Some recent Speed Records.

Remarkable speed records set up on the London & North Eastern Railway a short time ago, by a steam-operated train between London and Leeds, promise to mark the opening of a new era in high-speed main-line passenger operation. For some years, the L. & N.E. Railway has had in mind the necessity for speeding-up train working on its main-lines out of London, and had it not been for the Great War it is probable many of this Company's trunk routes would have been converted to electric traction.

Recently the rapid strides made in the development of the internal combustion Diesel engine, using heavy oil, have diverted attention in fresh directions. Germany and Russia have been particularly successful with high-speed Diesel engines, and in the United States, too, there is now a feeling that Diesel-electric traction may quite conceivably render main-line electrification as we know it to-day quite obsolescent. The recent speed tests on the L. & N.E. line were undertaken with the idea of ascertaining the possibilities of the operation of high-speed units like the “Flying Hamburger” at Home.

The steam locomotive concerned in the test was No. 4472, named “The Flying Scotsman,” with a load of 147 tons. The 186 miles between King's Cross Station, London, and Leeds were covered in 151 minutes 55 seconds, an average speed of 73.4 miles per hour. Two hours exactly were occupied in the first 155 1/2 miles of the run, giving an average speed for this distance of nearly 77 miles per hour. On the return journey from Leeds to London, the throughout average speed worked out at 70.8 m.p.h., with 205 tons behind the locomotive. At one point, a speed of 100 m.p.h. was actually reached, while for forty miles a speed of 90 m.p.h. was maintained. Since these speed tests were made, another typical express locomotive of the L. & N.E. line—the “Cock o' the North”—has been despatched to France for special tests at the Vitry Testing Plant, this being presumably another move in the plans now under review for the acceleration of main-line services generally between London and the north.