by Bill McLain
The 16-cylinder engine generates 3,300 horsepower. The fuel tank holds 1,300 gallons. To give you an idea of how much fuel that is, assume you have a 20-gallon tank in your car and use a full tank each week. At that rate, you would only use 1,040 gallons for the entire year, not enough to fill up the Titan’s tank just one time.
Heavy-duty mining trucks like the Titan take time to build and are expensive. In order to be cost effective, they must operate for much longer hours than a normal truck. There are 8,760 hours in a year, and a typical mining truck is operated 5,000 or 6,000 hours a year. That means it runs 14 to 16 hours a day, every day of the year.
Another giant mining truck built by the Terex Corporation set a new record for continuous operation at a mine on Minnesota’s Iron Range. It was continuously operated for 8,128 hours. In other words, it worked for well over 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a full year.
If you ran your personal automobile 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, do you think it would last for a year?
If all the trains in the country were put end to end, how long would the line be? (It doesn’t include the Cannonball Express.)
If all the freight-hauling railroad trains in the United States were lined up end to end, they would form a line over 18,000 miles long. This doesn’t include passenger, commuter, or excursion trains. Even so, there wouldn’t be enough room in this country to keep them in a straight line. The line would run coast to coast six times.
The following facts were used to calculate the length of the line:
There are 534 freight railroad companies in the United States.
The freight railroad companies have approximately 23,500 locomotives.
The average number of cars per train is around 68.
The average length of a car is 60 feet.
If you multiply the length of each car (60) times the number of cars in a typical train (68) times the number of freight trains in the United States (23,500), you’ll get an answer of 95,880,000 feet. Converting this to miles gives you 18,159 miles.
FACTOIDS
The first rail was laid in the United States in 1828, but after two years it still consisted of just 30 miles of track.
Andrew Jackson was the first U.S. president to ride the train when he traveled from Baltimore, Maryland, to Ellicott’s Mills in 1833.
In Western Australia, on one section of track, trains travel almost 300 miles in a straight line without making a single turn.
In 1850, the United States had over 9,000 miles of track in operation, which was more than all of the track in the rest of the world combined. In just 10 years the figure more than tripled to 30,000 miles of operating track.
Prior to railroads, clocks in cities within the same state often varied by 30 minutes or more. The railroad created time zones with Standard Time in 1883, so that train schedules could be met.
In 1944, a train in Salerno, Italy, stalled in a long tunnel, but the engine continued to burn, producing fumes from a lower-grade coal used during the war. By the time the crew got the train moving again, 500 people had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
DID YOU KNOW?
Many people have heard the song about the brave engineer Casey Jones, but not many know the true story of what happened the night Casey rode to his death.
Casey’s real name was John Luther Jones, and he was born near the town of Cayce, Kentucky. People pronounced the name of the town as “Kay-see,” and that’s how he got the nickname Casey.
His trademark was the way he blew the train’s whistle. When people heard the telltale signal, they’d say, “There goes Casey Jones.” In 1900 he was transferred to Mississippi and became an engineer on the Illinois Central famous “Cannonball Express.”
On Sunday night, April 30, 1900, one of the engineers became ill and Casey volunteered to take his run. He slowly pulled engine No. 382 out of the yard into a foggy night. There was a light rain. Although starting behind schedule, Casey was determined to make up the time. He was pulling only six passenger cars and thought he could make the express run in record time.
Casey rounded a curve going about 75 mph. Up ahead two freight trains had pulled off on a siding to let the express pass. Unfortunately, an air hose had broken on one of the cars and the last two cars hadn’t reached the siding. The fireman yelled out that there was a caboose sticking out on the track. Casey applied the air brakes and managed to slow the engine to about 50 mph. The fireman realized the train couldn’t stop and jumped from the engine.
The Cannonball Express plowed into the freight train’s boxcars, jumped the track, and kept going for some distance before flipping over on its side. Casey Jones was killed. He could have saved himself by jumping, but he stayed and continued applying the brake, thereby lessening the impact. Because of this, none of the passengers was killed or seriously injured.
The freight railroad company claimed that Casey was completely at fault because he had ignored warning signals given by a flagman from the freight train.
In the history of railroads, this was not a major accident. However, an engine wiper, Wallace Saunders, idolized Casey and wrote a song about the wreck of the Cannonball Express. The song became popular throughout the country and made Casey Jones an American folk hero.
Casey Jones was just one of a long line of brave locomotive engineers who died with one hand on the whistle and the other on the air brake.
What is the fastest propeller-driven plane in the world? (Hope you can bear this one.)
The world’s fastest propeller-driven airplane was the Russian TU-95/142 Bear. The plane had four engines, each producing 14,795 horsepower. Each engine drove an 8-bladed counter-rotating propeller. During level flight, the airplane could reach speeds up to 574 mph.
The fastest speed of any piston-engine aircraft was attained by Rare Bear, a modified Grumman F8F Bearcat. In 1989, Lyle Shelton flew it over a timed course in Las Vegas, Nevada, and reached a speed of just over 528 mph.
It’s interesting that both record-breaking airplanes were named Bear.
FACTOIDS
The world’s smallest piloted biplane was Bumble Bee II, built and flown by Robert H. Starr. It was only 8 feet 10 inches long, with a wingspan of just 5.5 feet, and could reach speeds of up to 190 mph. It crashed and was destroyed in 1988. The smallest monoplane is Baby Bird, built by Donald Stilts. Just 11 feet long, with a wingspan of 6 feet 4 inches, it has reached speeds of 110 mph.
In 1998, pilot Brian Milton and copilot Keith Reynolds were the first to fly a microlight airplane around the world. They also broke a 74-year-old record for global flight in a single-engine, open-cockpit aircraft.
Although most people know that Charles Lindbergh made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, not that many know that the first nonstop transpacific flight was made by Major Clyde Pangbonn and Hugh Herndon when they flew from Sabishiro Beach, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington.
The largest propeller ever used on an airplane was 22 feet 7.5 inches in diameter (taller than three six-foot men standing on top of one another). It was used on a Linke-Hofmann R II built in Germany and flown in 190.
DID YOU KNOW?
An aircraft race held in 1934 is considered to be “the great air race,” although it was more like a free-for-all.
The city of Melbourne, Australia, decided to host an airplane race between their city and London, England, in order to celebrate the centenary of the state of Victoria. A millionaire agreed to sponsor the race if they named it after him, which they did. It was called the MacRobertson England to Australia Air Race.
The race consisted of six legs, the first four more than 2,000 miles each. The course covered 16 countries and 3 continents, and required day and night flying over the snake-infested jungles of India, jagged mountains, deserts, the Bay of Bengal (which nobody had ever flown over), and the shark-infested Timor Sea. There was also a good chance the pilots would have to brave fierce tropical storms and blinding sandstorms that could rise to 20,000 feet.
There were n
o rules except the flight path. An airplane of any size with any amount of power could enter, and the crew could be as small or as large as desired. The race started in London at dawn on October 20, 1934. Although 64 people registered for the race, only 20 showed up.
In the first two days some pilots became lost, others had mechanical problems, and the first accident occurred when a plane flipped over when landing in Syria.
On the third day the first fatality occurred. A plane with two Englishmen crashed and both were killed. That same day, two other Englishmen, Charles W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black, flew the last 300 miles over water with just one engine functioning. They risked death when they landed on a rain-soaked field to refuel.
Scott and Black had had only two hours sleep since leaving London. They triumphantly landed their deHaviland DH88 Comet in Melbourne just 70 hours, 54 minutes, and 18 seconds after leaving London. They had flown halfway around the world in just under three days.
Entries from the United States finished second and third.
Hail Britannia!
What was the China Clipper? (It was definitely not an oriental barber.)
In 1934, no one believed it would be possible to fly passengers across the Pacific Ocean. In fact, 13 pilots had already died attempting the perilous journey. However, the founder of Pan Am, Juan Trippe, believed that an airplane could fly nonstop from San Francisco to Honolulu and then refuel by hopping from island to island until it reached the Philippines, 8,000 miles away. Trippe’s plan was to establish transpacific mail service.
The islands to be used for refueling stops needed airbases, so Trippe loaded ships with the material needed to build the bases and sent them to Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam.
The airplane selected to make the trip was a giant flying boat, the Martin M-130, named the China Clipper. It was the largest flying boat ever built up to that time, with a wing span of 130 feet and a length of 84.5 feet. In 1935, it took off on its maiden flight with Captain Ed Musick at the controls. It lifted off the waters of San Francisco Bay and flew the 8,000 miles to Manila, in the Philippines, in 59.75 hours flying time. It carried 100,000 pieces of mail on the first transpacific airline flight. A week later, the China Clipper returned to San Francisco carrying 108,000 pieces of mail.
The momentous flight made the world seem a little smaller at that time. Two more Martin aircraft were put into service: the Philippine Clipper and the Hawaii Clipper. In 1936, the Hawaii Clipper began the first passenger service between California and the Philippines. The plane could hold 32 passengers and had overnight berths for 18. Among the nine passengers on the first flight were Fortune Ryan II, the man who had built Charles Lindbergh’s plane, Spirit of Saint Louis.
Pan Am’s clipper ships continued flying to the Orient until the outbreak of World War II, with only one major tragedy. Captain Ed Musick, the first to fly the transpacific route, and his five crewmen died when the Samoan Clipper disappeared on a flight from Pago Pago to New Zealand.
FACTOIDS
When the China Clipper took off on its maiden flight, it was supposed to fly between the towers of the uncompleted Bay Bridge. However, the pilot realized he couldn’t get up enough speed to clear the wires, so he dove down at the last minute, flew under the bridge cables, and slithered his way through construction wires until he was in the clear.
Later models of the Pan Am clipper fleet had dressing rooms, a dining salon, a bridal suite, and seats that converted into bunks. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt celebrated his birthday in the salon of a Pan Am clipper on his way home from a conference with Winston Churchill in Casablanca.
When Japanese planes bombed Wake Island, they strafed the Philippine Clipper sitting in the lagoon. Although more than 90 bullets pierced the aircraft’s hull, it could still fly. The pilot flew it just above sea level to avoid detection. After refueling at Midway Island, the clipper flew on to a safe landing in Hawaii.
The Pacific Clipper was halfway between New Caledonia and New Zealand when Captain Robert Ford heard that war had broken out in the Pacific. Rather than risk crossing the Pacific Ocean to reach San Francisco, he decided to go the other direction and circle the globe. When he arrived in New York a month later, he had not only flown 31,000 miles, but had also completed the first around-the-world flight by a commercial airliner.
DID YOU KNOW?
The term “clipper” is probably derived from the verb “clip,” meaning to move quickly. It was given to sleek sailing ships known for their beauty and speed. Such ships were called Yankee clippers. The age of the clippers lasted for just a decade, from the late 1840s to the mid 1850s. Nonetheless, they had a profound impact on world trade.
Prior to the design of the Yankee clipper, England ruled the seas with heavily armed merchant ships that had a top speed of three or four knots. However, the long, lean, and beautiful Yankee clippers could travel at 20 knots or more. Even when heavily loaded, they could maintain such speeds over long periods of time. It was not uncommon for a clipper ship to average 400 miles in a 24-hour period.
Sadly, most of the sleek clipper ships have long since gone. A few, like the Cutty Sark, are now museums.
Although some of these tall ships still sail the seas, they are usually not available to the public. One exception is the Clipper City, a perfect replica of the original clipper.
Pan Am’s clipper aircraft have been gone for decades. But if you want to sail on a sleek clipper ship, you can charter the Clipper City at its home port in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.
What makes sled dogs run? (They’re not running to find mush to eat.)
There is one main reason why sled dogs run. They love it! It’s almost an inbred trait. Although they all love to run, they have to be trained to run harmoniously as part of a dog team. How well they learn to perform in a team depends on their driver, who is called a “musher.”
Although almost any large dog can be trained to pull a sled, the two most popular breeds are the Alaskan malamute and the Siberian husky. The Alaskan malamute is a large dog, weighing 75 to 85 pounds, and is used for pulling heavy weights. The Siberian husky is faster and smaller, weighing 35 to 65 pounds. The huskies were originally used for herding reindeer, pulling loads, and other tasks. Other popular sled dogs are the samoyed, laika, and American Eskimo breeds. They are all large and powerful dogs with thick coats and great stamina. A team of such dogs can pull a sled and person for hundreds of miles.
The use of sled dogs goes back thousands of years. They were used not only for transportation but also for protection, hunting, and companionship. Famous polar explorers such as Byrd, Peary, and Amundsen all used sled dogs. Around 1873, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used dog-team patrols, and other dog teams delivered mail throughout Alaska and Canada.
In some areas of the world, dog teams are still used for transportation, but most of them are now engaged in the sport of sled dog racing.
FACTOIDS
Siberian huskies were raised in Siberia by the Chukchi people, who kept the breed pure for hundreds of years. When pulling a sled, a husky can burn twice the number of calories burned by an athlete cycling in the Tour de France bicycle race.
Robert Peary was the first man to reach the North Pole. He took 240 king Eskimo dogs with him, and 40 of them went all the way to the pole. Peary might not have reached the pole without the help of what many consider to be the best sled dogs in the world.
A dog sled race was one of the events in the 1932 Winter Olympics. The race was won by E. Goddard of Canada.
Although dog sled drivers are called mushers, they do not start the team moving by yelling “mush” (a corruption of the French word marche, meaning “go”). They use the words hike to start the team, gee to turn it right, haw to turn it left, and easy to slow it down.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 1925 a case of diphtheria was discovered in Nome, Alaska. To avoid a disastrous epidemic, the residents had to be inoculated with antitoxin serum, but the only available serum was in Anchor
age. The only two planes in Fairbanks had been dismantled for the winter and even had they been available, flying an open cockpit plane in —40°F stormy weather would have been almost impossible. If a plane carrying the serum crashed, the valuable serum would be lost.
It was thought that the only solution was to send the serum from Anchorage to the small town of Nenana by train and then relay it overland by dog sleds to Nome, 674 miles away. To make the run, 20 drivers were recruited, along with 100 dogs. The drivers were Native Americans, Inuits, mail carriers, and freighters who all had experience traveling by dog sled.
The first team set out with the precious 20-pound package of serum. The package was relayed from team to team as the dog sled teams drove through Alaska’s harsh interior and across the frozen ice of the Bering Sea, enduring Arctic blizzards along the way. In just a little over five days (127 hours), the last team, led by a dog named Balto, swept into Nome with the serum. Because of the determination of the drivers and the heroism of their dogs, many lives were saved.
Since 1973, this historic serum run has been commemorated with the Iditarod Sled Dog Race between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. The course is around 1,100 miles long and crosses two mountain ranges as well as the frozen pack ice of Norton Sound. It takes two to three weeks to complete the race.
Early Athabascan Indians in Alaska called their hunting ground Haiditarod, meaning “the distant place.” Miners who settled on the old hunting grounds spelled it as Iditarod, and that’s what the race is called today.
