At 12 years of age I was also on the Tri County Corn Festival trip with my Mom
and Dad. If I remember right there were 3 double deck suburban cars, an open
door baggage car and a power car. What a ride home from Mendota that was! As
usual my Dad and I were in the baggage car and Mom was in a coach. We clicked
of a mile in 37 seconds which is 97 mph. The reason I know this is because the
Conductor was in the baggage car with a stop watch timing his own train! The
train was lightly patronized that day because there was a Grand trunk excursion
running (I think).
Up until a few weeks ago when I rode a Michigan Corrider train at 110 mph
that Burlington excursion pulled by 5632 was the fastest I had ridden on a
train.
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Karl" <qrailroadman@...> wrote:
>
> Came back with Niles Haar from the Tri County Corn Festival at Mendota with
> the 32 one year. As we came alongside US 34, west of Somonauk, the speed
> recorder was pegged at 100. Someone "chasing" on the highway later told me
> he was at 105 ta 110 tryin' ya keep up.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --- 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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