The Fastest Mail Train on Earth Passed Through Newport This Week
The Great Northern's new Chicago-to-Seattle mail train cut 12 hours off the coast run, and Newport got a front-row seat to the record.
In order to secure the contract for hauling the U. S. mails the Great Northern Railroad has placed in service a new mail train from Chicago to Seattle, the running time between these two points being cut from 72 hours down to 60 hours. The first train on this run left Chicago at 10:00 p.m. Sunday and St. Paul at 8 a.m. Monday. It passed through Newport on schedule time, 4:12 p.m. Tuesday, and arrived at Hillyard at 5:15, making the 43 miles from Newport in an hour and three minutes, very fast time considering the character of the track. She arrived at Seattle at 5:28 Wednesday morning, 32 minutes ahead of schedule.
This is the fastest long distance mail train in the world, so it is claimed. Its equipment consists of a mail and one express car and it carries no passengers, handling through mail and express only. The train runs east as second section of No. 2, 10 minutes later than the first section. As yet the new train is marked up as 'mail extra' but a new time card will be issued in a few days, with the time of the new train on it.
“It passed through Newport on schedule time, 4:12 p.m., Tuesday, and arrived at Hillyard at 5:15, making the 43 miles from Newport in an hour and three minutes, very fast time considering the character of the track.”
In 1909, a 60-hour mail train was a technological marvel, a symbol of speed and national connection. Today, the same route is traversed by jets and digital messages, but the excitement of a record-breaking train passing through a small town remains a charming reminder of how infrastructure shapes local pride.
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