The Empire State Express was one of the named passenger trains and onetime flagship of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (a predecessor of the modern New York Central Railroad). It became the world's first high-speed passenger train on September 14, 1891, when it covered the 436 miles (702 kilometers) between New York City and Buffalo in just 7 hours and 6 minutes (including stops). The train averaged 61.4 miles-per-hour (98.8 km/h), a new world speed record in rail travel, with an officially recorded top speed of 82 mph (132 km/h), though observers claimed to have clocked the train at 112 mph (180 km/h).
Read more about Empire State Express: History, Empire State Express No. 999, Equipment Used, In Song and Film
Famous quotes containing the words empire, state and/or express:
“I date the end of the old republic and the birth of the empire to the invention, in the late thirties, of air conditioning. Before air conditioning, Washington was deserted from mid-June to September.... But after air conditioning and the Second World War arrived, more or less at the same time, Congress sits and sits while the presidents—or at least their staffs—never stop making mischief.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
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—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
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—David Elkind (20th century)