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Karl, I, for one, have no doubt whatsoever that the '31 (and her fearless engineer) could have made such a run. On August 2, 1964, at the tender age of 16 and less than 2 months after I had received my driver's license, I and 3 of my railfan friends hopped into my mom's Olds 98 and drove out west of Sugar Grove to get some photos of the 5632, which was running on an excursion that day to, I believe, White Pines State Park. We waited at the spot where the track joins route 30, and soon enough she came flying around that long curve and I hit the accelerator to see if we could pace her for a bit. I can tell you that if the cops had been around that morning, it might have been quite awhile before I got my license back again. Big Rock and Hinckley went by in a flash (they were much smaller towns then than they are now, but still had speed limits). The stop sign at Route 23 near Waterman might as well not have even been there. The speedometer hit 100 while pacing and exceeded that while trying to catch up, and we later justified collectively that there was no way we could have been doing those speeds (did we REALLY?) - the speedometer must have been off. Years later it was a standing joke among us that friend Tom's fingerprints were still embedded in the dashboard of that car. I shake my head now and wonder how it is that I'm still in the gene pool. The back of this photo from that day bears the notation "Pacing 5632 at 100 per". The shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the motion, but I still remember the blur. Larry Sallee --- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, Karl Rethwisch <qrailroadman@...> wrote: > > In 1957, 5631 was "available" at Clyde RH as power for a chartered excursion to Savanna and Galena, IL. 5631 was to pull the train from Chicago to Savanna and 5090 was scheduled to do the honors from Savanna to Galena. Dry weather conditions forced the decision to use a Geep, rather than the O1a, out of Savanna. > > At Aurora, after loading passengers and,takin' water, the Engineer told the Fireman that he could handle the chores to Sav. and THAT he DID !!! He, the Fireman, told me he checked his watch when he pulled at Aurora and it was exactly 0830. As the engine drifted by the old Savanna Tower he took another "peek" at the watch and noted the time - 0941. The pay miles for that segment of RR is 108, which they covered in 71 minutes. > > Keep in mind, when calculating "average" speed, that there are certain locations that DEMANDED that the speed be reduced due to curves and other conditions. Steward Jct., Rochelle and the curves above Oregon come to mind. > > In all likelihood, no other train had EVER made that same trip in that length of time and, it's assumed, no other train EVER WOULD again !! > > Karl > __._,_.___
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