RAILROAD SPEEDS.
As railroading is not a sport, judges have not verified the records we have of the fastest attainments of locomotives and trains. The following are generally accepted as the highest speeds on rails: Egg Harbor to Brigantine Junction (Phila delphia and Reading), 4.8 miles, in 2m. 30s., averaging 115.20 miles per hour (1904). Crit tenden run of tEmpire State Express') (1893) of New York Central and Hudson River, one mile in 32s., averaging 112.5 miles per hour. The Plant system is said to have run, in 1901, a train from Fleming to Jacksonville, a distance of five miles, in 2m. 30s., an average of 120 miles per hour. A trial test of steam vs. elec tric locomotives was made, in 1907, by the , Pennsylvania Railroad at Clayton, N. J.; the track was seven-mile curve specially con structed, and speeds were: steam, 93.6 miles per hour against 90 miles electric. Records in
long distances are: Eckley to Wray on Bur lington Route, in 1902, covering 14.8 miles in 9m., an average of 98.7 miles per hour. Pad dington to Bristol, England, 118.5 miles in lh. 24m., or average 84.6 miles per hour on the Great Western Line in 1904. In 1897 the 4 Black Diamond Express" (Lehigh Valley Railroad) ran from Alpine, N. Y., to Geneva Junction, N. Y., 43.96 miles, in 33 minutes, an average of 80 miles per hour.
In 1918 a number of races showed the fol lowing records: Brooklyn, N. Y., 100 miles, in 50m. 21s. by De Palma in a Packard. Chicago, 100 miles, in 55m. 25s. by Chevrolet in a rrontenac.
In 1919 Ralph de Palma, at Sheepshead Bay in a Packard, made 50 miles in 26m. 23 1-5s. For other records see World's Records tables at end of this article.