The most remarkable figures in the American run are given in the following table:
A distance of 510.1 miles made at 65.07 miles an hour.
" " " 289.3 " " " 66.68 " " "
" " " 181.5 " " " 69.67 " " "
" " " 85 " " " 72.92 " " "
" " " 71 " " " 75.06 " " "
" " " 59 " " " 76.08 " " "
" " " 52 " " " 78.00 " " "
" " " 42 " " " 79.04 " " "
" " " 33 " " " 80.07 " " "
" " " 8 " " " 85.44 " " "
A single mile was also timed (unofficially) at the speed of 92.3 miles an hour.
Here is the schedule of the last division:
Dis- Time of
tance. leaving.
Erie (leave).............................— 10-19-48
Harbor Creek............................. 8 miles 10-28-37
Moorhead................................. 3 " 10-31-06
North East............................... 4 " 10-34-22
State Line............................... 5 " 10-38-15
Ripley................................... 3 " 10-40-22
Westfield................................ 8 " 10-45-56
Brocton.................................. 8 " 10-52-06
Van Buren...........,.................... 5 " 10-55-39
Dunkirk.................................. 4 " 10-58-54
Silver Creek............................. 9 " 11-06-05
Fairhaven................................ 5 " 11-10-33
Angola .................................. 5 " 11-14-14
Lake View................................ 7 " 11-20-11
Athol Springs............................ 4 " 11-24-39
Buffalo Creek............................ 8 " 11-30-34
-- --------
Total distance Erie to Buffalo
Creek................................86 "
Total time for the 86 miles.... 1-10-46
Average speed over division..............72.91 miles per hour.
So remarkable are these figures, considering the type of engine used, that an English technical journal has, since the run was made, scientifically demonstrated to its own satisfaction that it was an impossibility. Well, it is the impossible which sometimes happens.
Through all the running at these wonderful speeds the train moved with singular smoothness. Moments there were of some anxiety, when the cars swung round a curve or dashed through the streets of a town. At such times there were those among the passengers who would perhaps gladly have sacrificed a few seconds of the record. Except for those occasions, however, there was nothing to tell of the extraordinary speed—nothing unless one stood on the rear platform of the last car and saw the swirling cloud of dust and leaves and bits of paper, even of sticks and stones, that were sucked up into the vacuum behind, and almost shut out the view of the rapidly receding track. It may be (it certainly will be) that the average of 65.07 miles an hour for a distance of 510 miles will be beaten before long. It is almost certain that the same engines on the same road could beat it in another trial—taking a slightly lighter train, running by daylight and over a dry rail. It will be long, however, before such another run is made as that over the last 86 miles by the ten-wheeler, with William Tunkey in charge. Railway men alone, perhaps, understand the qualities which are necessary in an engineer to enable him to make such a run; and the name of Tunkey is one (however unheroic it may sound) which railway men will remember for many years to come. An analysis of the figures given above will show that it was not until within 20 miles of the end of the run that there was any confidence that the record was broken; and not until the run was actually finished and the watches stopped for the last time, at 34 seconds after half-past eleven, that confidence was changed to certainty.
In addition to the mere speed, everything combined to make the run supremely dramatic—the disappointment over the first divisions—the growing hopes dashed by the unexpected flag—the increase of hope again on the run to Erie—the misgivings as to the type of engine—all culminating in the last tremendous burst of speed and the triumphant rush into Buffalo station.
And having left Chicago at half-past three in the morning, at half past-ten that night I sat and watched Mr. John Drew on the stage of a New York theatre.