Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA.
Remarkable System of Railway Linea
Comfortable Coaches.

Cor London Globe.
Most travellers who enter Russia at Alex
androwo are too much preoccupied by the
minute examination of their passports ana
luggage that is considered necessary by the
authorities to spare much thought for the
railway on which they are about to travel.
But 1t is remarkable system OF lines that
has been constructed within the empire
since the first sod was cut in 1889, and even
for the non-technfcal mind 1t should have
some interest. In the first place. the gauge
is considerably wider than the 4 feet 81
inches that almost every country has cop
led from England; and this would lead to
unparalleled smoothness of running If the
permanent way were of heavier metal and
more solidly constructed. The ponderous
locomotives are usually homemade. and are
exceedingly powerful; but they are built
for hauling and not for speed Speed. In
deed. is of little consequence in Russia,
whose inhabitants believe that "time was
made for slaves; even the Nord express,
or the Moscow-St. Petersburg restaurant
trains. seldom do more than thirty miles
an hour. The ordinary quick train stops
at every important station for forty min
utes, when most Of the passengers visit
the buffet drink diluted tea or vodka, and
walk up and down the platforms smoking.
The carriages are comfortable, among the
best on the continent; but their cleanliness
leaves more than a little to be desired, and
the double-giass windows that will not
open make the atmosphere almost impos-
sible for Engiishmen. Any one who has
travelled third-class a winters night
from Odessa to Kief has undergone an ex-
perience that makes Dantes Inferno
tame reading for ever after. But .in the
lowest depths there is a deeper stflf'-there
is the fourth class. 1t only runs on the
goods trains, and it Is patronized solely by
the poorest of the peasants. 1t rarely goes
faster than ten miles an hour, 1t bumps
and jerks as if it would leave the lines at
every point, and at night it Is lighted By q
disreputable candle at each end of the cor
clean lantern. The fare is one shilling for
about 100 miles, but the longer the journey
the cheaper Is the ticket.
The first and second class, however. are
excellent. Each compartment has a little
table, and the seat makes up at night into
a bed. The conductors, being human, wifi
do anything for a tip, and nothing without
oness Though they are badly paid and over
worked they seem to enjoy the life. and
certainly make good thing out of the pas
sengers. The drivers and stokers are not
so happy, especially during the winter,
when a binding SNOW. and wind blows
across the steppes and tie mercury is down
to so below Zero
Before the war broke out one could travel
with only two changes. direct from the Ger
man frontier to Vladivostok. The Russian
Is almost as contemptuous of distance az
the American: II Is IN his regard for time
that the difference is noticeable between the
Slay and the western Anglo-Saxon. 1t Ii
probable that to accelerate the trains to
any great extent would not pay, but If ever
Russia developed into an Industrial couu-
try where quick transit was essential, the
permanent way, that stretches for hundreds
of miles without curve and hardly any
noticeable gradient, would offer better facifs
tiles than any other SYSTEM In the world.