Mr. Bohon is probably correct ....but what if..... Amtrak decided that they could generate some great PR by racing one of thier Acelas against the 614 on the long (13miles??), dead level stretch of track near Princeton Jct.,NJ and bill it as the " Great 21st. Century Train Race".
Come see Americas last commercially built mainline pssgr. steamer compete against the newest blah blah blah!!!! and maybe witness a new world land steam speed record set????
Highly unlikely but not quite impossible!!
Ross Rowland

Who was going to have Jackey Gleason and Hoss Cartright (Dan Blocker?) each race their favorite steam engine up Horseshoe Curve?

There is a "Trains" mag. article of the crew of a PRR Duplex being asked "Which one of you has a pilot's license" for the "low flying" they did by pegging the speedometer at 120 Westbound from Crestline with a passenger train in central Ohio.

...pegging the speedometer at 120 Westbound from Crestline with a passenger train in central Ohio.[/quote]

Sandhouse talk around Dennison says the typical PRR T-1, arriving late in Dennison westbound out of Pittsburgh, would have its speedometer routinely covered by a clean rag, then make up time at speeds exceeding two miles a minute...

Several folks in the PRR engineering department in the 1960's said they heard that the original T1 tested at the Altoona test plant went well beyond 120 MPH on the rollers. There supposedly was more speed possible but the drivers were all levitating off the rollers for at least part of each revolution. Of course, once that started, accurately determining the speed became impossible.

There's also an article in the enthusiast press about Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe speed tests with steam about 1948 just before the Federal 79 m.p.h. speed limit without cab signals went into effect. I think these were the large locos with the collapsible smoke stacks to go under the only low clearance nearby, the round house doorway!

The double headed fan trips out of Strasburg with PRR 7002 and the Lindberg loco weren't subject to the above speed limit, since the lead loco had cab signals!

If you're thinking of the trip out of Lancaster to the Lucknow CWR plant and the Rockville Bridge during the 1985 NRHS National Convention, the power was 7002 + 1223.

Between Columbia and Harrisburg track speed under the wires was about 60 mph, but the sight and sound of these two machines stepping it off was excellent nonetheless...

We clocked the 844 at 100 out of Cheyenne on an R&LHS trip in 1961.

I once heard a story (which had the ring of truth given the name involved) about a detour over the Santa Fe by an SP train with a 4400. Driver was a well known SP RFE. SP was not noted for high speed running. Santa Fe did not have a speed limit applicable to an SP 4400 and it was ATS territory, so the RFE allegedly told the fireman, "I've always wondered how fast one of these things would go." Reports to the Santa Fe dispatcher suggested speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. As the legend goes, the ATSF super call the SP super and suggesed that this particularly RFE would not be welcome on the Santa Fe property in the future. True, who knows. It was many years ago.

John West

I remember hearing that the Mallard was equipped with a warning system that when the bearings and such began overheating, a smell akin to rotten eggs was released. Apparently they were really pushing the limit at the end, and the stench was very obvious. The engineers said that they were expecting the valve gear or wheels to sieze at any moment. Luckily she rolled into history instead of off an embankment at 126 miles an hour.

Thanks, Taylor[/i]

Great story John! Thanks for sharing.

According to "Locomotives of the LNER - Part 2A" published by the RCTS - "The damage sustained was no more than the white metal having run out of the big-end brasses. These were re-metalled at New England shed (Peterborough) but to be quite sure that there was nothing else, the loco was sent to Doncaster works for a more thorough examination. Nine days after the record breaking run 4468 was back at work in the Doncaster link.

P.J.Coster in "The Book of the A4 Pacifics" (Irwell Press 2005) suggests that the overheated big end was caused by the regulator being closed for the flat curve at Essendine while working at full power at 125mph with the sudden removal of load through the piston and connecting rod. Adolf Wolff of Borsig had three similar middle big end failures in similar circumstances with his 05 class 4-6-4s and instructions were given that the regulator should not be closed completely at speeds over 100mph - the driver should use increased braking instead.

Incidently Gresley and the LNER downplayed the 126mph (in spite of the plaques on the loco) but highlighted the sustained 125mph which still just beat the 124.5mph of the DR 05.

The is now a commemorative sign on the lineside near the 90 milepost where "Mallard" reached the 125mph.

Today trains hauled/pushed by class 91 electric locos and HST diesel trains work on this stratch of line. They are permitted to run at up to 125mph here and do so many times per day in order to keep to schedule.

As much as I love the A4's Mallard's (Mal-Ahrds) record is somewhat of a let down in truth. Light train, downhill, over 60 yards (Less then a second!) and broke down in the process. Show me a true record IN SERVICE and that record may come to this side of the pond.
http://www.germansteam.co.uk/FastestLoc ... ml#05trace

And here we hit an obvious dilemma.

The only way for a speed record to be regarded as "authentic" is with a calibrated time/speed recorder device applied. In steam days, that was a dynamometer car, and ONLY a dynamometer car. Records timed with pocket watches over inaccurately-placed "mileposts" (which the American ones are, we have to concede) don't cut it. Most trains then just didn't have a dynamometer car as part of the consist, not even the Purdue University local. Today, of course, we have such toys as lasers, radar, GPS, and other devices to calibrate even extreme speeds.

Furthermore, if you want to get nitpicking about it, an automotive speed record isn't regarded as "official" unless it's done in opposite directions on the same course within an hour. Even the so-called no-speed-limits autobahn has its limitations.

I would propose that in order for a regular-service speed record to be regarded as "authentic", it would have to be carried out on track with an AUTHORIZED speed of 100+. Any PRR T1 or Milwaukee Hudson roaring at 125 was in obvious serious (although winked-at) violation of official company rules, and should thus not be regarded as "regular in-service".

As a parallel, the A4's were demonstrated to routinely top 100-110 in daily service, but had difficulty sustaining any such speed for long--remember, they were still hand-fired. The diesels that replaced them, the Deltics, could easily hit and sustain 100-105 as long as track conditions permitted; the highest speed anyone has claimed for one even very unofficially that I have heard is 108-112 downhill on Stoke Bank. And, of course, they were replaced in 1975 by HSTs that routinely held 125.

More investigation of specific sites is necessary, but I.C.C. accident reports sometimes mention cases with no maximum speed limit for the track, as the management felt that the equipment was not capable of running faster at full throttle (or controller) than the track could handle!