The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-27
Trip from MosCOWto Trkusk Like
 Voyage on Old Sailing Vessel EXPRESS TRAINS ARE SLOW
Thirteen Miles an Hour is the Rate of Speed and Delays of Twelve Hours Are Not Unusual
 Alone the Line.


 minal at Moscow and one at Irkutsk, si- beria. l had heard so much of the lux urious train service that was unprepared for any delay in starting. So I was glad to take the first train that left. The Rus slams always speak with enthusiasm of the special trains which leave Moscow only once a week. Their libraries, their salons, baths, gymnasums dor those who never indulgeD make many tale with which the casual traveller must be con- tented and take what he can get. thought 1t the part of prudence to choose well my place in the train. This was a coach where pel-mel like the interior of moving van was presented. It con- tained a whole kitchen outfit, a samovar, of course and enough coal for the en- tire eleven days. beside provisions for a month. A cage contained fowl and above, dangerously suspended, was a large basket holding eggs
 Many stops delay the journey, but there are no changes of train over the great white plains, where even the names of places cause sensation of harshness, o1 severity The imagination can hardly do justice to this terrible journey The endless steel rails shine like ribbons. And l, accustomed to more or less privileged | existence, was carried through coun- l try where life is rude, the weather in- element and the whole land stern beyond my experience.
 | The Russians have preserved the tradi- l tions of their ancestors, who, in the mo- mad days across the steppes, had but sheepskins as protection against the night. Sheepsl1ins always exist in the | habits of the modern Russians, but there- to they have added few coverings and a samovar, with all of which material they pursue their journeys. All these bundles obstruct the aisles and overflow the benches to such an extent that travel ing students often prefer to sleep on the | foor leaving the benches to the bag gage, of which the abundance scarce per mits them to find room And yet the coaches are much larger than those usual to European trains.
 Longest Railroad in the World.
 the Siberian railway is the longest rail- road in the world. Russia commenced to build her great railway early in the '70s. l The work of construction was pushed with all possible dispatch. It was not un- | til 1880, however, that the great bridge was completed over the Volga. The first work on the real Trans-Siberian railway was commenced May 9, 1891.
 1 The difficulties encountered in building the great line have been enormous. There have been a number of rivers to be | bridged, each offering a problem of it's own to the engineers. Several of these streams have been a mile or more in width with shores of shifting sand in the summer season and ice fields in the win ter In addition, there have been miles. of hills which could only be passed by tunneling The greatest problem, how | ever, has been presented by Lake Bail<al, the Holy Sea of Siberia. It is S9O miles long and has an area of 15,00 square miles, On all sides hills rise abruptly to height of from 5000 to 600O feet The | depth of the lake, moreover, Is so great that bridging is impossible.
 1 The lake is also swept frequently by l frlghtful storms. In order to obviate thls difficulty 1t has been necessary to build road around the lake distance of more than a hundred miles. This road in places has been cut through rock at enor- nous expense The cost of ths section alone Is nearly twenty million dollars, It will besides, take four or five years to complete the line.
 Cross the Lake.
 In the meantime the trip across the lake is made by boat. To cut through the thick Artic ice an icebreaker has been constructed at an expense of four and half million dollars. The boat, which is
 
 through ice four feet thick. It is the sec ond largest icebreaker in the world. The hull of the great boat is made of steel. She is formed on the lines of Nansen's Fran, with her stem and stern equally suited for battling with the ice The Russians do not excel in railroad building Even considering the enormous difficulties encountered, the road, accord ing to American standards, is very faulty. The road has been built with cheap and unslkilled labor. It has been equipped, for instance, with rails which weigh only 1 fifty pounds to the yard, whereas the standard rail in America weighs eighty l five pounds. The bridges along the route are perhaps the weakest links in this great chain. Many of them are of great 1 length and nearly all are built of wood. l Should an attack be made on any of these by an enemy, the entire system might be readily crippled.
 1 Add to this the fact that the switches are faulty, the grading bad and the curves impossible for fast trains and | the inadequacy of the lines become | obvious. In some places the ballastng of | the road has been practically neglected. | the rails being laid down for long dis | tances on bundles of sticks. The loco | motives are of obsolete types. The guage | of the road Is peculiar to Russian and will not permit of the use of engines or cars of any other roads.
 At f3 Miles an Hour. l As might be expected, the speed of trains on the Siberian road, both passen- ger and freight trains is ridiculous, judged by American standard. The aver l age speed of the regular passenger sched- ule is thirteen and one-half miles an hour for express trains. The famous train de luxe leaves Moscow once week for Port Arthur. The run to Vladivostock of 5SO0 miles is accomplished in eighteen days This is the schedule but the train to Port Arthur of 210 miles requires two or three days more. The so-called slow | or accommodation trains take a month or so to do the entire distance. It is only necessary to mention in contrast that the run from New York to San Francisco of 3250 miles is done in four days and | ten hours.
 | The freight trains at best average eight miles an hour. The actual work accom- | plished by the system Is of course pro- portionately small. According to the of | fleial statistics of the Russian govern ment the line last year carried one mill lion tons of freight and in all 1, ,320, 600 pas | sengers. A comparison of the train loads | of the Siberian line and of the average American road will serve to make this | clearer. The average train load in the United States Is about 1900 tons-some run as high as 25Oo tons In Russia the | average falls to 800 tons, while on the | The trains, in crossing the great plains