[Leica] Earliest locomotive "ton"

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

>
> Douglas Sharp wrote:
> > There is actually a dispute about the first to "run a ton",
> >
> > other sources say it was the "City of Truro" (also a preserved and
> > still running engine) 13 years earlier.
> >
> > The FS record was the first to be authenticated.
> >
> > Here's an interesting Wiki on rail speed records.
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record_for_rail_vehicles#Steam
> >
> > Cheers
> > Douglas
> >


------------

Doug,

Old timers living in New York's Hudson River Valley are sure that the first
steam locomotives to hit 100 mph did so on the banks of the Hudson between
Poughkeepsie and Albany. American iceboating likely began in this stretch of
the Hudson. In the cold 1800s the river would start to freeze at
Thanksgiving and not thaw until Easter, creating a 100 mile long avenue of
ice from Peekskill to Albany. John Roosevelt, FDR?s uncle, founded the
Hudson River Ice yacht Club in 1869. Iceboats were up to 70 feet long, some
weighing as much as 3000 pounds. Commodore Roosevelt?s personal boat, the
Icicle, was 69 feet long and carried 1,070 square feet of sail. It was
alleged to have a top speed of over 100 mph in the proper winds and would
race, and often beat, the Hudson River trains to the next town. The races
were very spirited. Train engineers pushed their locomotives to the limit.
Since the iceboats could exceed 100 mph (the record is 158 mph) and won only
about half the races, it is reasonable to assume that the "ton" was bettered
on many occasions. Unfortunately no one bothered to time these sprints with
a stopwatch.


To the regret of many iceboating diehards, the Hudson does not freeze like
it did in the 19th century and good iceboating days are few and far apart.


Larry Z