Did steam locomotives have speedometers? I’ve never seen or heard of one in a steamer. If they didn’t, how could they tell if they were traveling at the correct speed?
Some did, many did not. Then, as now (as explained to me by the engineman of an Amtrak AEM-7 on a clandestine pre-9/11 cabride from Penn to Philly) even if one were installed, most enginemen wouldn’t trust them, and would time themselves between mileposts. Notice that just about every lineside structure has mileage marked on it, so it’s pretty easy to start and stop anyplace.
The Amtrak engineer was convinced that his RFE would have the speedometers in the cab tampered with to provide false readings, and then burn him by catching him on radar over the limit … he went so far as to open his briefcase to obstruct his view of the unit. (The one on my side of the cab worked, and appeared to be accurate, incidentally!)
I know folks often feel a “rhythm” on rail joints while running a slower locomotive… with 30 foot rails, one “click clack” per second is about 20 mph. (30feet60sec/min60min/hr/5280feet/mile= ~20 mph.) At the trolley museum, they had poles 50 feet apart … one pole every 3 seconds is about 11 mph, and every 4 seconds is between 8 and 9 mph …
50/3=16.666060/5280 = 11.35mph.
So you can get a feel for it pretty easily, even when you’re between stopwatch points. I’ve seen some photos of some larger steam locomotive cabs that had a speedometer fitted… and of course a lot of the ones running today, particularly in mainline territory are required to have them, so again, the short answer to your question is “sometimes” … but not always.
Matthew (OV)
At sea, the conning officers developed a finely tuned “Seaman’s Eye,” based on the idea of, “If I hit the pier at this speed, would I scratch the paint or dimple the side?” A bit of an exaggeration, but not much. In my automobile, I can tell within 5 mph or so how fast I’m going. I suspect that locomotive engineers develop the same “Eye.”
SteveF
If you ever get the chance , watch the in-cab film of Mallard getting the absolute steam speed record , and the subsequent interview with the
driver . His reference to the standard speedo in the cab let him know when he had broken the record .
In the UK , speedos were quite the norm . It is easier to fit a speedo than reduce track curvature .
I cannot IMAGINE a Speedo in the cab. (Well, ok, for me, I cannot imagine a Speedo EVER) The standard coveralls or blue denim work shirt and jeans tend to keep one free of burns… and in the winter, would prevent one freezing to the deck.
Matthew (OV)
Yeah, but if you’re looking to go fast, then the Speedo will cut down on wind resistance, right? May want to get a tighter fitting engineer’s cap, though. Goggles are optional.
Later,
K
I thought that might amuse you .
I came across another example of common language mixups when an American of my acquaintance , when we were about to go swimming , asked me if I had any spare speed -at least that what it sounded like . I rather huffily told him I didn’t use drugs .