Vuillet's book and the Scribbins and King article both rely on a statement by Milwaukee CME C.H. Bilty on a test run of No. 100. "I find that 19 miles of the run were negotiated in excess of 100 mph and that 5 of the 19 ... at a rate of 120 mph... when the hand comes to a stop against the peg I am inclined to believe that a speed of from 123 to 125 mph was reached." This was on the Chicago & Milwaukee, the First Subdivision of the Milwaukee Division. The racetrack is the Tomah - Wisconsin Dells, west of Milwaukee, and no special speed runs were performed there.
I have no special information about the European sources suggesting a top speed of 206 km/h (130 mph.) Scribbins and King report that one of the F7s was tested on the Pennsylvania Railroad's stationary test plant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where it spun the rollers at 560 rpm, approximately 140 mph. The consensus among design engineers is that the Hiawathas were easily capable of sustained running at 125 mph, but the Milwaukee never put the 60 minute Chicago-Milwaukee timing that would have called for that capability into use.
(Send me a private email. I might be able to locate the Classic Trains back issue if you're interested.) Stephen Karlson ATTITUDE is a nine letter word. BOATSPEED.
In 1934, a souped up steam locomotive could pull a seven to nine car train. By 1937, Electro-Motive was rolling out practical diesel locomotives that could be applied as A-A, A-B-A, or A-B-B-A sets for however large a consist one desired (generally limited by the length of station tracks, particularly in Chicago.) Under those circumstances, a claim of a world speed record for a steam locomotive was not something likely to be forward-looking. Thus the 400s and the Hiawathas set the pace for the world in relative obscurity, although the diesels of the day actually had a lower top speed of 117 mph. All the same, there are some great recorder logs of one of the diesels making up 11 minutes against the 75 minute Milwaukee to Chicago schedule! Stephen Karlson ATTITUDE is a nine letter word. BOATSPEED.
