On 8/1/2010 7:47 AM, Bill Pearce wrote:
> Those tracks don't allow speeds over 80mph currently, but often ran faster
> in olden days.
>
In the late 1940s I was on the "Colorado Eagle" between St. Louis and
Denver. I happened to be seated beside an engineer on the train who was
deadheading back to Denver. I aske him how fast we were traveling, and
he said that since we were still in Missouri and the tracks there were a
little rough, probably around 90 mph. He also said that when we got out
into Kansas we would be running at over 100 mph. He then pointed to a
round piece of aluminum over the door in the end of the care and told me
that there used to be a speedometer there in each car. They had to
remove them because they scared the passengers. There is not a track in
the country that will permit speeds any where near that. A lot of the
tracks are limited to 50 mph or a little over.
During WWII, the "City of Portland" rolled through my hometown in Idaho
at 70 mph. And in those days the tracks were maintained by the section
crews with manual labor. Now days, they use a fancy machine that does
not do as good a job. I have an acuaintance that runs one of those
machines and he does not like to talk to me about that. LOL
Paul in Portland OR
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