The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-25
ENGINEERS
 BUILT FIRST
 RAILWAY IN RUSSIA

, It Was/65 years ago today, on Sept. 25, 1880, that the first Russian rail- road/was formally opened. American engineers were in charge of the con- struction of this first short line which work of steel which now covers the Czar's dominions and extends east Wapd through Siberia to the Pacific ocean. Russia now has nearly O,OO0 miles of railways in Europe. This is about the same mileage as possessed
 by Germany, but the transportation lines of Russia serve a population and area vastly larger than that of the fkatser'se empire. Moreover, most of
 the Russian lines have only a single track, and cannot be compared in eff c1ency with the railway system con- structed by Germany with military ends. always plainly in view. A little more than half of the railway mile age, of Russia is state owned, while
 practically all of the German and Austrian lines are the property of the governments.
 From its inception in 1850 rail- read building in the Czar's domin- ions made but slow progress. The Fetrograd and Moscow and the Pet rograd and Warsaw lines were pro- Jected in 1851, but many years pass ed before they were opened to traffic.
 
 the completion of it's first railway, Russia had less than a thousand miles Of lines in all it's vast territory. The ldecade between 1875 and 1885 mark ed the great era of railway eonstruc- tin in Russia, when over 900 miles of roads were built. By 1901 the mileage was 36,000. Since then there has been comparatively little railroad building in European Russia. The
 railways chiefly connect the Baltic ports with the graneries of south eastern Russia, and the western from dozen trunk lines radiate in all direc- tons. Warsaw, now in the hands of Ffhe Germans, is also an important ] railway center. The Germans have had difficulty in utilizing the Russian lines for their own rolling stock, how
 ever, the Russian roads have d I wider guage than the German rail- l ways.
 In railroad building, as in so many other activities, Russia has suffered 1 from graft and official corruption.
 Nearly all of the Russian lines have been built under government guaran- | tees. The cost of construction of
 nearly all the Russian lines has been out of all proportion to what it should | have been, for, while in Finland the
 average cost. of construction was only l 2O,O0O silver rub1es, in Russia the 1 cost has been from three to fveftime es
 as much. It is safe to say that Rus l sia, in this crisis in it's history, might 1 have at it's command at least three l times as many miles of railways, at the same cost. if graft had been e1im- l mated.
 Russia has been greatly handi- l capped in the present war by insuf- 1 ficient and inefficient railway service. I The German railway system, on the I other hand, has been operated with
 clockwork precision, and 1t has play ] ed an important part in the successes l achieved by the Teuton arms. It is safe to say that if conditions had 1 been reversed, and Russia had pos
 sessed a superior railway system l while the German lines had been as i poor as those upon which the Czar's l forces have to depend, the Teuton allies would long ago have been I crushed. 4e <
 In times of peace Russia has de- l pended much upon the. transporta- ton facilities afforded by her nuner-
 ous rivers and canals, but these have I been of little worth in war. The
 rivers of Russia freeze in winter and dry upin summer, and many of them :! are navigable Only during the spring i floods. Even the great Volga is nav tgable only by light craft during the I summer.