scotty and Engineer Gallegher and Pharoah in the bullrushes.
"It was a very touching little ditty, winding up with the rather suggestive refrain -
"'Hand down your roll, hand down your roll, He don't care for money - no more than a chunk of coal.'
"Being thus publicly 'called,' Scotty gave up a ten-spot and the surging crowd cheered. Then Engineer Jackson put one brawny hand on the throttle and inaugurated what has proved to be the roughest 54-mile run of the trip.
"Needles caught one glimpse of the Coyote and that was all. Engineer Jackson was off about his business.
"As the train pulled out of the station, the little party gathered in the diner. Scotty, his wife, Frank N. Holman and the 'Examiner' correspondent. It is a well-known fact that the Pullman diner is costing Walter Scott exactly one thousand large iron dollars. It can be said for the Harvey system, that they are certainly trying to give the hungry quartet Scott's money's worth.
"But before I tell you about that dinner, I want to free my mind concerning that man Jackson - Engineer F.W. Jackson, of the Arizona division. He is a great engineer. I will swear to this and offer one badly damaged pair of trousers in evidence. Any man who will yank three cars at such a rate of speed that he upsets a whole course in the dining-car must be a great engineer.
"Running through the bad lands between Needles and the Colorado River, Jackson opened her wide and let her go. When a tremendous lunge wiped the table clean of everything except the cloth and deposited one stuffed tomato upside down in my lap, Walter Scott laughed out loud and smote the swimming table with his clenched fist.
"'That's the dope,' he shouted. 'That engineer's all right. I'll bet those two men are just holding the nozzle wide open with one hand and shaking hands with the other. That's what Finley and that other sport were doing - shaking hands with each other coming down the Cajon Pass at ninety-six miles an hour.'
"Have you ever eaten a dinner that you had to hold down with both hands to keep it out of the aisle? Have you ever seen the saltcellers play ping-pong with each other? It is not conducive to a healthy appetite. One gets to wondering what would happen if an engine should take the ditch going at that rate of speed.
"I looked over at Conductor Tom Brayil, and it was a great relief to an amateur record-breaker to note that he was still smiling.
" 'Jackson doesn't know a curve when he sees one,' called the conductor across the car. 'The whole road looks straight to him.'
"Now that's going some," said Haswell, laying down his paper, "but for me, Captain Tom Baldwin and his airship. No curves, or grades and - maybe - no bumps. If you do, you will never know it, as Baldwin said to me the first parachute jump he ever made. Well, good night; I'll read you more to-morrow evening." With that, Old Jim made a bee-line to the Burbank to see Ollie Morosco and perchance talk shop for an hour or two.
Leaving the Orpheum the next evening after enjoying a good show, I met my friend Haswell again with a Spring Street smile and another dispatch proof from Van Loan, the "Examiner' man. We journeyed down to the Hollenbeck, as I had an appointment with Rol King, the genial manager of that famous old hostelry. When we entered we discovered our 'Frisco friends, Axtell and Peters, playing a game of pinocle while waiting to hear more news of Scotty, as Haswell had promised. "Well, here we are," says Jim, as he drew up his chair and commenced to unfold the news. "Now then, gentlemen, be seated, as the main guy in the minstrels says. Here goes."
CHAPTER VI.
A NERVE-RACKING NIGHT.
"Twelve tortuous miles below Needles the Santa Fe crosses the Colorado River on a steel cantilever bridge - a marvel of modern engineering, flung solidly across a wide, tawny stream. Engineer Jackson swung over that twisting track at 65 miles an hour and the glasses leaped in the diner. A rush of sound, a creaking of bridge timbers, and with a dull whirl the Coyote found Arizona soil.
"Three hours of hard mountain railroading brought us to Seligman, where we picked up an hour. Division Superintendent Gibson climbed into the pullman, and his first facetious words were: 'What detained you?' Jackson's dare devil run will go down in song and story as the most spectacular dash of the western section.
"Then began the real fight of the trip - a war against heavy grades. Clouds of sparks whirled by the windows - the little Arizona towns wink once as the Coyote passed. It was here, they said, that we were to win or lose, for if we could make the schedule up and down the divides which separate Seligman from Albuquerque, win over the famous Glorieta Pass, and hold our own on the Raton Mountains, the record was ours beyond question.
"It is impossible, recalling the events of that nerve-racking night, to pick out for special mention the names of the railroad heroes who won for their road a victory over those grim Arizona mountains.
"I only know that from time to time crews of stern-visaged men succeeded one another, that engines were changed in record haste, and that Division
Superintendent Gibson, heavy-jawed, laconic, and resourceful, rode the train, alert, confident, and conquering. Outside the cool mountain wind swept through the stunted pines and over all twinkled the clear stars of the great Southwest.
"There was no sleep on board the Coyote that night. In far-off cities tireless presses were reeling off the story of the flying Coyote, and on board the train 'Van' hammered away at his staggering typewriter, clicking off the tale of the run which now belongs to railroad history.
"It was not until the first switch at the outer edge of the Albuquerque yards clattered beneath the flying wheels that Superintendent Gibson smiled.
" 'I've brought you over the Albuquerque Division 34 minutes faster than any train ever went over it before,' said he, as he bade us good-by. He had beaten the time of the Lowe Special by 34 minutes; he expected to beat it by 30.
"The two Indian villages between Albuquerque and Lamy have never seen a train dropped down a hill at such a rate of speed. Engineer Ed Sears was at the throttle, and every inch of the track is well known to this big engineer. A helper engine swung in at Lamy for the climb to the top of the Glorieta, one of the steepest grades in the entire run - 158 feet to the mile. Back in the Pullman, Trainmaster Jim Kurn grinned as he greeted Scott.
" 'Here's where you get a touch of real mountain railroading,' said he, 'and we're going to beat the schedule if we have to sidetrack that dining-car. She's got another hot-box.'
" 'Sure,' said Scott. 'If she smokes any more, cut 'er out!'
"A few minutes later the Coyote struck the Apache Canyon, a wild bit of mountain country, memorable as the scene of many an Indian fight. At the rate of 40 miles an hour the train climbed the incline; there was a few seconds delay as the helper engine dropped out, and then began the 'real mountain railroading.'
"Down the steep grade, Sears drove his engine, the white mile-posts flashing by at the rate of one every minute. The whole train lurched and staggered over the reverse curves, the typewriter carriage banged from side to side and the passengers, looking at each other, smiled. It seemed that the train must leave the track as it took those great curves and from the diner came a negro, blanched almost white. 'Ah's seen a lot ob railroadin', fus an' las,' said he, 'but runnin' lak dis is plumb ridiculous! Jess plumb ridiculous!' It was impossible to stand up in the leaping, swaying Pullman. One man tried it, his shoulder went through the window. After that we were all content to sit still and hang on. Only Jim Kurn was calm. He knew Sears' reputation for careful running, but it seems to me the engineer crowded the limit hard that morning. None of us were sorry when the train stopped at Las Vegas.
"At Raton, Jim Kurn said good-by.
" 'You're a long way ahead of that schedule now,' he said, 'and it won't be our fault if the people east of here don't shoot you into Chicago on time! It's hard work fighting these mountains twenty-three hours out of every twenty-four, but show me a mountain railroad man who wants a job on a plains division! Good luck!'
"Two engines took the Coyote at Raton. The time of the change was a trifle over a minute, and we were off again. 'Hud' Gardner is another mountain engineer who knows the game. He brought us into La Junta at 5:13, hours ahead of schedule and the worst part of the journey behind us.
"East of La Junta lies the Santa Fe 'race track.' It is here that trains are supposed to make time. With a straight track, the Kansas plains lying level as a floor and a good roadbed underneath, the Coyote took up the second part of the journey.
With engineers Lesher, Simmons, Norton, and Halsey alternating in the cab, all the way from La Junta to Newton, the new and mighty balanced-compounds whizzed down the Arkansas Valley. 'Scotty' rode the engine into Dodge, with the telegraph poles looking like a fine-tooth comb. It was from Dodge he wired President Roosevelt:
" 'An American cowboy is coming East on a special train faster than any cowpuncher ever rode before. How much shall I break transcontinental record?'
"All that Monday night the miles flew from under the whirring wheels; in places at the rate of 85 and 90 miles an hour; the average for 300 miles being a mile every 50 seconds. The great Kipling once wrote the story of a record-breaking run East over this same road. It is a part of his 'Captain Courageous.' It was fiction, but it reads like fact. That is because Kipling wrote it. On almost every point in his narrative of the fictitious run I can say he tells the truth. He says, however, that 'the ties ripple and surge away behind the flying train,' and for once he is wrong. Given a reasonably straight piece of roadbed, and the faster the train goes the smoother it goes. And the ties do not ripple and surge away behind it. The roadbed just slips away, as the paper slips from the roller of a big newspaper press. That was the way it slipped from under the wheels of the flying Scott Special.
"Josiah Gossard, who has been an engineer on the Santa Fe for twenty-three years, took the train from Emporia to Argentine in the quickest time over made between those two points - 124 miles in 130 minutes, notwithstanding four slow orders and several grade crossings. Gossard has a medal, recently presented by the Shriners, for making up one and a half hours of lost time on their special - Newton to Kansas City.
"It was nearly eight o'clock Tuesday morning when the Coyote crossed the Mississippi. The end was almost in sight now.
"We had taken on another engineer at Fort Madison shops, just on the western edge of Illinois. He was a German named Losee. As a fine finisher in the stretch you will look a long time for his equal. Stolid, modest, destitute of nerves, he is the direct antithesis of the dare-devil engineer of fiction.
"With Losee at the throttle and a straightaway stretch to the wire, the Coyote cut loose for the run home across the State of Illinois. They knew all about 'Scotty' and his private train in Illinois. And so they made a holiday of that July morning, and every little hamlet along the line from Shopton to Chicago turned out to cheer the Coyote on to the goal.
"It was an ovation all through Illinois. And Losee was earning every bit of it. The special had made some splendid miles in Colorado and Kansas. She was to outdo them all in Illinois. Losee ran engine No. 510 from Fort Madison to Chillicothe, 105 miles, in 101 minutes, changing at the latter point to clear track into Chicago, with every switch spiked and the entire operating department standing on its toes 'rooting.'
" 'Scotty' rode a part of the distance on the engine with Losee, and helped the fireman feed coal into the furnace.
"From the little hamlet of Cameron to the still smaller one of Surrey is 2.8 miles. 'She' made it in one minute and thirty-five seconds, at the rate of 106 miles an hour. The world's record before had been held by the Pennsylvania road, which covered the 2.5 miles between Landover and Anacosta in 102-miles-an-hour time. That was in August, 1895.
"We lost five minutes at Chillicothe, and four more at South Joliet. Nevertheless, we made the run of 239 miles from Shopton to the Dearborn Street station in Chicago in 239 minutes. "The record-breaking run was ended!"
Yes, I believe the same applies. My only point was that labeling such a forthright and specific claim as spin when you assert it to be false seems like trying let the AT&SF off the hook in favor of blaming the alleged false speed claim on Scotty because his reputation for exaggeration makes it easy to do so.
BucyrusSo they were either telling the truth or lying.
Hankey makes the point that the speed claim must be false because Walter Scott has poor credibility. Indeed, that seems to be a part of his career. Yet, as the account above posted by wanswheel clearly shows, the speed claim was made by AT&SF. I am not sure if Scott even made the 106mph claim himself. But since AT&SF did, the issue of credibility rests with them. No problem; Hankey dismisses the AT&SF claim as corporate spin. But is spin the right word for it? The AT&SF clearly stated the speed record as a well-detailed fact. So they were either telling the truth or lying.
Can't be sure that ad is from an LA paper. If the round-trip fare was $110 from LA, that likely was off-peak or something. And probably didn't include the Pullman charges?
Wanswheel's ATSF advertisement is pretty interesting in itself. SF offers a trip, Chicago to LA and return, for $110.00. Although slower than Scotty's run, it would be more luxurious. My handy inflation calculator says $110 in 1906 equals $2634.44 in 2010.
Fast forward to today. Amtrak sells the same trip round for $1406.00.That includes a first class room and free meals in the diner. And maybe best of all, it's even faster than Scotty, 43 hours flat, eastbound and only 15 minutes longer going west.
BTW, Scotty spent the 2010 equivalent of $143,696.72
NY Times articles...
MINER STARTS COSTLY TRIP
LOS ANGELES, Cal., July 9. -- With a yellow dog decorated with a thousand-dollar collar on board as a mascot, Miner Walter Scott's skyrocket special train got away exactly on schedule time at 1 o'clock this afternoon on its trial for the record of forty-five hours for the 2,265 miles between Los Angeles and Chicago.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50C11FD3B5E12738DDDA90994DF405B858CF1D3
CHICAGO MOB SCARES DEATH VALLEY CROESUS
CHICAGO, Ill., July 11. -- Walter Scott, the Croesus of Death Valley, was mobbed by more than 1,000 men and women when his Santa Fe special from Los Angeles shot into the Polk Street station six minutes ahead of schedule time at 11:54 to-day.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70912FE345913738DDDAB0994DF405B858CF1D3
SCOTT OF DEATH VALLEY IN WALL ST. -- AND OUT
Walter Scott, alias "Scotty Swift," of Death Valley, arrived in town yesterday on the Twentieth Century Limited. The reason why he did not break the record between Chicago and New York was because the railway companies would not take him, he says.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60C16F63F5512738DDDAC0994DF405B858CF1D3
Bucyrus As has been suggested, the proper analysis of this speed record claim is the relationship between horsepower and total train weight, including the weight of the locomotive. The main challenge is to determine the horsepower. Generally, I do not see much analysis of horsepower for steam locomotives. Diesels produce their maximum horsepower when the throttle is wide open under maximum loading. Steamers develop more horsepower the faster they go, up to the point where they can’t burn fuel any faster. I do recall some intense discussions here on the forum about horsepower versus tractive effort. The beauty of it was that you could always tell when the correct mathematical conclusions were reached because everybody was in perfect agreement.
Generally, I do not see much analysis of horsepower for steam locomotives. Diesels produce their maximum horsepower when the throttle is wide open under maximum loading. Steamers develop more horsepower the faster they go, up to the point where they can’t burn fuel any faster. I do recall some intense discussions here on the forum about horsepower versus tractive effort. The beauty of it was that you could always tell when the correct mathematical conclusions were reached because everybody was in perfect agreement.
There was quite a bit of steam locomotive horsepower from the 30's and 40's, not so much from 1900. The horsepower peak for modern freight locomotives was typically around 40 to 50 MPH, with power dropping off above that presumably due to pressure drop related to steam flow through the valves and cylinders. I would think driver diameter would have an affect on high speed power as a larger diameter would reduce the valve operating speed.
Having an accurate figure for drawbar horsepower doesn't do much good without an accurate figure for train resistance, with aero drag being a major component at that speed. Local wind conditions would be important, a 20 MPH tail wind would bring the aero drag component down to 86 MPH equivalent.
To put matters in perspective: Less than 30 years later, the Milwaukee was running much larger passengers trains with daily top speeds over 100MPH with an Atlantic, albeit one huge Atlantic with higher pressure superheated steam.
- Erik
It is interesting that Mr. Hankey flatly asserts that the speed record would have been physically impossible, with his only verification being that it is the “opinion” of Bill Withuhn.
Mr. Hankey has vaguely implied that the firebox size on the AT&SF engine was not large enough to achieve the claimed speed record. And apparently, the assessment of the firebox inadequacy is based on the fact that this was a relatively small firebox compared to more modern locomotives. But just because more modern locomotives had bigger fireboxes, it does not necessarily follow that they were capable of higher speeds. Locomotive development was not an evolution toward higher and higher speeds, as this firebox size issue tries to assert. Instead, the development evolution was toward the ability to pull ever-greater train weights at typical road speed limits.
So the size of the AT&SF engine’s firebox relative to later fireboxes is irrelevant to the speed record claim. Compared to later engines, the AT&SF engine did have a smaller firebox, but it was also a lighter locomotive, and train weight was relatively lighter. We are talking about a train weight of 170 tons. That is only a little more the just one of today’s loaded cover hoppers.
As has been suggested, the proper analysis of this speed record claim is the relationship between horsepower and total train weight, including the weight of the locomotive. The main challenge is to determine the horsepower.
henry6... in a manner that draws conversation and questions.
Well, he certainly succeeded there...
The basic question regarding the locomotive's capacity, IMHO, comes down to whether or not it had sufficient reserve to maintain speed (60-ish) at it's rated boiler pressure, and then enough latent capacity to power the locomotive up 106+ without dropping the boiler pressure to a point where it was a problem.
I looked for the drawbar horsepower of that particular class of locomotive, but didn't find it.
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It might be useful to consider what is required to move a 349 ton train at that speed. Using a chart found in John Armstrong's "The Railroad, What It Is, What It Does," (page 50), you can estimate it would take 1400 horsepower to move a 349 ton train 100 mph. Using the formula HPx308/ 100 (mph) = TE, the result is a need for 4312 lbs TE. Yes, I know the speed was 106.1 mph, but for illustration an even 100 mph is sufficient.
First I ask anyone with engineering ability to debunk or improve upon these figures. I am no engineer and don't claim to know a lot about it.
Second, assuming my figures are in the ballpark, the question is whether the SF 4-4-2 could achieve that performance. Note it is a saturated steamer, with only 49.5 sqft grate area. Its TE was rated at only 22,200 lbs.
It is worthwhile to note that PRR E6 5075 was tested and published results show drawbar pull declining as speed increases, falling to 3300 lbs at 95 mph. For the test 5075 was hand fired and had no superheater.
Finally, somebody call Juniatha. She could add some light to this thread and be entertaining, too!
Hankey is an academic and not a reporter. He presents the various factors and recitations and tries to come to a conclusion based on them in a manner that draws conversation and questions.
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Bucyrus Considering the replies in this thread, I think it is fair to say that we all agree that there is insufficient evidence to prove whether the speed record was true or false. All you can do is believe one way or the other; or simply not come to a conclusion. So it is a fundamental truth that there are only those three choices. Therefore, when somebody says they have debunked the speed record, that claim has to be false. So it is remarkable that we have a thread where everyone agrees on something. Clearly, Mr. Hankey has not debunked the 106.1 mph speed record.
So it is remarkable that we have a thread where everyone agrees on something. Clearly, Mr. Hankey has not debunked the 106.1 mph speed record.
Bucyrus makes a good summarizing conclusion. Hankey's attempt todebunk hasn't succeeded.I think we should cut him some slack. He is evidently a reporter, nota principal, in this matter. His job is difficult, as is everybody'swho practices journalism or history.As much as I enjoy railroad history, I prefer the history of theMedieval times. The main advantage: *all* those people are dead, andso are all the people who might have strong feelings about them.<smile>BTW Bucyrus: I grew up in Shelby.
Considering the replies in this thread, I think it is fair to say that we all agree that there is insufficient evidence to prove whether the speed record was true or false. All you can do is believe one way or the other; or simply not come to a conclusion. So it is a fundamental truth that there are only those three choices.
Therefore, when somebody says they have debunked the speed record, that claim has to be false.
..or 8-10 seconds!
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