> I was on a UP 8444 trip in 1968 where a guy
> was timing mileposts in the vestibule as we
> returned to Cheyenne. He said we were doing
> 90, and we WERE flying low!!!

> I also heard the 5632 did some real fast
> running around 90 or so, but I never got to
> see that loco.

> My dad told me he rode a 127(ex CPR
> 1278)trip sponsored by High Iron, that was
> pretty fast(around 80). I think it went to
> Port Jervis. My brother and I bought the
> ticket for him as a Birthday Present. I want
> to say this was around 1970 or
> thereabouts??? It was one of his favorite
> excursions, as he liked speed trips.

> Greg Scholl
Hi Greg- Don't think the 127(8) ever went to Port Jervis, but the 1286 was doing over 80 on the return trip from Warwick, NY to Allentown on the L&HR straight track south of the Lackawanna Cutoff on 5/14/67. I timed it in the baggage car at one mile in 43 seconds for several miles. That was as fast as I'd ever seen anything run on the L&H.
As far as the 844(4), on the early 60's trips, she regularly ran 90mph. I chased it back from Rawlins one time and watched it pull away while driving 80. (That was well before the 65 and 55 mph speed limits in Wyoming.) I remember reading a Trains article that stated the Omaha caretakers of 844 reduced her speed limit to 60 in about 1969 or 70 to reduce wear and tear on the engine.


jjburke0918@aol.com

> Hi Greg- Don't think the 127(8) ever went to
> Port Jervis, but the 1286 was doing over 80
> on the return trip from Warwick, NY to
> Allentown on the L&HR straight track
> south of the Lackawanna Cutoff on 5/14/67.

I don't think that was the trip...I am pretty sure it went someplace in New Jersey, or Long Island perhaps...Maybe it Started in Elizabeth...could that be possible...Heck that area is foreign to me!!!! I remember the flyer on it, and it was definately the Pacific High Iron used for a year or two.

I
> timed it in the baggage car at one mile in
> 43 seconds for several miles. That was as
> fast as I'd ever seen anything run on the
> L&H.
> As far as the 844(4), on the early 60's
> trips, she regularly ran 90mph. I chased it
> back from Rawlins one time and watched it
> pull away while driving 80. (That was well
> before the 65 and 55 mph speed limits in
> Wyoming.) I remember reading a Trains
> article that stated the Omaha caretakers of
> 844 reduced her speed limit to 60 in about
> 1969 or 70 to reduce wear and tear on the
> engine.

Rode it in 69 I think, and you might be right about the slower speeds although I think the 69 was still fast. Seems like I chased one in about 1975-76 that was 55 mph. Did a Sterling trip in 1981 that was back to 70 mph running though.
I got to ride the cab in 1989 on the return from LAUPT/Portland. Rode from Rawlins to Laramie and we hit 70 right away. That was a good ride although a couple of strange things happened.
Greg

Videos

sales@gregschollvideo.com

CNR 6060 regularly hit 80+ when it was operated on the Toronto-Niagara Falls service in the late 70s. This was in the timetable and ran one RT every Saturday and Sunday.

And, if we're going to factor age, size and condition into this, the 1966-68 trips over the New Haven with little 2-8-0 #97 pulling 5 NH lightweight cars should be considered---- 50+ mph was not uncommon. After 97 got to Essex and was worked on in the 1970s, the boys were a bit shook up when they realized what shape things were in, and how fast she had gone.

Comments, Buddy Bob? You were there!

hpincus@mindspring.com

She sure did! As a wide-eyed 12 year old kid, it was truly exciting to pass the swiftly moving traffic following the train on nearby Rt. 283 on the return leg from Harrisburg to Lancaster. Linn Moedinger was at the throttle of 7002 and Jim Rice on 1223. I will remember that trip as long as I live. George Hart was along on that trip as a passenger and since has told me that it was one of two times in his life that he was ever scared to go that fast on a steam excursion--he looked out the window and saw that 1223's drivers were chruning so many revolutions that they were a blur. Some reports say the special was clocked at 69 per but there were conflicting reports of faster speeds. Interestingly George ran 972 in the area on a mainline trip a few weeks previously, also with Linn and Jim on the engine, as they often accompanied George's engine on off-line trips in the late 70's and early 80's. The engines were in very capable hands.

> ............. didn't PRR
> "7002"/1223 hit some pretty brisk
> 70+ running between Harrisburg and Lancaster
> on the NRHS 50th Anniversary excursions of
> June 1985? This might hold some kind of
> oldest/fastest speed combination record, if
> we start factoring in age of the
> participants at the time........


http://rrmuseumpa.org
Kurtrbell@hotmail.com

Wow! I've never started such a long thread on this board! A bunch of good stories(and nobody getting flamed)!

Thanks!

Alan Levy

alanl759@aol.com

C&O 614 clipped right along at 80mph after topping the hill out of Pt. Jervis during the October '96 trips. The day I rode and watched an incredible tie blur from the back vestibule was recorded in outstanding aerial footage from a pacing helicopter and is included in the Mark I "souvenir tape". Additionally, there are a number of "chooch cam" vantage points (cab behind engineer, side view of the drivers, looking along the boiler, etc.) that are worked into some of the sequences.

sfreer@tvrail.com

> ............. didn't PRR
> "7002"/1223 hit some pretty brisk
> 70+ running between Harrisburg and Lancaster
> on the NRHS 50th Anniversary excursions of
> June 1985? This might hold some kind of
> oldest/fastest speed combination record, if
> we start factoring in age of the
> participants at the time........
That trip went out of Lancaster on the low grade line and climbed onto the high iron south of Harrisburg. Riding in the first car, I recall Lynn in the 7002 looking back over the train as the last car cleared the switch, then giving the crew in the 1223 the "thumbs up", after which both throttles were opened up until the sweet doubleheaded stack talk leveled off at 60 mph. The train was wyed at the west end of the Rockville Bridge, then did a runby for a ticketholder photo line stretching around the south leg of the wye at the wye at the east end of the bridge, before returning to Lancaster over Amtrak's passenger route. Track speed was 60 mph on that trip, and it was not exceeded. Mile a minute, and not less than one minute per mile throughout.

bruceman@stargate.net

I have recordings of CP 2839 on the first day of her going home trip way back in 1979 (??) from Atlanta to Salisbury. The 2839 clicked off many miles at 80 per (on the downhill grades) but struggled down to 35 or so on the uphill grades. At 80 mph, the exhaust just turns into solid roar like a gas-turbine engine. What a ride that was...

TVRM Shop Updates by Steve Freer
aw90h@cs.com

Way back in '74, our 4-4-0 #136 was timed by numerous people (possibly some on this board may remember) doing 60-70mph on CPR's main line north of Toronto on an excursion for the 1974 TRAIN convention. Lousy pic below is from the actual trip.


info@steamtrain.com

I cannot remember the speeds on the old PRR Middle Divsion, but the September 1970 HICO trip over the PRR around the "Curve" still rates as my best ever fantrip. It is the only trip that I can ever remember coming in early. I believe we came in about two hours early into Harrisburg. The 759 really flew home that Saturday. I was only 21 at the time, but I still remember it like it was yesterday!!



steamfan@crusoe.net

Oct 27, 1959: ICRR 4-8-2 2613 on L&N Centenniel Nashville to Louisville, very late and trying to make up time ... miles of 80+mph running in various locations.

May, 1960 and Oct, 1960: Same engine on the IC between Kosmosdale and Louisville city limit, appox 10-11 pm, 80+ mph. (have this one on audio tape).

IC 2613: A great locomotive that shoiuld have been saved.

Fla Gulf Coast RR Museum

hrvideo@mindspring.com

OOPS..sorry about the pic link...here's one instead....


hrvideo@mindspring.com

> Question for anyone....
> What have been the fastest speeds on steam
> excursions? Which locomotives?
> -Alan Levy

Story told to me around 20 years ago by George Hart:

The "speed record" of The Reading's IRON HORSE RAMBLES-

2100 was on a trip starting out of Bound Brook, NJ, when a piece of scrap metal or some kind of metal junk got mixed into the coal (loaded from a clam-shell crane ?) and became lodged in the stoker screw, prior to departure. By the time the crew fixed the problem, the trip was seriously late departing Bound Brook.

The Road Foreman in charge of the trip asked the Engineer about the posibility of making up the time. . . he got some kind of reply about putting his cap over the speed indicator.

The track was The Reading's New York Division line to West Trenton and Jenkintown, relatively straight track across mostly rural NJ (and the route of the CRUSADER !)

The record speed was in the 80's ( 86 I think ). -not bad, considering it was 2100, not roller-bearing 2124.

The best part of the story is that the tape from the speed recorder was promptly removed and probably thrown into the fire.

This speed-run might be one of the tracks on the Semaphore LP of the IRON HORSE RAMBLES. ( -another candidate for re-release on CD !!!)

Is there anybody reading this who was on the trip and can verify the story ?

My late friend Charlie Gspann, an innovative audio engineer well known in the tech field, did some recordings of the Rambles in NJ and PA. He release a limited number of LP's in the 1960's.

Charlie was the impetus behind the digital recording of Hart's CPR #972 we did in 1986 (Yesterday's Train -Today on cassette (no CD version yet).

Anyway, Charlie had loads of T-1 recordings that never were released. By the time I met him and some friends had relit the fire to do train recordings again, he discovered the T-1 raw tapes had been destroyed in a basement flood.

The masters for the LP's are still around. Charlie's son and I keep talking about re-releasing them, along with the 30 hours of digital recordings I have done with #2102, #2317, #3254, #261 and #425, but nothing so far.

Anyway, my point is, Charlie has/had some cuts that make me think George's story recounted here on RYPN is probably true!

Rob

trains@robertjohndavis.com

> Story told to me around 20 years ago by
> George Hart:

> The "speed record" of The
> Reading's IRON HORSE RAMBLES-

> 2100 was on a trip starting out of Bound
> Brook, NJ, when a piece of scrap metal or
> some kind of metal junk got mixed into the
> coal (loaded from a clam-shell crane ?) and
> became lodged in the stoker screw, prior to
> departure. By the time the crew fixed the
> problem, the trip was seriously late
> departing Bound Brook.

> The Road Foreman in charge of the trip asked
> the Engineer about the posibility of making
> up the time. . . he got some kind of reply
> about putting his cap over the speed
> indicator.

> The track was The Reading's New York
> Division line to West Trenton and
> Jenkintown, relatively straight track across
> mostly rural NJ (and the route of the
> CRUSADER !)

> The record speed was in the 80's ( 86 I
> think ). -not bad, considering it was 2100,
> not roller-bearing 2124.

> The best part of the story is that the tape
> from the speed recorder was promptly removed
> and probably thrown into the fire.

> This speed-run might be one of the tracks on
> the Semaphore LP of the IRON HORSE RAMBLES.
> ( -another candidate for re-release on CD
> !!!)

> Is there anybody reading this who was on the
> trip and can verify the story ?

Steve- I wasn't on that particular trip... so can't verify it- but I did work in a plant in the late 70's/early 80s where the night security guard was a retired Reading engineer over the age of 80. He had run G-2sa Pacifics (fast) on the Bethlehem Branch and T-1s on the New York Division and claimed they had run that fast and faster on freights... they had a way of getting around the speed recorders- something about a "pin". Since he was a perfect gentleman and not given to exageration on anything else... I believed him.
I also took whatever George Hart said as true.

jjburke0918@aol.com