Well you're ahead of me - best I ever clocked was 75 between Woodbourne and Neshaminy Falls - both 2124 and 2100 on several trips. One engineer bragged of doing 80 on the Crossline in freight service but I took it with a grain of salt.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> Well you're ahead of me - best I ever
> clocked was 75 between Woodbourne and
> Neshaminy Falls - both 2124 and 2100 on
> several trips. One engineer bragged of doing
> 80 on the Crossline in freight service but I
> took it with a grain of salt.
No- you're probably ahead of me... or maybe we're even? I rode about 14 of the 51 Iron Horse Rambles and I don't remember much high speed running. Of course, many of the trips I rode were on branch lines like the Wilmington and Northern or the Gettysburg Branch where you'd be scared if they were doing more than 40... The lines north of Reading didn't allow much speed either. I guess the fastest was the New York Division trips out of Belle Meade and Bound Brook.
Remember that the freight stories were the recollections of an old time engineer who hadn't actually run them for 25 or 30 years before- probably 1952 or 53... so your "grain of salt" is probably appropriate.



jjburke0918@aol.com

> 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.
I have no doubt about what that engineer told you...I've been shown by some "old head" hoggers how it was done,and this was confirmed by my uncle.On some roads,this was a known,but "winked at" proposition,one that would get you fired if you survived the wreck,but glossed over when the train came in on time.

kbcotton@flash.net

> 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.

Having operated many a freight train over this line for CR, it is possible the speed recorder may have touched the alleged speed briefly, but it's not likely to have been maintained very long. There's a somewhat steep ascending grade southbound from Manville for approximately 3 miles, then several miles (somewhere around 7 miles, IIRC) of relatively flat and dead straight railroad before another good climb between Skillman and Hopewell. Just beyond Hopewell, still going south, there's a good curve, and a few more as you drop down through Pennington toward West Trenton. A train could easily hit 80 MPH on the short but steep downgrade from West Trenton to the Delaware River Bridge, but then there's another curve and a decent ascending grade from Yardley, PA to Woodbourne.

Is it possible the speedo hit 86? Yes... if they picked the right spot to let 'em roll... but I also doubt that the speed was maintained for very long.

The best chance for it to have happened would have been just south of Manville (where present day Sunny Meade Road crosses the tracks at the crest of the grade) down to the start of the climb up out of Skillman towards Hopewell.

Fiv4HghStk@aol.com

> 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 released a limited number of LP's in
> the 1960's.

> The masters for the LP's are still around.
> Charlie's son and I keep talking about
> re-releasing them, nothing so far.

> Rob

What was the title of the 60's releases ?

Do they ever surface ?

> What was the title of the 60's releases ?

> Do they ever surface ?

Steve,

I'll have to cull my notes. I heard them back in 1986 or 87, and I never owned a copy. I am sure they surface as they were commercial relases on LP.

Charlie's son and I also have 20 hours or so of digital trackside recordings on the '02 on the BMRDG and R&N. We keep saying that someday we'll release them. Someday...

Rob

trains@robertjohndavis.com

My friend Allan Botto of Semaphore Records fame is planning to re-release the "Iron Horse Rambles" album from the 60's on CD someday soon. He has been re-releasing some of his older recordings on CD every so often, including "On Time" and the 7002/1223 album from 1985. Stay tuned.

K.R. Bell

> Steve,

> I'll have to cull my notes. I heard them
> back in 1986 or 87, and I never owned a
> copy. I am sure they surface as they were
> commercial relases on LP.

> Charlie's son and I also have 20 hours or so
> of digital trackside recordings on the '02
> on the BMRDG and R&N. We keep saying
> that someday we'll release them. Someday...

> Rob


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