Miss Nellie Bly Special

The Miss Nellie Bly Special was a one-time, record-breaking passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from San Francisco, California to Chicago, Illinois at the request of a young reporter, Miss Nellie Bly. Miss Bly sought to best the fictional record of author Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg as documented in the novel Around the World in Eighty Days. In 1889, Miss Bly began her trek eastward from New York (pausing in Paris long enough to interview Verne), finally arriving in San Francisco on January 21, 1890.

Riding in a special train that set new speed records over the line, Miss Bly completed the 2,577 mile (4147 km) journey in 69 hours, averaging 37 mph (59.55 km/h) in the process. Along the way, Miss Bly presented each division superintendent with a quart of Mumm's Extra Dry Champagne. In the end, Miss Bly's trip around the world took just 72 days.

References

• Bryant, Jr., Keith L. (1974). History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 0-8032-6066-0. 

See also

• Passenger train service on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway