************ Spoiler Alert!!!!! *********


Is this the only 'Whodunnit' where a horse is the killer? but of course it was acting in self defence.

This one also has the classic "curious incident of the dog in the night-time."

What is the "calculation is a simple one" in estimating "Our present rate is fifty three and a half miles an hour" from "the telegraph lines on this line are sixty yards apart". This would be readily computed with the aid of stop watch and calculator, but without ? Did Holmes know the relation aforehand or was he just trying to impress Watson and just guessing ?

Many british railway lines have markers every 1/4 of a mile, using these would make the calculations easier, but maybe ACD wanted to add an extra twist by using telegraph posts.

Thanks for the reply. I have often wondered if there was some direct relation to the fifty-three and a half miles per hour and the sixty yard spacing and didn't come with any even numbers. :-)
Maybe a bit of poetic license on the part of ACD.
I've done the same thing with Interstate Highway Mile Markers. Elementary ! since the calculation IS a simple one. :-)

53.5 Miles Per Hour = 78.32 Feet Per Second

60 Yards x 3 Feet Per Yard = 180 Feet between Telegraph Posts

180 Feet/78.32 Feet Per Second = 3.09 Seconds

Which is close to 3 seconds between Telegraph Posts, so maybe that is what ACD had in mind ?

Some critics have also pointed out that the race track narratives are very erroneous.

Disregard that. I goofed on the figures. :-(
At any rate, it doesn't come out in even figures no matter who you figure it !