– S 4
throughout the year. Naturally the Chinese Section was by far the greater sufferer of the two, but as the working of both Sections is so interdependent, the misfortunes of either reflect on the other, with the result that the receipts from through traffic compare most unfavourably with those of previous years instead of showing a steady improvement.
25. Trouble commenced on the Chinese Section with the departure from Canton of General Chan Kwing Ming on the 15th January. His troops in a panic made a rush for Shek Lung. About 3,000 were got away by rail when all arrangements were upset by retreating troops stopping trains and forcing the drivers to take them where they willed. Chinese Section engines were left standing wherever they happened to be when coal and water gave out. From this time onwards there was spasmodic and intermittent running of trains until 27th October when all through traffic ceased. There was no express service from the 16th April to the end of the year. Conditions gradually went from bad to worse. Chinese Section locomotives were run, or kept in steam, night and day by the soldiery without proper attention or repairs, derailments and collisions were frequent until there was scarcely an engine in running order on the Chinese Section. Much damage was done to stations; doors and windows being torn out, electrical instruments stolen or smashed, and tickets and documents wantonly destroyed. Of 1,460 tabled Express trains only 264 ran and of 730 Slow Through trains, only 409 ran.
26. There were occasions when it became necessary for the British Section to withdraw from Shum Chun Station and make Lo Wu Siding the terminus, where the Hongkong Government stationed police or military patrols to prevent Chinese soldiers from crossing the border. It was also once necessary to withdraw from the Sha Tau Kok terminus for the same reason.
27. During the year the British Section suffered considerable inconvenience by the retention of its goods stock by the Chinese Section. Owing to the commandeering of the Chinese Section rolling stock by the military for the transport of troops and military stores, and the general interference with the working of the Chinese Section, the British Section wagon stock was held up on that Section with the result that goods destined for Canton accumulated in the Railway goodshed at Kowloon to such extent that many remunerative cargoes amounting to thousands of tons had to be turned away, and several consignments already loaded were eventually withdrawn.
28. A collision on the Chinese Section at Wang Lik Station, between an express train and a goods train, involved the complete loss of one 15-ton covered goods wagon and two others were so damaged that they had to be rebuilt. All three wagons were British Section stock. (Debit for the repairs as well as for the
- S 4
throughout the year. Naturally the Chinese Section was by far the greater sufferer of the two, but as the working of both Sections is so interdependent, the misfortunes of either reflect on the other, with the result that the receipts from through traffic compare most unfavourably with those of previous years instead of showing a steady improvement.
25. Trouble commenced on the Chinese Section with the departure from Canton of General Chan Kwing Ming on the 15th January. His troops in a panic made a rush for Shek Lung. About 3,000 were got away by rail when all arrangements were upset by retreating troops stopping trains and forcing the drivers to take them where they willed. Chinese Section engines were left standing wherever they happened to be when coal and water gave out. From this time onwards there was spasmodic and intermittent running of trains until 27th October when all through traffic ceased. There was no express service from the 16th April to the end of the year. Conditions gradually went from bad to worse. Chinese Section locomotives were run, or kept in steam, night and day by the soldiery without proper attention or repairs, derailments and collisions were frequent until there was scarcely an engine in running order on the Chinese Section. Much damage was done to stations; doors and windows being torn out, electrical instruments stolen or smashed, and tickets and documents wantonly destroyed. Of 1,460 tabled Express trains only 264 ran and of 730 Slow Through trains, only 409 ran.
26. There were occasions when it became necessary for the British Section to withdraw from Shum Chun Station and make Lo Wu Siding the terminus, where the Hongkong Government stationed police or military patrols to prevent Chinese soldiers from crossing the border. It was also once necessary to withdraw from the Sha Tau Kok terminus for the same reason,
27. During the year the British Section suffered considerable inconvenience by the retention of its goods stock by the Chinese Section. Owing to the commandeering of the Chinese Section rolling stock by the military for the transport of troops and military stores, and the general interference with the working of the Chinese Section, the British Section wagon stock was held up on that Section with the result that goods destined for Canton accumulated in the Railway goodshed at Kowloon to such extent that many remunerative cargoes amounting to thousands of tons had to be turned away, and several consignments already loaded were eventually withdrawn.
28. A collision on the Chinese Section at Wang Lik Station, between an express train and a goods train, involved the complete loss of one 15-ton covered goods wagon and two others were so damaged that they had to be rebuilt. All three wagons were British Section stock. (Debit for the repairs as well as for the
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.