Re: SVRy: How fast did they go?

Southpark, you are quite right. My elderly neighbor grew up around Hereford which is a small community down the Burnt River that is quite a distance off of the SVRy. Probably as the crow flies it is closer to Baker than Whitney, but Dooley Mtn. lies in between. She said when they went to the "big city" Baker, they would ride horseback which I assume was an all day ride to Whitney to catch the SVRy pass. train. In later days of course a road was built over Dooley that became a highway today, and this is the road that the SVRy trucks took from Bates that supplanted the SVRy rr mainline. As you point out, after spending hours horseback, the SVRy passenger train was a rocket!

Martin, thanks for posting the neat photo. I had not seen a photo of that wreck. That looks like the big cut that is at about MP 32. If so, the cut was done as a grade revision late 1916 or early 1917. That must have been a scary situation for the engine crew because within the cut, there wouldn't have been a safe place "to joint the birds".

Casey Carlson in one of his interviews with the late Elvin Endicott does mention that Elvin's uncle got fired from the SVRy for running too fast on the pass. train, such that he clobbered a farmers "prize" bull with the engine and the quote as I recall it was they were going so fast that when they hit the bull, it's parts came through the cab windows.