Speed was N E V E R a shortcoming of a steam locomotive !!!!!
Karl
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Larry Sallee" <lwsallee2@...> wrote:
>
> 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
> <https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YUPtq6qU2NRYqTisPeuHvNMTjNZETYmyP\
> Jy0liipFm0?feat=directlink> 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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