Wednesday, June 19, 2024

The World's Fastest... or is it only a copy?

The world's fastest run by a railroad train was made by the Broadway Limited of the Pennsylvania Railroad on Monday, June 12, 1905, when it ran 127.1 miles an hour between AY tower and Elida, Ohio. The Broadway Limited was pulled by coal-burning steam Locomotive 7002, and although many swift runs have been made in recent yers by steam, electric and diesel locomotives, none has equaled the 127.1 mile-an-hour record run established 1905. At the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1949, Locomotive 7002 stands on a section of P.R.R. standard roadbed with rails weighing 155-pounds to the yard - heaviest in the world. Here is an interesting tid-bit about the locomotive on display on this post card. It is taken from this website: https://www.steamonamerica.com/new-blog/3g8bafaezxdez9s-kdrgg-s7c4y-65fh3-6ggef-blzx6-ymc4m-jjdzx-58l4h-7m7hc-hf876-zhhx4-grnd2-4afhz-bpx24-aba86-erpnb-77hj9 7002’s original number was 8063 and was built in 1902 in Altoona and the original one was built also in 1902 in Altoona. On June 11th, 1905, 7002 made an historic run. It hauled the Pennsylvania Special as a replacement locomotive in Crestline, Ohio to Chicago. The train started in New York City. It went up to 127.1 miles per hour. The Pennsylvania Special would be renamed The Broadway Limited in 1912. In 1935 it was sadly scraped. 8063 was renumbered to 7002 so that it could be placed on display at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 and 1949. While on display, it was hailed as “The World’s Fastest Steam Engine”. It came to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in December of 1979 and was placed on display until 1982 when it was chosen to be restored as a stand in for Canadian National 89 which needed to be restored at the time. 7002 was used mostly on the half-hour trains. It doubleheaded with 1223 on several different occasions. Like 1223 in 1989, 7002 was tested but the firebox was to thin for safe operations. The last time it ran was on December 20, 1989 and it hasn’t been operating since then. I have absolutely no information about who published the post card, although I would suspect it was either the Pennsylvania Railroad or the Chicago Railroad Fair that did so.

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If you know anything about the history of the cards, the trains or the locations, please add them.