being based on the fact that goods receipts did not bulk large in total operating revenues. Three schemes were devised; the first to cater for probable goods movements during the period of Sino-Japanese hostilities; the second to be used when normality is restored and the growth of "transit" traffic requires the provision of godowns and their concomitant sidings; and the third to be put in hand when the hinterland has been developed to such an extent that the demands of traffic can only be met satisfactorily by new modern wharves and transit sheds.
14. The problem which had to be solved in drawing up the first scheme was to provide maximum facilities at low cost, in the shortest possible time. A few new sidings were constructed at specially selected points and a 5-ton mobile crane and two small shunting engines were obtained from the Shing Mun Water Works. This enabled traffic to be dealt with in a reasonably satisfactory manner as the key factor governing the volume of goods handled was not the capacity of this Section, but the difficulties experienced in obtaining a regular and sufficient supply of goods wagons from the Canton-Hankow line. The growth of traffic during this period can be gauged from the fact that foreign goods receipts for the month of December were $43,243, compared with $44,695 for the whole of last year.
15. The second scheme provides for a new Goods Terminal on Kowloon Railway Reclamation estimated to cost $650,000; while the third is based on proposals made to the Hong Kong Government by the Consulting Engineers Messrs. Coode, Fitzmaurice, Wilson and Mitchell in November, 1922.
16. The worst cataclysm which has ever befallen the Railway took place in the early hours of September 2nd, when a record typhoon, with a maximum wind velocity of 167 miles per hour, struck Hong Kong. More than 6,000 lineal feet of embankment were washed out in a 7 miles stretch between Shatin and Taipo Market, where the line fringes Tolo Harbour. The damage was caused by a tidal wave which swept through Tolo Channel and deployed along the western margin of the land-locked sea. Three main banks, each 25 feet in height and 1,200, 500 and 300 feet in length respectively, composed of earth filling pitched with granite blocks, were demolished by this wave which reached a maximum height of 30 feet above mean sea level. All traffic was suspended until the evening of September 10th when a ballast train was able to pass over the damaged section. One day later, one through passenger train in each direction was allowed to run between Kowloon and Canton and, on September 13th, the normal train service was resumed at restricted speed. Between September 2nd and September 10th, an average of nearly 2,000 coolies had been employed daily, in night and day shifts, to effect temporary repairs. Speed restrictions were removed on November 8th and consolidation work was completed on November 24th. The total cost of rectifying typhoon damage was $80,883.
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