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Wharves.
The wharves at Tien-tsin have a river frontage of 600 feet.
an area of 180 acres.
Hsin Ho "" a river frontage of 2,750 feet.
an area of 150 acres,
T'ang Ku "" a water frontage of 3,300 feet.
a timber wharf of 720 ""
an area of 83 acres.
sidings of 5 miles.
Tang-Ku, on the Pei Ho, a few miles up stream from the Ta Ku forts, is port of Peking and of the contiguous districts of North China. There is a large and growing export and import trade, as may be gathered from the Customs Reports, owing to the silting up of the Pei Ho (Tien-tsin River), steamers, instead of going to Tien-tsin, discharge at Tang-Ku, and a large and increasing percentage of cargo goes up to Tien-tsin by rail and a decreasing quantity by boat. The value of the property at Tang-Ku is now estimated at fully 500,000 taels, although the original cost was trifling.
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one's patent steam-heating, Westinghouse air brakes, and the general design, workmanship, and finish are of the highest order.
The locomotive engineers, inspectors, and passenger drivers are British, as are also the traffic manager and principal conductors.
The Secretarial Department, Directorate, and such accountancy as exists are exclusively Chinese. The privilege of appointing an English accountant of your office, and to be, in effect, under your control, is to be made a condition of your agreement, and this fact, in itself, enabling you, as it will, to publish certified periodical traffic Returns, should be regarded with satisfaction, and I may add that it is indicative of the bona fide action, spirit of liberality, and business-like capacities which characterize the present heads of the Imperial Railway Department.
Capital Cost of Line.
The capital cost of the existing railway property, including the 40 miles outside the Great Wall, is put down by Mr. Kinder at 16,000,000 taels. Owing to the Chinese method of book-keeping, this amount cannot be subdivided or apportioned.
At present, the Engineer-in-chief requires a considerable sum for renewals and repairs, and to develop still further the efficiency of the line, but it is well, at the same time, to point out the enormously enhanced value of the wharf and land property.
At Tangshan are situated the principal workshops, where there are 2,000 employed in carriage and waggon building and general repairs to rolling-stock, the output from which last year was 400 vehicles of various denominations.
At Tangshan and vicinity are situated the Kaiping Coal Company's mines, which form an important source of traffic. The mines are working as a Chinese concern exclusively, and employ about 6,000 men with an output of 2,500 tons per day.
At Shan-hai-Kuan are situated the shops for girder building in full working order, where appliances and hands are employed capable of turning out about 6,000 tons of girder work per annum.
The value of the principal workshops, including machinery, stores, and parts, is estimated by Mr. Kinder as under:
Fengtai-Repair shops for rolling stock Taels 80,000
Tangshan-For construction and repairs 400,000
Shan-hai-Kuan-For girder building 200,000
Total value 660,000
Rolling Stock.
The rolling stock is built somewhat after the best American types, and designed by the Engineer-in-chief with a boldness of conception unhampered by the settled conservatism of the home railways. Particularly in the freight trains is the contrast between the North China trains of 40 to 30 30-ton cars, and the trains on the home lines of a fifth or sixth of this capacity.
New Extensions.
The new extensions proposed to be built out of the proceeds of this loan extend from Chung-hou-so to Ying Kau, with a branch to Sin-min-ting, and make a total length of 258 miles in all, of which you are to have an unalienable interest as collateral to the mortgage.
For 90 miles of these extensions beyond Chung-hou-so, the line has been partially constructed and the earthworks and bridges, particularly for a length of 70 miles to Hsin-chou city, are in a forward state. The remainder of the extensions to Ying-Kau and Sin-min-ting, which are untouched, save in respect of my preliminary surveys, traverse principally an alluvial plain, and although involving heavy waterways and road openings, offer no very serious engineering difficulties.
The plain is exclusively agricultural, and is thickly peopled with a settled and prosperous peasantry. The soil is rich, free to work, and very productive. No actual figures can be given as to the rural population or area under cultivation. The country is thickly studded over with large villages and market towns, and is plentifully intersected by highways, and for the greater part of the route, few countries outside China can compare with it in the extent to which its available surface is tilled.
Sin-min-ting, the northern objective point, is a large native settlement, and the centre of a very extensive grain trade, principally supplied from the western waters of the Liao-ho.
The cart traffic through all these districts is very heavy, and there can be no doubt that in a country yielding such a volume of road traffic, a railway offering the facilities of a speedier and cheaper transit will, as on the lines in operation, be availed of to the utmost.
Traffic generally.
The heavy freight and passenger locomotives number 34, and the lighter locomotives for auxiliary work 22.
The vehicles of all denominations number 1,545.
The passenger cars consist of two classes, with the exception of mail (Peking-Tien-tsin), on which there is extra first-class accommodation provided in the postal cars.
The passenger coaches are built on the American principle, having the passage and end platforms. They are 60 feet long, carried on bogies, the second class accommodating 90 passengers each.
Westinghouse air-brakes are on all express trains, and hand-brakes on the freight stock. The 30-ton capacity long-frame bogey cars are a feature, and are availed of to the utmost.
It may be mentioned incidentally, as a sample of Tangshan work, that the principal Imperial State car is 75 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 15 feet high from the rail, carried on two bogies, each resting on six 42-inch wheels, electric light from the usual kind.
In addition to actual knowledge of the heavy traffic carried over the line, I have the Statement of Mr. Kinder, who, as the founder of the railways, and under whose care and initiative the lines have been built and worked, and than whom no greater authority knows more about the railway and other commercial resources of North China.
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