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Given that horses run faster than 30 mph [1], and people have been riding on horses for a while before trains were developed [2], this seems unlikely. [1] http

• chrisseaton 6y ago
  > this seems unlikely Well duh nobody thinks it's likely now! Obviously I don't believe it so don't explain it to me, explain it to people at the time! https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67806/early-trains-were-thought-make-womens-uteruses-fly-out https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67806/early-trains-were-... (This article says 50, which is still slower than a horse in your link, but I've read 30 in books.)
  • jkingsbery 6y ago
    No, the claim "early in the development of trains people were sure it would be physically impossible for humans to travel over 30 mph or so" cannot be correct, because people had been traveling faster than 30 mph on horse back for at least centuries. There's no way anyone can think was true given that they had many counterexamples. The article you sited says that some people thought there might be issues at 50 mph. Evidently there were some people who thought this, but that doesn't say anything about how wide-spread that thinking was.