Did you know that the ACL was the first railroad to use superelevated curves to increase speed? The authorized speed of ACL passenger trains was 100 mph. I just saw this on TV and don't have any other source for the information. ACL, under the control of CEO Champion, eventually made a New York - Miami run at a scheduled 24 hours. Champion straightened out a lot of curves to be able to do this. Interesting history? How about this?
Here's one for you: the SCL holds the honor for the longest tangent (Straight) section of track in the entire United States! Off the top of my head, I recall it being from approximately Lumberton to almost Wilmington, N.C.! You'd think that honor would go to some lesser inhabited state out west!
I didn't know that ACL had a 100 mph speed limit, though I do seem to recall some passenger trains being operated at 90 mph due to the long tangents and signalling system (think I have a TT somewhere around with that being the max authorized). Also reading stories by some writers and talking to some "old heads" who ran passengers (Champions, Florida Special, etc.) that speeds in excess of 100 mph were not uncommon - especially if time was being made up. Both ACL and SAL had several notably long tangents - possibly more than any other U.S. railroads. The one mentioned by Chessie was ~79 miles long on the old SAL between Hamlet and Wilmington. Another long tangent that I know first hand was between Meggetts and Lobeco, S.C. - 38.4 miles if I remember correctly. Neither road had sluggish freights either. While if I remember correctly, the authorized speed limit for freights on both lines between Charleston and Savannah was 65 mph - as a former drag-racer, think they kind of beat that limit by 10-15 mph. Especially TT-23 with E-7's or SDP-35's and a solid train of piggy-backs.
