How fast did Victorian trains go?

These are early Victorian rail carriages 1840. Not fast by modern standards (going on British standards here) - 40–60 mph on busier secondary & main lines and 25–35 mph on rural routes. You might have got up to 60–70 mph on long haul express routes, but not much more.



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The speed of trains varied according to the conditions of tracks and bridges, dropping to nine miles per hour over hastily built sections and increasing to thirty-five miles per hour over smoother tracks. Most travelers of the early 1870*5 mentioned eighteen to twenty-two miles per hour as the average.

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Most travelers of the early 1870*5 mentioned eighteen to twenty-two miles per hour as the average. Although speeds were doubled within a decade, time-consuming stops and starts at more than two hundred stations and water tanks prevented any considerable reduction in total hours spent on the long journey.

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Back then, the common form of transit was horse and buggy. You were lucky to make 20 miles per hour at best. As for railroads, locomotives in the 1890s could approach 80 mph.

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In 1934, Flying Scotsman achieved the first authenticated 100 mph (161 km/h) by a steam locomotive.

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In 1870 it took approximately seven days and cost as little as $65 for a ticket on the transcontinental line from New York to San Francisco; $136 for first class in a Pullman sleeping car; $110 for second class; and $65 for a space on a third- or “emigrant”-class bench.

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By 1863 a quarter of the South's locomotives needed repairs and the speed of train travel in the South had dropped to only 10 miles an hour (from 25 miles an hour in 1861). Fuel was a problem as well. Southern locomotives were fueled by wood--a great deal of it.

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Accidents were compounded by running trains in both directions on single tracks and hasty and cheap trestle construction. In 1875, there were 1,201 train accidents. Five years later, in 1880, that rate had increased to 8,216 in one year.

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Faster inter-city trains: 1920–1941 Rail transportation was not high-speed by modern standards but inter-city travel often averaged speeds between 40 and 65 miles per hour (64 and 105 km/h).

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In the 1930s, the top and the average speeds between two cities using steam, electric or diesel power were 180 km/h and 135 km/h respectively.

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The first passenger trains were undeniably crude; they seldom traveled more than 20 miles per hour and meals were eaten quickly in station dining halls. Wooden benches were the standard seating accommodations and wood stoves furnished heat. Air conditioning was unheard of until the 1930s.

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An improved locomotive reached the ferocious speed of 30 mph in a speed test at Baltimore in 1831. The B&O stopped using horses to pull its carriages on July 31 of that year.

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Re: 1920s York to London Mostly journey times were about 4 hrs 20 mins but it obviously depended on the number of stops. Today, the tracks remain in use by CSX but everything else in this scene is long gone.

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In the South, most lines were still quite primative often using strap rail, namely a metal plate that was layed on top of a wooden rail cheap to make but lousy for speed, so slow speed were the flavor of the day, 15-20mph was likely tops on these lines.

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The BB 9200 hauled Le Capitole at 200 km/h. After the successful introduction of the Japanese Shinkansen in 1964, at 210 km/h (130 mph), the German demonstrations up to 200 km/h (120 mph) in 1965, and the proof-of-concept jet-powered Aérotrain, SNCF ran its fastest trains at 160 km/h (99 mph).

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Speeding bullets: Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains introduced the world to modern high speed rail travel. Most Shinkansen currently operate at a maximum of 300 kph (186 mph), but some hit 320 kph (200 mph). The long noses are designed to reduce sonic booms in tunnels.

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Some travelers continued to take wagons over the old trail as late as the 1920s. Why? Usually because they didn't have the money to buy train tickets to take their families west, or they had livestock that needed herding along, but sometimes just because they loved the old-timey adventure of it.

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Train wrecks were shockingly common in the last half of the 1800s. Train travel was quite safe in the first half century of the 1800s. Trains didn't go very fast and there weren't many miles of track laid down. But around 1853, the number of train wrecks and people killed on trains suddenly rose sharply.

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The longest regularly scheduled train in North America is Via Rail Canada's Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver, a distance of 2,775 miles (4,466 kilometers). The longest train in the USA is Amtrak's Texas Eagle between Chicago and Los Angeles via San Antonio, a distance of 2,728 miles (4,390 kilometers).

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Passengers shared benches and if they did not have traveling companions they were paired up with a partner, which Stevenson called “chums” to share a plank on which to sleep. They prepared their own food except when there were stops along the way. Trains could leave with no warning.

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