and Northwestern compound
engine with its 88-inch driving-wheels, or the Caledonian locomotive
(which did the best running in the English races) with its 78-inch
drivers and cylinders 18 by 26 inches.

It was now after ten o'clock in the morning; and at Erie crowds had
assembled at the station to see the train go out, for news of what was
being done had by this time gone abroad. The platforms, too, at every
station from Erie to Buffalo were thronged with people as we went
roaring by. In Dunkirk (through which we burst at 75 miles an hour)
crowds stood on the sidewalks and at every corner. To describe the run
for those 86 miles in detail would be impossible, or to put into words
the tension of the suppressed excitement among those on board the
train as miles flew by and we knew that we were travelling as men had
never travelled before.

For those who had misgivings as to the possibilities of the type of
engine there was a surprise as soon as she picked up the train. She
must have reached a speed of a mile a minute within five miles from
the first movement of the wheels. The first eight miles were finished
in 8 minutes, 49 seconds. From there on there was never an instant of
slackening pace. From 60 miles an hour the velocity rose to 70; from
70 to 80; from 80, past the previous high-water marks, to 85 and 90,
and at last to over 92.

Trains have been timed for individual miles at speeds of over 90 miles
before. There is even said to be on record an instance of a single
mile run at 112 miles an hour. But never before has an engine done
what the ten-wheeler did that day, when it reached 80 miles an hour
and held the speed for half an hour; reached 85 miles an hour and held
that for nearly ten minutes; reached 90 miles and held that for three
or four consecutive miles. A speed of 75 miles an hour (a mile and a
quarter a minute) was maintained for the whole hour, and the 75 miles
were actually covered in the 60 minutes. The entire 86 miles were done
in 70 minutes 46 seconds,--an average speed of 72.91 miles an hour.
In the English run, a speed of 68.40 miles was maintained for an even
hour, 69 miles being done in 60.5 minutes; and 141 miles were run at
an average speed of 67.20 miles an hour.

To word it otherwise, the American train covered 7 miles more in its
fastest hour than did the English train. The speed which the English
engines held for 141 miles the American engines held for over 200--181
miles being made at