Re: [ihc] Re: To tell the truth....

["Ryan Moore" <baradium@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hermann" <bearbvd@domain.elided>
To: "Howard R Pletcher" <n9ads@domain.elided>; <ihc-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 21:53
Subject: Re: [ihc] Re: To tell the truth....


> At 10:29 PM 11/14/03, Howard R Pletcher wrote:
> >I don't know if the percentage of locos with recorders is high or not,
> >probably most of the new stuff has them and perhaps 50% overall. Our 1950
> >vintage switchers don't even have speedos--we have to time the mileposts
> >and try to hit 4:00 or 6:00 min for 15 and 10 mph.  My GPS has proven to
> >be a popular accessory since I started taking it along to use as a
> >speedo.
> >

When I was little (about 8-10 or so) we went to the midwest and took this
train ride.  They also had this older diesel loco on a siding beside where
the one we rode on was (old style passenger cars pulled by a modern diesel,
the old loco was apparently used during the winter to help keep the tracks
clear).  Anyway, before the train ride they were letting all the kids play
on the older one, after all, it's such a complicated machine, we wouldn't be
able to do much to it... after the engine was running they decided we
probobly shouldn't play on it anymore...

> >But the Casey Jones stories of engineers ignoring the speed limits are
> >pretty much a thing of the past on most railroads, especially the major
> >ones.
> >
> >One popular one from Trains magazine is of a passenger train making up
> >time between Lima, OH and Fort Wayne that was clocked at 120 mph during
> >the last days of steam.
>
> I once personally clocked (was in board, in a roomette) the City of San
> Francisco (this was in '63 or '64), eastbound, on the UP tracks somewhere
> in the vicinity of Kearney, NE, at between 27 and 28 seconds between two
> mileposts. This was at about 2:00 AM--train was about 3 hours late leaving
> Cheyenne, was only 1/2 hour or so late the next AM !!
>
> Greg
>

No wonder, with a speed between 128 and 133MPH....

-Ryan