The sun., 1891-07-12
CHINA'S RAILROAD LINE.
IT TOOK NO END OF TROUBLE TO
PUT THE WHEELS IN NOTION.

Nules Were 20 Ne the Motive rcwor-The
| Little Monster or n Locomotive that was
ousetiy Knocked Together Out OF Odds
anA Ends-Inuring the Natives To she
Snort or the Fearful Mnehine-Inpedi.
| nsrts Hesped 0. the Path OF Progress.
| China hns to-day a little over hundred
miles OF railroad. built in spite Of many pro-
| tests from the people, and In tho course OF
many misgivings and much mental perturba-
| ton on the part OF the authorities. The tribu-
lations Of the builders. the need OF being salts
| fed II they madc progress merely by inches
| tho oil OK pedients to which they had to re-
sort and tn fair measure OF success which they
finally attained are graphically described In q
| paper recently read before the British Institu-
| tion Of Civil Engineers by Mr.. Claude William
Kinder, ono OF tho engineers who built the
| KapinR Railroad. Mr.. kinders paper shows
| more clearly than my other recent publication
| tho enormous difficulties In the way OF rail-
road construction In China.
II Europeans had proposed point blank to
the Chinese authorities to introduce loco-
motives. the idea would have been Instantly
rejected. But the project for railroad. whom
II was first proposed was, from the Chinese
point OF view. not a very formidable idea The
Government desired to facilitate the shipment
OF coal from the KaipinG mines to the sea.
These minos are about eighty miles northeast
OF Tientsin. an important city on the Pei-ho.
Tho navlgable river nearest to the mines 10
the Peh- Tang. 1t was proposed by the China
Merchants Steam Navigation Company to de-
yelop these coal mines and to build q short line
OF railroad from the mines to Lutai on the Peh-
Tang. whence coal could readily be shipped to
tho sea- 1t happened that at the very time this
idea was broached In 1877 the natives Of south
China were tearing up the little railroad.
year old. that connected Shanghai with Woo
sung, II was not IN extremely favorable time
to broach new railroad projects. but neverthe-
loss the authorities agreod to permit the COM
pany 10 build twenty-nine miles OF railway
from the mines to the river. The company
were about TO begin the work IN state OF high
elstion when orders suddenly came to stop
everything. for the imperial sanction for Q
railroad had been withdrawn.
Then followed q period OF solemn discu ssions.
and the despairing navieation company wore
finally told that they might dix canal from
the river to within seven miles OF tho coal
mines. and ut the terminus OF the canal tram
way. to be worked by mules might be built to
connect the canal with the colliery. The au-
thorities declared that on no account would
locom olives be permitted.
Tho navigation company. poncludinR that
this was the best attainable concession for the
time, went to work. not very contentedly, on
the canal. which. with its connecting tramway,
was completed In 1881. The canal proved to
be a partial failure. 1t was impossible to main
tain the necessary depth without constant
dredging. The natives often cut the banks and
the company had no power to stop them. The
canal soon became almost worthless for trans
port purposes. while at the sumo time the
seven milo tramway was doing excellent SER
vice. The company then decided to see II they
could not cautiously substitute steam for muie
power. They quietly set to work to make
rude locomotive.
During the winter OF 18s0-S1 steam engine
Of very extraordinary design was knocked to-
gether in the shops from. such odds and ends
AZ could be accumulated without attracting
much attention. A portable winding engine
supplied tho boiler. The wheels had been
purchased rs scrap castings. and the frames
were mado Of channel iron. Before this mon
ster was completed rumcrs about 1t reached
Pekin, and strict orders were given that the
construction should be stopped at once. Dur
ing several weeks thereafter many consulta-
tons were held with Ii Hung Chang and
finally permission was given to complete the
oueer.looking little locomotive. 1t was chris
tened the Rocket Of China. Just 100 years to q
DAY sftor the birth OF George Stevenson. 1t
was put into daily use. and finally took large
returning at = speed OF twenty miles an hour.
The trip was great success. There wa, NO
oq ass %srs FSe Gsess
officials had an opportunity TO 500 Tor them
se dsn Of
hard work, The little machine famIIiarized
The people wh e say SaSt With as dSs
Suthopitiss sg Sermitt.d The company to % Import a
two tank engines from Englqnd to run on the
is no doubt that II the Rocket. which. after the
importation Of new engines. was c2nsignsd 70
by native workme In Chinese shops it would
hay 6esn snvp s6ps 10 S Sad
ssses aav' Woud Iays been
proved 10 the authorities.
For ssysra years bo no more ax TalroSa Sa 0udins
for It, The that TsTord runapne
merits, Finally the Franco. Chinese war came
very ipadeaunie. service. The Government
the sea- and a last il consen!ed to tho pro.
iongSton 9f The rail53ad line from the mines
s ana q oSbss
tty could ascend. The compsnyh had no ipndsto
build this Rad and new comp;any ;H called t6S
purchased the old lLne. Considerable. doubt
wa; fpls Is to the rrotf the road would yield
small sum oi $50 oSo No one i.ls sure that
The scheme would be carried out or that the
sanction However. the rails were laid for the
most naEt along the canal bank. and at last, IN
May. 1887, tho line was completed to the river
with good track well suited to = moderate
nm American locomotive and forty ten ton coal
wagons. wasn little less than sl75,90O. The
der the direction Of Mr.. Kinder and two native
assistants. who had been educated abroad.
Ii Hung Chang. Chinas most progressive
man, immediately pressed for an extenSion Of
the road to Taku at the mouth Of tho Pei-ho,
toge!hor with a limo from Takp to Tientsin.
went on. link being added to Ink until finally
the road reaShed TientsipG n G, The Ssompany had
pany. but, the administration still remained in
the same hands. The Blessre. Krupp of Essen
secured the contract Tor providing the rails for
this extension OF the railroad their offer was
considerably below the market value.
Throughout this work OF building about Q
hundred miles OF railroad great many DIM
GpHltiss pt Of various kinds we're enconntsred:
.Hbiected to al sorts @ Of annoyances: or. y day
on the summit OF hill where the remains Of O |