, 1889-07-11
RAILROADS IN INDIA.
SIXTEEN THOUSAND MILES. OF
TRUNK LINES IN HINDOSTAN.

The Finest Depots in the World, but
wretched Arrangements In the Passenger
Cars-Ants That Eat the Wooden Ties
and Telegraph Poles.
India has now sixteen thousand miles
of railroad. 1t is as far from Calcutta to
Bombay as it is from New York to Dem
yer, and several trunk lines run across
Hindostan from one city to the other.
There are branches from these which go
up the Himalaya mountains almost to
the borders of Thibet, and others which
shoot off to the Khyber Pass at the en-
trance to Afghanistan and not a great
distance from the new Russian railway,
which has been pushed on past Samar-
cand. The day viii come when we can
travel from London to Calcutta by rail,
though this presupposes the cutting of a
tunnel under the English channel. South
India has many long miles of railroads,
and the whole of Hindostan, which is
half the size of the United States, has n
railroad net covering it. The construc-
tion of these railroads has included en-
cheering works fully as grand rs tho
railroad making of the United States,
and the keeping of them in order is moro
difficult.
WOOD EATING ATS
One of the great plaques, of Indian rail-
road makers is the white ant. These in
sects eat every dead thing in wood form
above ground. If a pile of wooden ties
is left out over night an attack of ants
will have carried it away by morning,
and there is no possible storage of wooden
ties. Such ties as are in the roads are
saved from destruction by the vibration
caused by tho running trains, which
scares the ants away. 1t is the same
with telegraph poles and fences, and the
result is that the ties of most of the rail
roads are mnde of iron. Ihave travelled
about three thousand miles over all kinds
of railways In India. The telegraph
poles on many of the lines are hollow
tubes of galvanized iron, about as big
around MS the average mans calf, so
made that they fit into one another and
form n pole about ten feet high. To these
poles the lines are strung, and many Of
the roads use such poles throughout their
entire length.
On other lines the telegraph poles are
7 iron rails, h same as those on which
the car travels. Two of these rails are
fastened together by bars about q foot
wide N then this iron lattice work is
setdeepi in the ground and the wire strung
upon it. About some of the stations the
fences are made of such iron rails, and
through hundreds of miles along one of
the rajah's railroads in Western India !
found fences of barbed wire with sand
stone posts. These stones are a foot wide
and about four inches thick, and they
stood about three feet above the ground.
The wires ran through holes in them and
the railroad men tell me that they are
much cheaper than wood.
THE MAGNIFICENT DEPors.
am surprised at the magnifcence of the
depots in India. Here at Bombay there
is n finer railroad station than any we
have in the United States. 1t cost about
81, 100000, and INTELLECTUALLY it is the
peer of any building at Washington. AT
Calcutta there are small depots and even
at the smallest of the towns you find
well made stone buildings surrounded
by beautiful gardens, in which bloom all
kinds of tropical flowers. Nothing about
these stations is made of wood. The
platforms are of stone filled in with ce-
ment, II the cars run into the stations
on n plane about two feet below tho floor,
and so that the floor of tho cars is Just
even with that of the depot. Each sta
ton has its first, second and third class
waiting room, n everything in India
goes by classes.
The cars are first, second, third and
fourth class, and they are all on the Eng.
fish plan. They are about two-thirds
the length of our cars and a trile wider.
They are not SO heavy as the American
passenger coach and they look more like
wide, long boxes than anything else.
Each of these cars is divided into COM
partments. In the first and second class
there are only two compartments 10 the
car, and the chief difference In these two
Glasses is In the number allowed in the
compartment. If you will imagine a
little room about 10 feet long by 8 wide.
with a roof 7 feet high, in the center of
which there is n glass globe for q light,
you may have some idea of the Indian
first class car. You must, however, put
two long, leather covered, cushioned
benches along each side of his room
and at the ends of these have doors with
glass windows in them, opening inward.
Over the cushioned backs of the benches
there are windows which let up and down
like those of the American street car,
and which are of the same size. Tho car
has none of the finish of the American
Pullman, and though you are expected
to sleep within it, there are no signs of
bedding or curtains. At the back of il
there is a lavatory, without towels, soar
or brushes, and there is barely room
enough for you to turn around in it
when you are washing. The second
class cars are much the same, and there
may be one second class car and one first
in the same coach.-Frank G. Carpenter.
Schools In Russia.