Part 17 of Railway Wonders of the World was published on Friday 24th May 1935.
This issue contained a photogravure supplement featuring locomotive speed records in Britain and America. This appeared as pages 531-534, forming part of an article with the same title.
The Cover
This week’s cover shows the "King George V", one of the Great Western Railway’s most powerful express locomotives. In 1927 the engine was sent to the Baltimore and Ohio centenary celebrations, and the bell seen on the front buffer beam was presented to it by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on its return to England.
The “King George V” was not the only British locomotive to visit the United States. As far back as 1893 the “Greater Britain”, a three-cylinder compound of the former London and North Western Railway, won a gold medal at the Chicago Exhibition. In 1933 a complete train belonging to the LMS, drawn by the 4-6-0 locomotive “Royal Scot”, made an extensive tour of the North American continent.
A description of the monorail railplane constructed over a stretch of track at Milngavie, Dumbarton. In practice the system consists of a streamlined car which is suspended from bogies running on a single overhead rail. The car is propelled by air screws, the engine being either oil or electrically driven. The railplane is designed for maximum speeds relative to the track of 100 miles per hour or more. This is the fifth article in the series Design and Invention
(Pages 525-528)
Click on the small images to see a short British Pathe newsreel clip of the railplane in action. The second clip is a 12 minute silent documentary on the George Binnie Railplane, possibly commissioned by the inventor himself.
An account of many famous runs, past and present, by Cecil J. Allen. The editorial to part 16 states “Perhaps it is the record recently made by the LNER locomotive “Papyrus” that has prompted so may correspondents to ask if I am going to devote a chapter to speed and speed records … Speed is perhaps the most provocative of all railway topics. At the time of writing the world’s record for any train is held by an American streamlined Diesel-driven train, which crossed the United States from New York to Los Angeles in 56 hours 56 minutes. The record for a steam-hauled train is, as we know, held by a British engine. The record for the world’s fastest regular steam train also belongs to Great Britain. This is the “Cheltenham Flyer”, whose average speed from start to stop is 71·4 miles per hour. France and Germany also have claims to very high speeds.” This chapter deals with many famous runs and speed records. The article includes a photogravure supplement, which is reproduced in the link to the main article.
The story of the railway systems in Southern Australia, including New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. It describes the main routes, the expresses that run over them, and the general characteristics of the system. This is the sixth article in the series Railways of the Empire
Behind the scenes of the largest railway station in Europe.Milan is the commercial and industrial capital of Italy, by reason of its valuable position. In 1925 a vast scheme of reconstruction was begun. This ultimately cost £17,000,000 and was completed on July 1st 1931, when the great railway station, which is both beautiful and practical, was opened. This is the second article in the series Famous Railway Centres. The article is completed in part 18.
