One invariably hears how one train can outdo the other, but as far as I can recollect, there have not been any steam loco races. I mean against each other on parellel tracks extending for, say, ten miles. There’re still enough of these ‘big boys’ left around the country to organise such a race. I’m sure it’ll be a sell-out.
The race, in my opinion, should be limited to steam engines. Why? They’re so much more romantic looking (for want of a better word).
As someone once said, they’re ghosts that refuse to die. What a perfect way to resurrect these giants to their former glory.
On the subject of speed, did the hogheads of old have any tricks up their bib denim overalls to speed things up, especially on the stretch run?
I heard in the realy old days (1800’s) the engineer would tighten the safety valve to squeez out more preasure in the boiler, very dangerous. I also heard that later the valves became tamper proof.
From the late '30s 'til the end of steam, the PRR and NYC would put on such a show daily departing Englewood, a suburban Chicago station. The most famous was the Pennsy’s Broadway Limited and the Central’s 20th Century Limited. With same departure times, the PRR K-4 Pacifics would unofficially race the NYC Hudsons on their parallel 7 mile straight track eastward.
Can’t say for sure, but even if diesels were in it, I think that they would lose. The gearing on most of them except maybe the new Amtracks top out around 80 mph.
…Absolutely, this “race” is probably the most dramatic and documented between two crack trains pulled with 1st class steam [of the era], and extra fare trains behind them that existed…There are paintings depicting this event and probably actual photos as well. I would guess it didn’t get any better than this event of the PRR and NYC heading out in the afternoon to charge east.
QM
Rail Fair '99 at California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, CA had time trials for Shays. Only one track so they took turns. Man, what a blast!
One of the outfits had a Tee shirt logo of “We got the Gears !”.
Lowell
That’s really interesting. Could that have been with Shays, I wonder? Also, do you think the train responded immediately to that adjustment - or, did it take time for it to do so- I believe that the only reason the engineer would do such a dangerous thing would be because of an emergency like say crossing a weak bridge.
Neil
A search on Charles “Mile-a-minute” Murphy brings up a considerable amount of information about a June 30, 1899, event when a cyclist set a new world speed record drafting behind a Long Island Railroad passenger train on a specially prepared stretch of track.
I find it very funny that we are talking about train drag racing. I was reading Classic Toy Trains (5/03 page 130) about a marx pre war 999 steam locomotive. The author (Neil Besougloff) noted that he used this and other O scale 3 rail trains in a drag race. Here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to consider such a thing!
Icemanmike-Milwaukee
Ill race for pink slips…or umm Transfer slips! 
There are some classic photos (maybe movies?) of the NYC versus Pennsy race out of Chicago in the days of steam. That must have been a real thrill for the passengers and crew. Evidently the NYC Hudsons generally prevailed – they were newer technology even though the drivers were a bit smaller than the K4s.
Steam locomotives are at their weakest when starting and at their highest HP at speed. Diesels are just the opposite. So if the race is long enough for both to really get going a top steam locomotive – let’s say the PRR 4-4-4-4 which some suspected could have easily hit 130 if allowed to (and there have always been rumors that some engineer did just that) – would probably beat the fastest diesel. But if it is a sprint race – maybe not.
As to actual races don’t forget the most thrilling one of all: the General versus the Texas during the Civil War, when actual lives were at stake (and Andrews and other raiders were hanged for their daring). The conductor Fuller used foot, a handcar and an aged old industrial steamer the Yohah before getting a comparable locomotive, the Texas, to the General. Accounts suggest that some curves were taken at such speeds that the locomotives were almost airborn, or at least might have been hardly touching the rails on one side-- shades of that Marx 0-27 drag race!
Both engines are preserved. The Disney film of the Great Locomotive Chase is pretty accurate; the Buster Keaton film The General is not but hugely entertaining and has marvelous scenes of old steam locomotives at work (plus some excellent comedy).
Not a race but a tug of war – the old movie Danger Lights features a tug of war between a Milwaukee Road electric and a steam locomotive, recreating an actual event on the Milwaukee.
Dave Nelson
While the “drag races” between the NYC and PRR out of the Chicago area are well known and documented, I’d contend that the “tug-o-war” contests occasionally held at RR company outings were a far more spectacular event. Just such a contest appears in the vintage 1930’s film “Danger Lights” and is really quite something to behold! While rather less breathtaking and certainly more drawn out, I’ve read of carbuilding contests between rival shops or companies as well.
John
…And go back farther yet, and Companies competed to see who could build the most milage in track in a day…
QM
Then there was the railroad equivalent of the demolition derby, when a promoter would take a couple of locomotives ready for the scrap yard and stage a head-on collision on a branch line that was idle on Saturdays or Sundays. Maybe that’s where the term “cornfield meet” originated.
I can recall a 611 trip from Fort Wayne to Calumet on NKP track with speeds up to 90mph & pull a full passenger train. I thought there have been stories in Trains about the NKP berk’s flying past the NYC diesels on their way to Buffalo.