In my class one morning we came across the idiom, “faster than a speeding bullet” during our Daily Language Review warm up.

This phrase reminded me of the opening titles of the black and white television show I saw in reruns when I was a child: Adventures of Superman (1952-58).

I certainly had seen the Richard Donner movie Superman that came out in 1978 featuring Christopher Reeve, but originally the story had been told on the small screen featuring the slightly chubby George Reeves as Superman.

The opening of each episode reads:

Narrator: Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Man 1: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird.

Woman: It’s a plane.

Man 2: It’s Superman!

Narrator: Yes, it’s Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. And now another exciting episode in the adventures of Superman.

When the narrator announces “More powerful than a locomotive” a Southern Pacific Coast Daylight races towards the camera.

On point is No. 4418, a GS-3 locomotive built at Lima Locomotive Works in 1937.

In 1937, this was Southern Pacific’s most powerful passenger locomotive. It was an improvement on the GS-2, with 80 inch driver wheels and increased boiler pressure of 280 pounds per square inch. These improvements meant the GS-3 was capable of delivering 5,000 horsepower at 60 miles an hour.

The GS-3 could reach speeds of 106 miles per hour, well above the 75 mph speed limit of the railroad. Maybe the narration should have read: faster than a speeding Daylight!

Sketching Notes

I created a spread featuring a still from the opening from Adventures of Superman(1952) of the Southern Pacific Coast Daylight GS-3 speeding towards the camera.

The clip was filmed in Simi Valley in the great Los Angeles area at 4702 E. Los Angeles Avenue. It was originally filmed for the movie “The Beginning or the End” (1947).

On the left side I sketch another still from the opening, George Reeves standing with hands on hip and his cape blowing behind him.