The Scott Special, also known as the Coyote Special, the Death Valley
Coyote or the Death Valley Scotty Special, was a one-time,
record-breaking passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) from Los Angeles, California, to Chicago,
Illinois, at the request of Walter E. Scott, known as "Death Valley
Scotty". At the time of its transit in 1905, the Scott Special made
the 2,265-mile (3,645 km) trip between the two cities at the fastest
speed recorded to date; in doing so, it established the Santa Fe as
the leader in high-speed travel between Chicago and the West Coast.
The Scott Special made the trip in 44 hours and 54 minutes breaking
the previous records, set in 1900 by the Peacock Special, by 13 hours
and 2 minutes, and in 1903 by the Lowe Special, by 7 hours and 55
minutes. Santa Fe's regular passenger service from Los Angeles to
Chicago at the time was handled on a 2½-day schedule by the
California Limited. It was not until the 1936 introduction of the
Super Chief that Santa Fe trains would regularly exceed the speeds
seen on the Scott Special.Death Valley Scotty (September 20, 1872 â€"
January 5, 1954) had used some ore samples that he collected near
Cripple Creek, Colorado, as a ruse to convince some bankers in 1902
that he had a claim on a high-grade ore mine in Death Valley. By 1905
he had conned the banks out of nearly $10,000. Another con he ran in
1905 earned Scott an additional $4,000. It was then that he met E.
Burdon Gaylord, the owner of the Big Bell mine. Gaylord needed a
flashy way to promote his mine and Scott sought the money behind the
mine; the two formed a partnership in which Gaylord would finance
Scott and Scott would promote the mine like no other.After a few
high-priced and newsworthy train trips around the southwest, Scott met
with the Santa Fe's General Passenger Agent, J. J. Byrne, at the
railroad's office in Los Angeles on July 8, 1905. Once Scott (who had
already travelled cross-country on the Santa Fe some thirty-two times)
got in to talk to Byrne, the arrangements were made, thanks to a
deposit from Scott of $5,500 in cash. The two agreed on a 46-hour
schedule from Los Angeles to Chicago that would begin the following
day.The passenger list for the train was a mere four people: Scott
himself, his wife, F. N. Holman, and Charles E. Van Loan, a writer for
the Los Angeles Examiner (and one who was adept at helping Scotty
create his "miner" persona, inflating the amounts Scotty really spent
while "promoting" his "mine"). The schedule involved operating a three
car train across the system, led by no less than 19 different
locomotives. The engineers of these locomotives came to be known as
the "Nervy Nineteen". Scott Special Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter