Many midpoints make this interesting.
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I think the premise of a long HSR route serving shorter intermediate trips is sound, but you have to sell it to politicians. The first questions they will ask is how long it takes from NY to CHI. Once you tell them 7 hours they will have tuned out and moved on.
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In my opinion you have to be something of a hopeless crayonisto to propose an âHSRâ route that goes north through the Hudson Highlands and then up West Albany Hill from a standing start. The Empire Corridor was hard enough to get to 110mph peak, which was a fine high speed in 1907 but not in an age of regional jets. Where you locate a suitable grade-separated route either across much of New York State with suitable curves, or across Ohio even with the generous curvature of the LS&MS, I donât see. (In theory there is the old grade of the West Shore, but its curves arenât HSR-suitable even with modern viaduct and TLM constructionâŚ)
It might be fun to rework the 1967 proposed Sikorsky/UA schedule for the TurboTrain to see what a good modern tilting train could produce on a cost-effective (basically HrSR) routing. I doubt youâll get a day schedule competitive with flying for the longer destination pairs, and the incremental traffic may not support the tremendous construction expense âby itselfâ (meaning youâd need the deep pockets of a motivated development firm like Fortress to do the equivalent of lots of targeted PUDs too).
The obvious thing to resuscitate here would have been the Canada Southern. See how the evil scheming comes home to roost!
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A CASO route would put Detroit (most flights for an intermediate city) on the line, however, the border crossings into and out of Canada would eat up any shortcut time saving. Not even HSR can overcome that lost time.
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Youâd handle the âsealed borderâ crossings with limited access at points either on the US or Canadian side, with officers of both customs services working the train either side of the nominal âstopâ. Of course that applied before the Trump administration ruined any real chance of cooperation with CanadaâŚ
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The people of 1907 could only wish they had trains of 110 mph. It was more like 80 something. And that was only one route.
The Camden Atlantic City flyers were the fastest trains on earth per literally every tabulated list Iâve seen. The MAS per employee timetables was 75 but many were clocked in the 80s. I posted a log of a special chartered run in 1907 that hit 95 for a few stretches but since they were trying to break a record that wasnât a normal speed.
The first authorized 100s in the US were in 1935 with the Hiawatha.
But agree with the crayonista view of Harnishâs latest idea. Heâs a decent enough guy but everything is made of unobtainium. I worked with him for a while but once I realized it was not feasible I gave up. I got tired of nothing coming to fruition.
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Specific reference to the Chicago-Nrw York Air Line Railway, and to the Gould Ramsey Survey of 1906.
Weedâs system was tested up to 150mph although I have serious, serious doubts it would scale to passenger size, even with âHyperloop-styleâ seating 
The Germans had a car in 1903 that would go as fast as contemporary track could be made to support it.
If I recall correctly, the first 100mph operation with steam that established the running speed was at least a year earlier, with one of the F6 Baltics (they looked gangly but they could fly!) which sustained a dynamometer-backed speed well over 100mph for a sizable number of miles.
Wiki: In 1934, the Milwaukee Road F6 no. 6402 (similar to CNW 4000 class but faster) reached 103.5 miles per hour (166.6 kilometres per hour) and, in 1936, the German class 05.002 reached 124.5 miles per hour (200.4 kilometres per hour). That record was broken by the British 4-6-2 [no. 4468 Mallardnon 3 July 1938, when it reached 126 miles per hour (203 kilometres per hour), still the world speed record for steam traction.
It was a great test run. It proved that 100mph could be sustained with steam locos on level track and paved the way for the Hiawathaâs. Without it the Milwaukee probably would have gone to diesels like the Burlington for CHI-MSP.
I found a nice quote on the German record.
" In October 1903, a German AEG railcar achieved a speed of 210.2 kilometers per hour (130.6 mph) on a test track between Marienfelde and Zossen, setting a new railway speed record. This record, held by Siemens and AEG, was the first time in rail history that a speed of over 200 km/h was achieved. It would stand for 51 years as the overall railway speed record."
For those interested in reading about the exploit see:
As you can see the experimental line was engineered to a very high and unique construction standard. It would take Germany over 70 years to match those speeds in service.
Wiki: The Schienenzeppelin or rail zeppelin was an experimental railcar which resembled a Zeppelin airship in appearance. It was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929. Propulsion was by means of a pusher propeller located at the rear: it accelerated the railcar to 230.2 km/h (143 mph) setting the [land speed record for a petrol powered rail vehicle. Only a single example was ever built, which due to safety concerns remained out of service and was finally dismantled in 1939.
So faster than the Siemens train.
Serves me to quote AI. Oof!
Thanks for correction.
Was the German record another of little-mustache manâs attempts to prove that everything German was better?
That is small-minded and insulting.
Obviously the electric record was set nearly 3 decades before Hitler came to power in the first place. Last time I looked, 1929 was earlier than 1933. So were the German experiments in lightweight trains pulled by Hugh-speed steam locomotives which were part of the inspiration for the original Hiawatha train (see also the Henschel-Wegmann-Zug and the interesting tank locomotives built to pull it).
As propaganda for the National Socialists these were not âpushedâ and the Diesel railcars got the political attention.
It could certainly be argued that the BR 05 locomotives were given funding for political purposes â they are almost comic-book overkill for practical contemporary express locomotives (especially 05 003 as built with its interesting alternative to oil firing). There is a story for which I have no citations that says the DR development people resented having to put the eagle-and-swastika on their work⌠but much was certainly made of it being the first locomotive to reach over 200 km/h. There remain the seemingly obvious questions about why Mallardâs record (the real one, not the fake from 1952) was not demolished in the following months if the BR 05 was such a massively superior designâŚ
Meanwhile, a ducted fan, or platform doors, would have solved most of the propeller issue (at least as well as Rennieâs car which had a prop at each end!) and using a variable-pitch prop with beta capability would have solved more of the perceived performance shortcomings. I have always thought simple drive to one axle would have given âenoughâ power to overcome stalls on grades, headwinds, etc. The real problem with the Schienenzeppelin was its glider-like construction (tube and fabric; I think it was doped or composite like a Weymann body but canât find a reference) so it looked considerably more advanced structurally than it actually was. (Compare the actual Zeppelin-Goodyear construction of the Comet train). We had some really light cars too, like the Stout Railplane; I think the Clark Auto-Tram was scarily in this category with a GM 16-cylinder motor!)
I WAS replying to Charlieâs post about the 05.002. That record was set in 1936, the same year as the Berlin Olympics where the little corporal ignored Jesse Owens. So it wasnât âsmall minded and insultingâ at all. I could be like some on here and report you for insulting a fellow poster, but Iâll just consider the source and move on with my life.
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You were replying with the word ârecordsâ, which obviously involves more than just the 05 002 record.
Threaten me again and youâll see about reporting.
No need for rancor.
Backshop: I also thought you were responding the my closer preceding post about the Rail Zeppelin.
In re: Adolf. I donât think he was âinâ to trains. He was a pioneer in political campaigning via airplane, especially the Ju-52, Tante Ju.
The little corporal may not have liked trains but he had a very heavy armored one that he routinely used along with his deputies once he kicked off the second global conflict.
I never threatened you. Grow up.