People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1897 — THE RECORD BROKEN. [ARTICLE]

THE RECORD BROKEN.

0., B. & Q. ACCOMPLISHES A GREAT FEAT. Special Train of the Burlington Route Runs from Chicago to Denver, 1,025 Miles, at an Average Speed of Nearly 58 Miles an Hour. „ The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Railroad has just accomplished tha greatest feat the world has ever known for long-distance fast running. ; It was made in a race against death, to carry Henry J. Mayham of News ,York to the bedside of his dying son in Denver. ‘i The distance from Chicago to Denver, 1,025 miles, was covered in exactly 1,069 minutes’ actual running jtime. This is only a small fraction less than one mile a minute for the longest continuous run ever made by; any railroad in the world. | It was a run made in the ordinary, course of business. No special preparation whatever had been contemplated for the trip. In exactly fortysour minutes from the time the order jfor the train was received the throttle pf the engine was pulled open and the jtrain glided out of the Union Depot on p. race which surprised railroad men the world over. | The engine which took the train on the first run out of Chicago to Galesjburg had just come in from Aurora (pulling a regular passenger train. No time was spent in cleaning up, but it |Was quickly turned around, attached to jthe special train and manned by the same engineer who had brought it to Chicago. Not more than a half dozen jofficials or employes of the road knew: the trip was to be made. This fapt is (the most important in the history of the great feat, as it demonstrates the .superb physical condition of the road and the perfect management which enables such remarkable time to be jmaintained for more than a thousand •miles. J The time made by the record-break-ing train is as follows, including all jstops: (From Chicago Miles. Time. jTo Galesburg 163 2h. 56m. iTo Burlington 206 3h. 48m. [To Pacific Jet 482 9h. sm. JTo Lincoln ....- 541 lOh. 11m. iTo Hastings 638 12h. 3m. To McCook 7ft) 14h. 15m. To Denver 1,025 18h. 53m. Average time, including stops, 54.3 miles per hour. Average time, excluding stops, 57.54 riles per hour. The first stop made by the train after leaving Chicago was at Sixteenth street for supplies, where four minutes were consumed. At Aurora the traveling engineer took one minute to look the engine over and the train ran without a stop until Mendota was reached, when three minutes more were consumed for the same purpose. A total of twentyone stops was made between Chicago and Denver, consuming in all sixtyfour minutes. The longest stop was made at Red Oak, la., where engines were changed on account of a hot truck. At this point the fastest run of the trip was made. Soon after leaving Creston it was discovered that a box on one of the engine trucks was heating, but in spite of this fact tha run of thirty-six miles was made in thirty-four minutes. At Villisca a fresh engine was substituted and tha run to Red Oak, fifteen miles, was made in as many minutes.

Over long stretches of road between McCook and Denver the train made more than a mile a minute for distances of forty to sixty miles. Six engineers took the train from Chicago to Denver, making an average of 170 miles to each run. Mr. Mayham left New York Sunday morning at 10 o’clock on Pennsylvania Limited in response to repeated messages that his son, William B. Mayham, was lying at the point of death at Denver. At Fort Wayne Mr. Mayham became convinced that the ordinary trains would not take him to the bedside of his son in time to close his eyes in death, and he promptly wired the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road to have in readiness a special train to carry him through to Denver in the shortest possible time, j The Pennsylvania arrived in Chicago ten minutes late and thirty minutes imaking necessary preparations for the [were consumed by Mr. Mayham in journey. [ The train left the Union Depot at exactly 10 o’clock Monday morning. The [Burlington road had agreed to make {the trip to Denver “inside of twenstytfour hours.” The feat was accomplished in three minutes less than nineteen hours, or more than five hours under the stipulated time.