The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-28

..- .-----..-----.--s------'--'-- | % tons of freight some idea of the limit ! ed transportation capacity of the Trans 1 Siberian Railway is gained. l Haul a6ds to Difficulty. @ The difficulties of army transportation | increase nearly with the square of the distance. Over the Trans-Stperian Rail- way therefore, other conditions being ecual, 1t would be four times as difficult | to transport the same number of troops as 1t would to transport them from San I Francisco to New York. ~. Ii it were undertaken to transport 3oe,- eOO or 100000 soldiers with equipment and | stores by operating the railway equip ment over the entire length of the road | the Russian authorities, it is claimed would find themselves. against insur- | mountable difficulties. The only way this could be accomplished successfully, 1t Is claimed, Is by dividing the equipment and operating it in relays. This in turn nee- esstates liberal supply of sidlngs or pa ssing tracks with facilities for loading and unloading and for storage Of sup plies.
 Might Get Food En Route. During a portion of the Journey the troops might be able to obtain a portion of their supplies en route, owing to the fact that sinceA the opening of the road the Russian Government has been col on.zing Siberia at the rate of more than 110.0o0 annually. As; rule, however, each train load of soldiers would require another train load of supplies and equip- l ment. In the Russian cars not. more l than thirty men could be transported and. presumably, no more than ten cars could be hauled per train. Under fair ! operating conditions 1t would be good work to dispatch twenty trains day. l ten for soldiers and ten for the equip- ment and supplies Should this be done, | with Moscow as a base. 1t would take l tie equipment of 5000 cars and thirty days would expire before the last train was dispatched with the last of 10000 | troops and at least sixty days before the last load reached destination, the jour ney consuming about twenty days, pro- viding the fast train'' schedule could 1 be equalled. ..t. Equipment is Poor. l The physical condition of the railway, of course,s will have much to do with the possibilities in the way of transporta- tion. It is known that the rails are light, weighing ifty-four pounds to the yard throughout the course of the road. The engines are light, wood burning ma chimes, incapable of doing anything like the work of a modern locomotive. The official statement regarding the road tells | us that in order to hurry construction changes were made in the original plans. l The gauge was somewhat narrowed. the ballast was not made so deep and the construction frightened in many respects. It has been stated that the Trans-Siber- ian Railway can be compared with the l average American railway of twenty five years ago, which reduces its transporta- tior possibilities far below the average single track railway in the United States l today.
 Even in times of peace the track is protected by an army of guards, 1000 of them patrolhng day and night between the Urals and Tomsk alone, each guard having about three-quarters of a mile l for his best. It is estimated that 1t will take: during the war at least 5000 sol ,diers to guard the entire track AL | though the road crosses two mountain 1 ranges its grades and curves do not present any operating difficulties. It has wonderful stretches of straight track | few curves of more than ordinary de- gree and on the level the grades are be- tween three and foNr feet to the mile and on the hilly sections between four reached Is in crossing the Yablonoi range between Lake Baikal and the Amur l rlIer.
 Climate a Big Factor.
 It is in the climate that Russia finds the greatest obstacle to the opeSation of her railway. In, many places the mer- cury freezes in the thermometers and re- mains frozen for several weeks at a time. Throughout the length of the read the winters are long and excessive ly severe, the temperature being below zero for months. '
 It can hardly be appreciated what it means to operate trains in weather which froze to death 600 soldiers while crossing Lake Baikal, the Holy Sea" Some idea, however, can be obtained from the con dition of American railroads during the last three months. Despite the fact that dead freight" has been embarEoed De- riodically there have been times when more than 5000 freight cars were s-yait- ing transportation between Chicago and | New York. Railroad officials declare that with continued cold ranging between 20 and 40 degrees below zero and with engines burning wood and carrying their own supply of water, successful opera ton is impossible. It Is not expected, l therefore, that the Russian. government | will be able to do very much in the way of mobilizing troops before the middle of April or the first of May.
 The greatest stumbling block Is found | in the great Lake BaikaI, which Is 400 miles long. and from eighteen to sixty l miles wide. It Is 15,000 square miles in area and is the largest fresh water body in the Old World, and in the Unit ed States lakes Superior and Huron alone exceed 1t. To get around 1t would re- quire detour of about 200 miles and the construction cf several tunnels and an expenditure of at least $l5, ,000 GOO. To avoid this the Russian government built the ice crusher Baikal after the pattern of the car ferries plying on Lake Michigan. but which has proved a failure during nearly five months of the year. With the Baikal and the Angara. smaller crusher, not more than two round trips a day can be made. transporting not to exceed 1000 men and rations, or 5000 per month.
 Lake Deeply Frozen.
 During four months of the year begin ming with December l, the lake is frozen to a depth of about nine feet. Owing to something scientists have not been able to determine, the ice cracks periodically,
 leaving for the time being great rivers,
 as it were, in the lake. About these are
 piled mountains of ice, forming impassa-
 ble barriers. Soon a river freezes over
 and new one is opened at some other
 point.
 Partially successful attempts have been
 made to operate trains upon tracks laid
 on the ice. The lake may. therefore, be
 regarded as representing the limit of the
 railroads transportation capacity.