Trains cross at Ch'ing-ho.
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Line only metalled from Feng-t'ai to Fo-ch'ing-men, and ballasting (of earth) only a short way further on. Nan-k'ou is very stony, and metalling is being taken down from it. Perhaps the greater part of the line is on the level, or nearly on the level, of the Peking plain, which the line crosses up to Nan-k'ou. In places there is an embankment, which is not revetted, and which occasionally shows signs of crumbling. Occasionally line passes through low cuttings-a low trench on sides for drainage.
Considering the funereal pace at which we moved, I do not consider the line runs very smoothly, or that in its present condition a great rate of speed could be obtained.
There are thirteen sleepers under each pair of rails; sleepers 18 to 20 inches apart, except under the fish-plates, where they are only about 8 inches apart. Rails spiked to each sleeper, four bolts to each fish-plate.
At Feng-t'ai the line starts from the outer siding of the Chinghan line. There are three sidings at Kuang-an-men, four at Hsi-chih-men, two or three at Ch'ing-ho, three at Sha-ho, and three at Nan-k'ou.
There is a water-tank at Hsi-chih-men, another at Sha-ho on piled sleepers, another at Ha-pa-t'un, half way between Sha-ho and Nan-k'ou, and another on a truck at Nan-k'ou.
The platforms vary in size; perhaps the largest is the one at Ilsi-chih-men, 280 yards long by about 10 yards wide, and 3 feet above the line.
Stations buildings, single storied of grey brick and well constructed.
There is an engine-house of grey brick at Hsi-chih-men, about 53 yards long by 18 yards wide, with two sidings, and it can house at least four Dubs' large engines with tenders (smaller engines are Baldwin's).
Railway buildings at Nan-k'ou in construction.
Carriages were made at the Tong-shan works; 3rd class are stand-up covered
waggons.
There are five composite 1st and 2nd class carriages on the line, two for each train and one in reserve. They have hand brakes and are corridor cars, the 1st class portion consisting of two compartments, each holding eight people, whilst the 2nd class can seat five people; 1st class compartments very well fitted up, and with light luggage racks. Lavatories attached to compartments.
Open trucks have 30-ton capacity.
Our train consisted of two composite carriages (one 3rd class), three trucks, and a vau.
Direction of line mostly north up to Sha-ho, then north-westerly. Telegraph near the line.
North of Sha-ho station the line crosses a stream by a bridge of seven stone piers. Fares from Feng-t'ai to Nan-k'ou :-
1st class
2nd 3rd
دو
Dol. c.
2.40
1 60
0.80
Goods (luggage parcels) rate per ton per l are-1st class, 2 cents; 2nd class, 1 cents; 3rd class, 16 cents. Dangerous goods, 4 cents; minimum distance, 50 li.
Horses and cattle, 2 cents per li.
Nan-k'ou is the limit of traffic. The line has been laid for a mile or two, where it sweeps round to the north of Nan-k'ou and enters the pass.
The pass is about 11 miles long, culminating in the Pa-ta-ling, where the branch of the Great Wall crosses it. Valley narrow and stouy-only a short piece of embank- ment has been made at the entrance. There is then no work done till approaching the summit, perhaps for the last mile or two. The work begins with the first tunnel at Wu-kuei-t'un, which has been pierced, wall of stone and cement completed, and the arch, which is to be finished off with square stones of German cement, has just been commenced.
The second tunnel at Shih-fo-ssu has been pierced, and wall is also completed, but the cementing of the arch has not been begun.
The third tunnel, which is to pierce the Pa-ta-ling, has not been commenced, as regards boring from the east side.
Earth embankments, unrevetted like those on the plain, connect the tunnels. Time plays little or no part in a Chinaman's calculations, and in the journey up to Nan-k'ou we left several stations ahead of time, and reached our destination three minutes too early; whilst in the down journey we were mostly a quarter of an hour too late.
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The Chinese station-masters and traffic managers, arrayed in startling uniforms, are most civil and obliging.
(Signed)
Peking, November 3, 1906.
G. PEREIRA, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Grenadier Guards, Military Attaché.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Supplementary Notes on Peking-Kalyan Railway by Captain Leonard, United
States' Military Attaché.
THE total length of the line, 34'11 miles. Distances between stations:-
Feng-Tai to Kuang-au-men
Kuang-an-men to Hsi-chib-men
Hsi-chih-men to Ch'ing-ho Ching-ho to Sha-ho
Sha-ho to Nan-K⭑ou
Miles.
4:49
4.54
6.86
6:59
11-63
Rails, flat-bottomed, weighing 85 lb. to the yard. Sleepers are Japanese hard- wood, 8 feet long by 9 inches wide by 6 inches thick.
The width of the embankment is 20 feet on the top with 14 to 1 slopes.
The road from Feng-t'ai to Hsi-chih-men is practically level with the exception
of a short 1 in 100 grade, where the line crosses the Ching-ban Railway, at each side of the latter, opposite the Hsi-pien-men.
From Hsi-chih-men to Nan-k'ou the line rises gradually; the stiffest grade is a
1 in 70, just before Nan-k'ou is reached.
The cars ride very easily where the road is ballasted, and there is no serious rocking; the speed is, however, extremely slow.
There are no tunnels between Feng-t'ai and Nan-k'ou. The bridges are not very numerous, there being about 50 feet of opening to the mile; they are all 20 feet and 30 feet spans, except one near Sha-ho, over the river of that name, which is made up of one 110-foot span and three 30-foot spans, at each side of same.
At present there is little or no goods traffic, owing to the fact that all trade comes to Feng-tai by camels; when the contracts for carrying goods this way expire- probably in a few months' time-there is sure to be a very heavy traffic over the railway. The passenger traffic is very light at present, about fifty passengers per train; this will improve greatly when the line is better known to the Chinese.
The principal goods which will ultimately be hauled by the railway are wools, skins, hides, &c., from Kalgan, Nan-k'ou to Feng-t'ai, and on to Tien-tsin, and tea and general goods from Tien-tsin, via Nan-k'ou to Kalgan.
There are four tunnels in the Nan-k'ou Pass, 180 feet, 264 feet, 1,000 feet, and 3,450 feet long respectively. The two short ones are nearly completed, and the other two are well under way.
The steepest grade in the Nan-k'ou Pass is 1 in 30; there is a stretch of about 4 miles of this, and then another of about 24 miles; after that the grade is 1 in 40, of short distances, at intervals.
All the rolling-stock was built in the workshops of the North China Imperial Railways at Tong-shan, and all the rest required will also be built there.
Of course,
all the iron and steel for same is imported from Europe.
All the girders for the bridge have been constructed at the North China Imperial Railways Bridge Works at Shan-hai-kuan, with the exception of one 110-feet span, which came from England in pieces; the steel plates, &c., for the other girders, of course, come from Europe
The locomotives for the line will be built in the North China Imperial Railway Works at Tong-shan entirely, with the exception of the wheels, axles, and springs.
All the bridges up to Nan-k'ou (abutments and piers) are constructed of cement concrete, below water German cement being used, above Tong-shan cement is employed.
The top of the Nan-k'ou Pass is about 2,100 feet above Peking, and Kalgan is about 500 feet above that.
G. PEREIRA,
Peking, November 5, 1906.
(Signed)
Lieutenant-Colonel.
80
3.