Or, fire up your GPS on your smartphone............If you have a window seat, time how long it takes to pass from one milage sign to the next. In NY, those signs resemble tombstones, in other states, they are metal. 60 sec = 60 mph (a mile a minute), 30 sec = 120 mph (not too likely) 45 sec = 90 mph. etc etc. The Lake Shore limited hits 90 on occasion.
LSL actually hits upto 110 on occasions between Hudson and Albany. It hit 108 yesterday on my trip back from Utica to New York.If you have a window seat, time how long it takes to pass from one milage sign to the next. In NY, those signs resemble tombstones, in other states, they are metal. 60 sec = 60 mph (a mile a minute), 30 sec = 120 mph (not too likely) 45 sec = 90 mph. etc etc. The Lake Shore limited hits 90 on occasion.
Yeah, you're right. So at least theoretically LSL (and the Michigan Corridor trains) will be faster than CL on that segment if that segment does get upgraded.
Actually, 45 seconds is 80 mph. Ninety mph would be 40 seconds per mile.If you have a window seat, time how long it takes to pass from one milage sign to the next. In NY, those signs resemble tombstones, in other states, they are metal. 60 sec = 60 mph (a mile a minute), 30 sec = 120 mph (not too likely) 45 sec = 90 mph. etc etc. The Lake Shore limited hits 90 on occasion.
All Amtrak equipment could be run at 125mph if the trucks and suspension were replaced. I have a feeling 125mph will be Amtrak's new standard on equipment with the exception of high speed trainsets.
That explains a lot.
It's tied for the fastest train west of the Mississippi. The Michigan service (Wolverine Service/Blue Water) operates 5 mph faster between Kalamazoo and New Buffalo, MI.
Except that the graph of speed vs. time is not linear.Quote from above: "Actually, 45 seconds is 80 mph. Ninety mph would be 40 seconds per mile."
The way I figured it, 60 sec. = 60 mph. Half that time, 30 sec would twice the speed, 120 mph. 45 sec is half way between these two times, so the speed for 45 sec. should be half way between 60 and 120, or 90 mph.
I've heard it phrased as being the only LD train able to break 79 MPH (obviously incorrect per the NYP-ALB stuff).
Part of the source of the confusion is that in the 60s most of the heavy duty higher speed stuff was out west, and very little in the east. Then in the minds of people, with NECIP, speeds on the NEC overtook the speeds out west, while speeds out west generally went down. But the other upgrades in the east got lost in the noise. Also since Santa Fe was the only major road out west that did not tear down their ATS thus enabling 90 mph running, it stayed in the minds of people as an outstanding high speed route.
The ballpark aspirations are NYP - ALB in 2 hours and ALB - BUF in 4 hours or less with 3 hours mentioned as a stretch goal. But as you can imagine this will take a while to achieve, specially between ALB and BUF, and of necessity will be achieved in numerous small steps rather than in one fell swoop.
That was my understanding as well. However I was also under the impression that the ancient baggage cars currently in use would still prevent the vast majority of Superliner trains from surpassing much more than 90MPH or so. Even if you replaced the trucks I don't think that would be enough to allow the baggage cars to reach 125MPH. That's the thing about Amtrak; you remove one restriction only to reveal yet another and another and another. America's passenger rail network is a wonderful mess of overlapping limits and complications that's interesting to consider but not so great to routinely depend upon. Or at least that's my view on the subject.
I did that, and it turned out we were going so fast that we'd left the tracks and had gone into space!I usually just stick my head out - and wait for the next "THUD"!
Superliners currently are restricted to 100mph. Baggage cars are restricted to 110mph.
