b&m 1566 wrote:Well I learned something new there. I take it that there are not many railroads out there operating on a class one with passengers. I know the CSRR operates on a class 2 track, but I’m not sure about the Winnipesaukee Railroad or the Hobo Railroad. Someone did tell me that they don’t go over 15mph. To me even though it’s a scenic train, 15mph is a little to slow.
The speeds are a result of federal standards regarding track and they go
back to the Penn Central days when derailments were happening "every
hour on the hour" with more in between. When the standards were put
into place, in some cases whole lines were restricted to 10 MPH or even
sometimes 8 MPH. Some of the lines were eventually upgraded and fixed
up for higher speeds but a good number of other lines were either sold
off and became small railroads or were abandoned and torn up.
The Boston and Maine had some lines that were in this catagory and most
of them today are history.
Noel Weaver