How fast are we going?

Back in the day, when the Second and Fourth Districts (and part of the Third) were jointed rail, I could regulate speed by the sound.  The Santa Fe engines had a Chicago Pneumatic or Barco speed recorder that was pretty close, but, after Amtrak took over the passenger service, their engines had electronic speedometers that were not at all trustworthy.

Just multiply by 9.

Here's how I figured it out:

Multiply by 6 (10-second periods per minute), multiply by 60 (minutes per hour), divide by 40 (poles per mile).

7 poles in 10 seconds, times 6 is 42 poles per minute, times 60 is 2520 poles per hour, divide by 40 is 63 miles per hour.

When I ran tourist service I was generally limited to 10 mph.  In both steam and diesel I used to look out the opposite window and gauge how fast the trees were going by.  One version of the tourist road I ran on arranged for a gp-11 lease unit that had a speedometer.  Not being a suspicious person I assumed it would be right.  So I set off on an engine light move to bring this new monster in from the interchange point.  Well very shortly the whole loco was rocking side to side like nobody's business.  I was very concerned that the engine was about to tip over and become upside down or on its side in the adjacent ditch. 

  I was able to get the engine back under control in short order and began ignoring the speedo.  In the meantime the guy serving as my conductor barely had any time in real trains.  I couldn't decide if his face had turned more white or more green!!  I think about about another 3 seconds and he would have lost his lunch or messed his pants.  Anyway, that's how I started to find out that locomotive speedometers can be tampered with!

If x + the number of poles counted.

&

in y number of seconds

then miles per hour  = 90x / y

40 poles in 60 seconds equals 90 x 40 /60 = 60 miles per hour

are you sure you were not in the critical speed range.  This occurred at about 7 mph on the c&nw geeps and **** near tipped the engines over.  They even had a sign for the engineer warning of critical speed at 7 mph.

No - I figured I was doing actually doing about 18 on a section of track that was rated for ten.  Assuming the speedo was right I was concentrating on it instead of my usual "look out the opposite window method".  I may have gone through that speed, combined with jointed rail on less than perfect trackbed...  anyway it was scary as heck.  I was also absolutely sure that if I had rolled that loco that the fledgling little tourist rr would have gone bankrupt and I most likely would have had my license yanked.  Thing is that rr went out of business in another year and a half anyway due to poor management.  And the guy in charge was actually my conductor that day!

You guys are something else.

At 40 poles/mile (which is what we used to have), take the number of seconds to go four poles and multiply by ten to give number of sec/mile and thus your speed which being a good railroader you know by memory.

10mph = 360 sec. (6 min.)

15mph = 240 sec. (4 min.)

20mph = 180 sec. (3 min.)

25mph = 144 sec. (2 min 24 sec.)

30mph = 120 sec. (2 min.)

35mph = 103 sec. (1 min. 43 sec.)

40mph = 90 sec. (1 min. 30 sec.0

45mph = 80 sec. (1 min. 20 sec.)

50mph = 72 sec. (1 min. 12 sec.)

or you can consult your speed table located in your timetable.

Wyhog

Everything you said was true but you would have flunked the algebra exam.

The poster asked for a formula.

First, they took up the jointed rail then they cut down the poles. What's the formula for that, eh?  

When I was doing my OJT on Conrail I asked my Engineer how to keep within the speed limit when the speedometer was broken and his response was "Don't worry about the stinking speed limit. They only enforce that when you Wreck".

FORMULA:

MPH = 9 * X

X = # of poles passed in 10 seconds.

What does the "*" indicate in the  "MPH = 9 * X  ?

The asterisk is typically used to represent the multiplication symbol when using a computer.

OK, now let me get this straight,,,, "pennsyk4" makes "Wyhog" look like a dummy?????

THAT has to be the laugh of 2014!!!

Thanks guys for the replies. a few different methods... Anyway next time any forum member is riding a train  ,get your watch out and figure out how fast you're going (if you can find any mile posts or telegraph poles) (if you want)  

It is actually much easier to look at the handheld GPS unit.

No cheating with GPS , In your mind, you're on a steam engine. Now relax and and count down slowly from 10 ..... 9......... 8................. 7............the year is 1943...

So being in the cab of SP4449 and using the GPS devise to verify the old 1941 mechanical speed recorder, doesn't count?

If you have mileposts the easiest way is to divide seconds per mile into 3600.

No, it is to use your brain because you already know what the time is for each speed.

Canada was mentioned by the OP. Everything would be in metric. 1 kilometer equals .621 miles. All the the signage would be metric.

The train is traveling at 37.26 miles per hour.

Nope!  Railroad mileage signs didn't change. Why we went metric is beyond me? I never know what the temperature is or what size wrench to grab..... Exception...- minus forty is minus forty either way.