This one should really stump you all!
What is the fastest conventional land speed record held by a train in the USA? Who did it, with what, and when did they pull it off?
(http://www.crewten.com/new_acela_6.jpg)
Amtraks Accela? NOT!
The infamous DOUBLE UGLY Amtrak Turbo-Train? NOT!
(http://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/images/catalog/0606/0606200004.jpg)
Maybe in day to day schedules, but record speed - not even close!
(http://www.transitspot.com/gallery2/d/60218-1/DSCF9523.JPG)
How about the long lived Metro-Liners? Nope!
(http://www.saynotocrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/united-states-jet-train-test.jpg)
It was done by a BUDD RDC CAR on the old NEW YORK CENTRAL, nee Penn Central, nee Conrail, nee CSX...
It was a tricked out RDC CAR! *@#&*!&#((!
295.72 KPH (183.68 MPH) Budd Rail Diesel Car , engines by Jet aero engines, United States, 23, July 1966!
More?
Okay, who holds the WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD for all rail vehicles?
WE DO!
In 1954, on a test track at Holloman Air Force Base, a manned rail car reached a speed of 1017 Rocket powered Holloman Air Force Base (USA) 10 December, 1954, Manned by John Stapp. Fastest manned rail vehicle. Fastest manned open-cockpit vehicle.
MORE? YEP!
(http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/02/Land_Speed_Record_Rocket_Sled.jpg)
Who says we need MAG-LEV?
10,430 MPH, Rocket train Holloman Air Force Base (USA) 30 April, 2003 Unmanned. It was the final stage of a four-stage train, which included the car, a Super Roadrunner rocket motor, and a 192-pound payload on top. The train delivered payload into a target at a velocity of 9465 feet per second, or 6453 mph (2885 m/s), or Mach 8.5.
By the way this is close to 2 miles per second, escape velocity from the rotating Earth is just 7 miles per second. It's mind blowing to think we might live to see a train exceed that speed! Railroad's to Mars? Well, maybe not, but this research is teaching us a lot about NOT reinventing the wheel.
...And you thought we were BEHIND Japan and France? Where do you think they bought it?
OCKLAWAHA
How about some railroaders nicknames for the Company...
Union Pacific - largely owned by the Mormon Church back in the old west was called "THE POLYGAMY CENTRAL"
Amboy, Lansing & Traverse Bay (AL&TB)
Awfully Long & Terribly Bumpy
Cadillac & Lake City (C&LC)
Catastrophe & Lost Cause
Chicago & North Western (C&NW)
Cheap & Nothing Wasted
Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw (CK&S)
Cuss, Kick & Swear
Detroit & Mackinac (D&M)
Defeated & Maltreated
Detroit, Toledo & Ironton (DT&I)
Darn Tired & Irksome
Down Trodden & Infirm
Henry Ford's Railroad
Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (DSS&A)
Damn Small Salary & Abuse
Damn Slow Service & Abuse
Dead Slow Service & Agony
Delayed, Short-Steamed & Antiquated
Damn Slow and Sure Awful
Damn Slow, Shabby Affair
Empire & Southeastern (E&SE)
Empire Slow & Easy
Empire & Something Else
Escanaba & Lake Superior (E&LS)
Easy, Lazy & Slow
Grand Rapids & Indiana (GR&I)
Go Ragged & Independent
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (LS&MS)
Long Stops & Muddy Stations
Long Suffering & Much Sorrow
Large Stations & Miserable Salaries
Less Sleep & More Speed
Lake Superior & Ishpeming (LS&I)
Lazy, Slow & Independent
Manistee & Northeastern (M&NE)
Manistee & Nowhere Else [from retired C&O employee via Mark Hershoren]
Manistique & Lake Superior (M&LS)
"The Haywire" [from Mike Repp]
Muck & Loon Shit
Pere Marquette (PM)
Poor Management
Pontiac, Oxford & Northern (PO&N)
Poor, Old & Neglected
Pants, Overalls & Necktie
Port Huron & Detroit (PH&D)
Poor, Hungry & Destitute
Intellectual Line (PhD)
Toledo & Western (T&W)
Teeter & Wooble
Tired & Weary
Amtrak United States AMTK
Amcrash
Amtrash
Damntrash
Amlate
AMTRAP
Ashley, Drew and Northern Railway Southern United States AD&N
All Day and Night
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Eastern and midwestern United States B&O
Beets and Onions
Beefsteak and Onions
Black River and Western Railroad Northern New Jersey BRWRR
Bland, Rusted and Weedy
BNSF Railway Western United States BNSF Buy Now, Sell Fast[2]
Bye Now, Santa Fe[3]
Big New Santa Fe[3]
Big Nothing So Far
Better Not Shit (on the) Frisco
Big Nasty Santa Fe
Been Nothing Since Frisco
Buy Norfolk Southern First
Better Not Send Freight
Boston and Maine Railroad Northeastern United States B&M
Beaten and Mismanaged
Bruised and Mangled
Busted and Mined
Busted and Mangled
Buffalo and South Western Railroad Northeast United States B&SW
Brandy and Soda Water
Burlington Northern Railroad Northern United States BN Big Nothing
Bad News
Canadian National Railway Canada and Midwest United States CN
Cooked Noodles
Canned Newbies
Crashes Normally
Crappy Nation
Collects No Revenue
Canadian Pacific Railway Canada CP
Can't Play
Chicago and North Western Railway Midwest United States C&NW
Cheap and Nothing Wasted
Can't and Never Will
Couldn't and Never Would
Chicago Great Western Railroad Midwest United States CGW
Great Weedy
CrabGrass and Weeds
Crabgrass Great Weedy
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Ohio CH&D
Charge High and Damn Rough Ride
Copper River and Northwestern Railway Alaska, United States CR&NW
Can't Run and Never Will
CSX Transportation Eastern United States CSX
Chicken Shit Xpress
Crash Spill Xplode
Cash Strapped Xpress
Can't See Xtras
Cat Shit Xpress
Chessie Sees Xploding Trains
Conrail's Southern Xtension
Chessie's Still Xperimenting
Can't Stop Xploding Tankcars
Delaware and Hudson New York, Pennsylvania D&H
Delay and Hesitate
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Hoboken to Buffalo DL&W
Delay, Linger and Wait
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Western United States DRGW
Dirty Rag & Greasy Wipe
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad Michigan and Ohio DT&I
Darn Trainees & Idiots
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Midwestern United States EJ&E
Egypt, Jerusalem & Elsewhere
Easy Jobs for Everyone
Erie Lackawanna Railway Eastern United States EL
Erie Lack-o-Money
Gateway Western Railway Missouri and Illinois GWWR
Great Wobbly Wobbly
The Wobbly
Green Bay and Western Wisconsin GBW
Grab you Bags and Walk
Guilford Rail System Northeastern United States GRS
Guilford Fail System
Guilty Rail System
Illinois Central Railroad Midwestern and Southern United States IC
Eye-See
Kansas City Southern Railroad Midwestern and Southern United States KCS
The Haywire
Kansas City Scrap
London and Port Stanley Railway Ontario, Canada L&PS
Liver and Pork Steak
Long Island Railroad New York City LIRR
The Liar's Route
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Southern United States L&N
Long and Narrow
The Old Reliable
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority New England MBTA
Mucho Bad Transit Attitude
Missouri Pacific Railroad Western United States MP
The Mop
MoPac
Montana Rail Link Western United States MRL
Milwaukee Road Lives
Monkeys Running Loose
Norfolk Southern Railway Eastern United States NS
Nazi Southern
New Southern
No Sense Railway
Nomore Steam
No Service
New York, Ontario and Western Railway New England, United States O&W
Old and Weary
the Old Woman
New York Susquehanna and Western Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York NYS&W
Now You Sit and Wait
Penn Central Railroad Northeastern United States PC
Plucked Clean
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Midwestern United States PFW&C
Paddy Finnigan's Wife and Children
Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway Quebec, Canada PP&J
Push, Pull and Jerk
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Virginia, United States RF&P
Rich Folks and Pedigrees
Run Fast and Push
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Midwestern and Southern United States SLSF
The Frisco
Seaboard System Railroad Eastern United States SBD
Slowly Breaking Down
Shit Comes Later
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Eastern United States SEPTA
Society for the Elimination of Public Transit Altogether
Southern Pacific Railroad Southwest United States SP
The Friendly
Sour Pete
Stinky Pete
Espee
Suffering Pathetic
Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad Southwest United States (proposed) SPSF Shouldn't Paint So Fast (this railroad merger was killed by the Federal Government after the equipment was repainted!)
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Northwestern United States SP&S
The North Bank Road
Springfield Terminal Railway Northeastern United States ST
Slow Trains
Shitty Trackage
Stupid Trainees
Staten Island Rapid Transit Eastern United States SIRT
Shall I Run Today?
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Chattanooga, TN TVRM
That Volunteer's Really Mad
Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada TH&B
Tramps, Hobos & Bums
To Hell & Back
Union Pacific Railroad Western United States UP
Under Powered
Unlimited Parking
Uncle Pete
Uncle Phil
Union Pissant
Union Pathetic
Ungodly Pleased
Onion Pacific
Western Pacific Railroad Western United States WP
(The) Wobbly
Willing People
Wild Pete
White Pass and Yukon Route Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia WP&YR
Wait Patiently, and You'll Ride
OCKLAWAHA