The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-08-24
RAILROAD is LOST
SHORT LINE BUILT IN SIBERIA
ENTIRELY DISAPPEARS.
Engineers Explain Incident as Caused
Chiefly b., Ties Taking Root and
sproutlng in the
Ground.

Near Irkutsk in Central Siberia is a
series of rapids on the Angrara river.
After many disasters, the river trans
port companies decided in the early
70s to build a short railroad for trans
shipment of freight around the rapids.
The 12-mile road was probably the
first railroad built in Asia outside Of
India and certainly the first one built
in northern Asia.
There was no regular service, about
two trips each way being made a
week, as cargo offered. With the inn
provement of the roads through this
region by the Russian government,
traffic on this part of the river was
gradually abandoned and the railroad
finally fell into disuse. The locomotive
was acquired by a farmer to he used
once year TO drive a threshing ma.
chine. the cars werei taken on on
barges and towed away, and the line
abandoned
Some 10 years later. writes L. Lo-
dian in the Electrical Review, the 10
eating engineers OF the Siberian rail.
road, entering this part Of Siberia,
heard rumors of a railroad which had
existed many years previously This
is vast region of sierra. forest, tun-
dra, steppe and--here and thereof
rinc slatable-literally quick
mudT). and presented great difficulties
for railroad construction. News of an
abandoned line which had been sue
cessfully operated was. therefore, re-
ceived with much interest and search
was made for the road
The freight sheds were finally dis
covered and then the line Of the road
marked by the clearing in the forest.
could be found. The right OF way was
much overgrown with lnderbrush and
bordered with the dense forest, was
almost as black and cold as noun
tain tunnel. the sun being just visible
lighting up the topmost branches of
the giant trees. The railroad itself
had completely disappeared. Not a
rail, not a sleeper, only an occasional
suggestion now and then of what had
once been rude cross drainage bitches.
In an effort to find the track. picks
were driven as far as they would go
/ into the earth, only to bare masses Of
/ tangled roots. The railroad was lost.
ut could not have been burnt up, be.
cause there had been no fires, nor
stolen and carried OF piecemeal for
the region was totally lacking in popu-
lation. Moreover, the old freight
houses remained with their locks in
tact and packages OF overlooked goods
in good condition within them. 1t is
believed to have been case Of grad
ual subsistence.
The unballasted track through the
forest gradually depressed by a few
years traffic, naturally became a
drainage conduit for the surface water
OF the forest. rendering in time the
subsoil spongy throughout The sig
nificance of the fact that the line was
much overgrown lies in the fact that
this underground probably owed much
OF it's origin and profusion to the TAX
ing root of the submerged tree length
ties. There was never any ballast and
In some unusually warm summer 1t is
probable that the watersoaked tree
sleepers, weighted down by the cum
brous pig iron rails, sank beneath
the surface and there sprouted.