Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-16
The RAILROADS OF INDIA.
Englishmen Have Covered Hindos-
tan With an Iron Network.
SOME SUPERB EQUIPMENTS.
The Lowest Fares I'm the World and
How They Pay-seciuded Cars
For Hindoo ladies
Queer Passengers.
Magnificent Depots.

BOMBAY, lnula, loSS,-lSreclal COrreSp0n-
dence of THE BEE India has now 10000
miles OF railroad. II is as far from Calcutta
TO Bombay as IL is from New York 10 Den
YER, and several trunk lines run across Hin
dostan from one city to the other. There are
branches from these which go up to the
Himalaya montains almost TO the borders of
Thibet, and others which shoot off to the
Khyber Pass at the entrance of Afghanistan
and not great distance from the new Rus
sian railway, which has been pushed on past
Samarcand. The day will come when we
can travel from London to Calcutta by rail,
though this presupposes the cutting Of
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 q railroad net
covering IT. The construction of these rail-
roads has included engineering works fully
as grand as the railroad making of the
Csited States, and the keeping of them in
order is more difficult. One of the great
plaques of Indian railroad makers is the
white ant. These insects eat every dead
thing In wood form above ground.
II pile of wooden ties is left
out over night an attack Of ants will
have carried it away by morning and h rd,
is no possible storage of wooden ties. S .ch
ties us are in the roads are saved FROM de-
struction bp the vibration caused by the run
ming trains, which scares the ants away. 1t
is the same with telegraph pc Q, and fences,
and the result is that the ties of most of the
railroads are made of iron. have travelled
about three thousand miles over all kinds of
railways in India The telegraph poles on
many Of the lines are hollow tubes of gal
LII a.
erage mans calf, so made that they fit into
one another and form 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 iron rails, the
same rs those on which the car travels Two
of these rails are fastened together by bars
about foot wide and then this iron lattice
work is set deep 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 sandstone posts.
These posts were q foot wide and 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
MILLIoN-DoLLAR DEPOTS.
am surprised at the magniicence of the
depots in India. Here at Bombay there is
finer railroad station than any we have in
the United States. 1t cost about 81, 600, 900,
and architecturally it is the peer of any
building at Washington. AT Calcutta there
are fine depots and even at the smallest of
the towns you find well-made, stone build.
ings 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 filed in
with cement and the cars run into the sta
tions on plane about two feet below the
floor and so that the floor of the cars is just
even with that of the depot Each station
has it's first, second and third-class waiting
room, and everything in India goes by
classes. The cars are first, second, third
and fourth. class and they are all on the
English plan. They are about two-thirds
the length of our cars und trifle wider.
They are not so heavy as the American pas
senger coach and they look more like wide,
long boxes than anything else. Each of
these cars is divided into compartments In
the first and second class there are only
two compartments to the car, and the chief
difference IN these two classes is IN the num-
imagine little room about ten feet long by
five feet wide, with roof ofseven feet high,
In the center of which there is glass globe
for light, you may have some idea of the
Indian first-class car. You must, however,
put two long, leather-covered cushions
benches along each side of this room. and at
the ends of these have doors with glass win
dows in them. opening inward. Over the
cushioned backs of the benches there are
windows which are let up and down like
those of the American street car, and which
nre of the same size. The car has none of
the flush of the American Pullman. and
though you are expected to sleep within 1t
there are no signs of bedding or curtains. At
the back of it there is a lavatory without
towels, soap or brushes, and there Is barely
room enough for you TO turn around in it
whom 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.
PASSENGERS CARRY BEDDING.
But how about the beddinga
Every man carries his own bedding with
him in India, and these Indian cars give you
nothing else but q lounge on which to spread
cotton comforter, a shawl, or rug. You
carry your own pillows, and the bedding Of
half u dozen passengers would fill car.
Each traveller of the first and second class
brings the most of his baggage into the
train with him, and there is often as much
as the contents of an American baggage car
In one Of these compartments. No one un-
dresses, but all lie down with their clothes
on, pull their shawls over them and sleep
the best way they can. There are no porters
to wake you up at the proper time and your
boots remain unblacked. Women travelling
alono universally go into compartments re-
sery ed for women, and men travelling with
their wives have often trouble IN keeping to-
gether.
SERVANT NECESSARY.
This luggage being brought into the cars
and tho trouble about getting and holding
seats leads TO the necessity, which exists in
India OF travelling with servant. All
English and Americans travellers carry one
or more servants along with them and In
figuring up your railroad fares you must
add to the fare Of the class by which you
travel u third-class fare for your native
servant. This servant speaks English. He
manages your baggage, sees to the hiring
and paying of the cabs to and from the
stations and the hotels, and waits upon you
Mt the hotels. In many of the hotels you
get nothing TO eat IL You have no servant.
Your room is not made up, your boots are
not blackcd there is no bell in the room,
and you get no attendance whatever. II
you have servant he sleeps on the floor
outside your door and fights for the best Of
everything for YOU. He wants but little
wages, and on the whole, 1t is cheaper for
you to take him with you than TO get along
without him. have tried both ways and 7
can testify to the fact. At Calcutta had a
back.skinned, turbaned Hindoo, who pre-
tended to speak both French and English,