Who keeps track of the rail speed records? Is there such a thing as an "official" source? How does one look up these data?

hankmorris@earthlink.net

> Who keeps track of the rail speed records?
> Is there such a thing as an
> "official" source? How does one
> look up these data?

I don't know about one-time events staged specifically to set a record (Guinness?), but for about 30 years (circa 1940*-1970) Trains magazine published annual speed surveys by Don Steffee(sp?) documenting the fastest regular point-to-point passenger train schedules.

*earliest years may have been in Railroad magazine


tr2manz@hotmail.com

So, what you're saying is there's no government or international agency charged with the responsibility of keeping records concerning speed records, etc.

How about old 999? Who kept records then? The French TGV? The UP's M10,000, Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr, or the U.K.'s Royal Scot? Germany's "Flying Hamburger?"

Surely there must be someone responsible for keeping and tracking such data?

hankmorris@earthlink.net

Unlike auto racing where USAC keeps the official records, I don't think there is such a thing in railroading. Even without an official sanctioning body, railroads had to provide some sort of verficiation (usually a dynamometer car) For example, the "Flying Scotsman," "Mallard," and "Sir Nigel Gresley" have their records due to such verficiation. I would imagine that a nitpicker would probably have to say that Guiness would certify the records by some independant analysis.

david.wilkins@bardstown.com

So, we have to rely on the "word" of the railroad or news media and the memory of ... ?

How can any of these claims be relied upon/tracked?

Seems sort of hodge-podge to me.


hankmorris@earthlink.net

The "official" speed records from that era are the ones that can be backed up with dynamometer car data. That's why Mallard holds the speed record at 126 mph as opposed to PRR 7002's claim of 127 mph more than 30 years earlier. The same goes for the "first to go 100mph" distinction. Both NYC&HRR 999 and GWR "City of Truro" claimed the title, in 1893 and 1904 respectively, on the basis of somebody on the train timing the mileposts. It's pretty safe to say that numerous other engines (including PRR 7002) also achieved 100 mph long before Flying Scotsman finally made the first undisputed (and dynamometer-backed) 100 mph dash in the early 1920's. Unfortnately, many of those would-be records were set by trains that were trying to make up for lost time, so cutting in a dynamometer car in anticipation of a record run just wasn't an option. Oh to have a time machine and a radar gun!

rjenkins@railfan.net

You have to think back to the WHY of speed records. It was the Public Relationd Dept of the railroads that wanted the public to know that their RR was faster than another one.

The reason was strictly passenger sales and ad space. You get the idea! And of course they got to have stretched the truth a lot.

This was especially true when two or more trains were running between the same two citues, like New York and Chicago.

Ted Miles



ted_miles@nps.gov