The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-02-07
SOMGPECULlAa RAILWAYS
ngrEnFsTtNCF FACTS CoLLATEp NJ
UNITED STATES CoNsuLs.

Travel IA Remote Loca'llles-side-
lights ON tho Highways OF Com
MERGE Ia Foreign Lands.
~ OWN S. WALLACE, United
u States Consul at Jerusalem,
in an Official report says that
passengers accustomed 90 tho
luxury of q frst-cIass American hWit-
ed train would be inclined 90 Rick
vigorously against the accommodations
offered by the railroads IN the Holy
Land. There Is but one railway with
in tho province OF the Jerusalem con-
sulate. This connects Jerusalem with
the seaport, Jaila. and it is ffly-three
miles long. les simple Oriental name
is Chomih de Fer Ottoman de Jaila O
Jerusalem. 10 is a French corpora
tion, but is practically controlled by
the Turkish Government.
or this road Consul Wallace says:
''rhe line is in fair condition, but tho
accommodation for passengers are
very bad, and would not be tolerated
by the travelling public of Europe or
the United States. IL is difficult 20
keep the line in good condition, ow-
ing TO the heavy grades aud short
curves among the mountains. In the
distance of fity-three miles the ascent
is nearly $500 feet, most Of which is
made during the last half OF the dis
lance Tho road is single track and
narrow gauge The daily service con.
sists OF one passenger and one freight
train each way. The frst-olass fare
between the termini is So, and a round.
trip ticket is sold for 81.
The persistent and ianatical opposi-
ton TO the building of railroads in tho
Chinese Empire is discussed Mt length
by Consul-General 7. r. Jernigau.
Public opinion in China, he says, ex.
cept in certain sections, is still strongly
opposed &c the building of railroads.
In 1876 British merchants at Shaug-
hal built railroad from the mouth Of
the Uro Sung River, a distance Of
about fifteen miles, but in 1877 the
provincial authorities acquired COM
pulsory possession, tore up the road,
and paid for it. The city of Shanghai
is situated on the Woo Sung River,
and there is a bar at the end Of the
river which prevents ships OF large
tonnage from approaching nearer the
city. The railroad was necessary to
facilitate quicker communication, and
the handling and delivery of freight,
but the all-prevailing prejudice of the
Chinese to progress defeated the real
ization of any practical benefits from
the enterprise. Two or three short
railroads built by British interests are
now in operation, undisturbed by the
native fanatics. A person can travel
/ by rail from Tongku, near the Taku
/ forts, at the mouth of the Peilho
River, over twenty-seven miles to
Tien-Tsin; while from Tongku the
main line of the road is prolonged for
sixty-seven miles to the Tungshan and
Kaiplng coal fields, and thence as fan
as Shanghai Kwan, the seward ter
minus of the Great Wall in the direc-
ton of Manchuria.
The Great Siberian Railway
through line across Siberia 4715 miles
long-is now under construction in
three sections This is one of the
biggest railway engineering enter
prises ever undertaken, involving, as
it does, the tunneling of great mount
aims and the building of enormous
viaducts and bridges. The Chella-
binsk-O msk line is last nearing COM
pletion. The Middle Siberian section,
the construction of which was begun
IL 1898, is now we'll under way, and
it is hoped that it will be finished very
soon. The main trunk of the great
line is under contract to be completed
not later than 1900.
TO Sweden is given the distiction OF
owing more railway mileage per capita
than any other country in Europe, and
Swedish road enjoys the further dis
tinetion of being the only railway in
the world that enters the polar circle.
This is the State line, from Lulea tc
OCAAAfO4ug anu ~ 10 LuuCu uhCl w
tourists on their way to Mount Dun
dred, from which fine sight of the
midnight sun may be had.
Railway construction in Egypt il
peculiar in that there are no viaducts
tunnels, ETC., and only two importan
bridges, which span the two branches
of the Nile on the Alexandria Cairo
line. The mode of construction is b.
raised earthen roadbeds, only a few
feet high, upon which are laid cast
iron chairs, resembling huge over
turned saucers, separated by TRAVERSE
round bars firmly fastened TO thu
chairs. Two chairs thus connected
form the parallel ties and the rests FOL
the rails, and the iron way thus formed
is said to be as solid and substantial
as though laid on live oak ties firmly
ballasted in rock.
There is but one railroad in Para
| ruav. end that is a bPoad-ounQe single