The Southern Herald

FAST FOREIGN TRAINS.
Long Runs Made in France and England
Without Stops.

Recent improvements in the speed
of express trains in England, Scot-
land and France form the subject of
an article by Mr. Rous-Marten in the
Engineer. In 1899 Mr. Rous-Mar-
ten found numerous improvements
to report, but in 1900 there were not
many, and a considerable portion of
the present article is devoted to
refutations of erroneous statements
which have been made by other writ-
ers. France still shows faster sched-
ules than England. The French did
not make much improvement in 1900
over 1899, but the very natural ex-
planation is that the 1899 record was
remarkably high. In France, speeds
on the different lines are limited by
statute, the highest limit being 74.4
miles an hour. On some parts of the
Paris, Lyons & Mediterranean the
limit is 68.3, and on other sections of
this and other roads the limits are
62.1 and 55.9.
There are eight stretches of rail-
road in France, of over 100 miles
each, which are traversed regularly by
trains which make no stops. The long-
est of these is from Paris to Arras, on
the Northern, 120 miles, at 55.3 miles
an hour. On most of these eight lines
more than one non-stopping journey
is made daily. Between Paris and
Troyes, 103.75 miles, there are six
such trips daily, the fastest being
made at 49 miles an hour. This is
on the Eastern railroad.
In England there are so many long
runs without a stop that the author
tabulates only those of 120 miles or
longer. The longest is from Pad-
dington (London) to Exeter, over the
Great Western, 193 1/2 miles; quickest
time, 3 hours 43 minutes, rate 52.1
miles an hour. Between Crewe and
Carlisle, over the Northwestern, 141 1/2
miles, ten trips are made daily, each
without a stop, the fastest being at
the rate of 51.6 miles an hour. The
total number of runs without stops
shown in this table of routes is 56.
Mr. Rous-Marten gives tables
showing the fastest run on each of
the principal British roads and a
similar table for the French; and also
shows all of the runs in each country
scheduled at 54 miles an hour or
faster. Of these he finds in Eng-
land 17, and in France 36. The best
in the British list is from Forfar to
Perth, on the Caledonian, 32 1/4 miles,
in 33 minutes (59 miles an hour).
The best French run is on the Midi
between Morceux and Bordeaux Con-
trole, 67 miles in 66 minutes (61.6
miles an hour). On the Northern
from Paris to Amiens, 81 miles, one
train is run in 81 minutes (60.5 miles
an hour).