Political Train Trivia

This brought another smile to my face.

From the pages of Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Setting the scene…delegates and interested folks are on their way to the 1860 Republican Convention.

Of all the trains bound for Chicago, none attracted more attention than the one that began its journey at the Suspension Bridge in Buffalo, New York, and swept to Chicago in an astonishing record time of sixteen hours.  The unprecedented speed of the massive train was said to amaze every passenger.  A reporter recalled that “when ‘a mile a minute’ was accomplished, the ‘boldest held his breath,’ and the timid ones trembled in their boots.”