any historic railroad experts? (trains, frame, great, Chicago)
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Although this forum seems to be very much gun-oriented, I'm wondering if anyone might know something about railroads.
I need to know how long it would have taken a passenger train in 1925 to run from Minneapolis/St Paul to Philidelphia, PA.
If you know of a newbie-friendly railroad forum for me to try, that would also be helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Jann
This is what my friend had to say: "Its about 16 to 18 hours from Chicago to Phili. And, a guess, about 5 hours ATMOST to Minn/STP. So I would guess 20 to 24 hours. That uses the old B&O. The PRR was about 2 hours faster from Chicago to Phili, but I couldn't find times for that train. If needed, I'm sure I can find official timetables somewhere."
Happy in Wyoming: The 'Broadway Limited' was a very special train! Another consideration is what speed the trackage would support. Most trains didn't do anywhere near 120 mph! It also changed a great deal in 1938, 13 years after the time in question.
"The greatest speed ever attained by a locomotive, of which there is any record, was made by Engine #999 of the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. on May 9th, 1893, having covered five consecutive miles at the rate of 102.8 miles per hour."
The railroad was planning this one. Every night the crew would push the train faster. This was on a regularly scheduled passenge train. Atlantic class locomotives were built for high speed passenger service.
"1905 - E7sa 4-4-2 Atlantic steam locomotive sets steam speed record of 127.2 mph near Crestline, Ohio"
Sure. I know about those, but they were record speed attempts. I was referring to an average passenger train's scheduled speed circa 1925. I think that was germane to the original question.
There was a publication called the Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States Porto Rico Canada Mexico and CubaOfficial Guide of the Railways - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia issued monthly during the classic era of rail travel, which is how the station agent in every little town would route passengers and shipments from point A to point B. Most likely inquiry at a large library would find you a way to find the particular month in 1925 of interest. At some yard sale or something I picked up one of these for 1960 and even then (following much retrenchment compared to 1925 for sure) it was still easier to travel from little town to little town by passenger train generally than it is by bus today.
Thank you all so very much for your input. I've been working on a short story where the characters have to go from the Twin Cities to Kensington. I was going to have them steal a "Jenny" and fly there, but I think they can go by train a whole lot easier. Now that I have a good frame of reference, I can "fudge" a little. I happen to be a librarian, so I'll see if I can't borrow a copy of that Official Guide. Google Books might even have it.
Again my thanks.
Cheers
Jann
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