1941-01-20 — Page 110

CHINA MAIL, PAGE 62

HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER

1841

COLONY TRANSPORT

(Continued from Rage 69).

trebled, and it soon became neces- sary to duplicate the services bolb to and out of Hong Kong.

The popularity of this service indeed became such that although Hong Kong was not mentioned in the original Empire Air Mau scheme by which all first-class mail between various partners in the British Empire is carried at the unsurcharged rate of 11⁄2d. pec half ounce, it became obvious that this route too should be brought into the scheme. Experts of the Post Office, the Air Minis ry, and Imperial Airways therefore work- ed out the technical and opera- tional problems of extending the benefits of the scheme to Hong Kong, and it was calculated that something like 130,000 letters would be flown into and out of the airport each week by this service if the scheme were put into force.

Six Days

In addition the service had been built up as a valued means where- by business min and those holiday could reach London o Sydney in approximately six days, and could get to India, Burma, Siam and Malaya and back In even less.

The all-up mail scheme Wits extended to Hong Kong at the be- ginning of September of 1938, and by it the Colony enjoyed the ad- vantage of unsurcharged air-mail communication with

nearly 40 Countries in the British Empire and along the routes which the Empire services follow. To cope with the demands of the popular passenger service it became neces- sary to add a third aeroplane each week on the spur line betwecu Bangkok and Hong Kong. Thus, the Colony was kept in the fore- ground of Britain's services to ha oversta territories, and the bene- fit: to business generally in the swift and reliable transport of passengers, 10. and freights were fully utilised as soon provided.

i.i

But the future of Hong Kong in the development

Britain's World services promises when times return to normal, to be even niore interesting. Any considera- tion of the spanning of the Pacific Ocean by British air routes sug- gests that there are at any rate two services which might pass through the Colony, Given satis- factory conditions the extension of the present route on to Shang- hai and Takyo seems the next natural step. Tokyo on the map is not a great distance from the Western shores of Canada, and, apart froni

one or two short breaks, there already exist ser- vices which link Canada and the United States with the Orient through Alaska and the eastern portion of Siberia. It would seem possible therefore that the com- plete encirclement of the globe by Britain's airways would be a con- tinuation of the Hong Kong-Tokyo service by way of this north Pacific route,

Link With America

Another extension has already been tried out by the United States with the service from Hong Kong through Manila to Honolulu and San Francisco, and, ́ ́ provided, satisfactory arrangements can be made with the Americans, thère would seem to be no reason why a British service should not use a

similar route and link up with the Canadian system by a service northward from San Francisco. Such extensions from Hong Kong would carry the line of Britain's aerial girdle to the western shores of the Atlantic, and Imperial Air-· ways flights from Ireland to New- foundland have already made it abundantly, clear that, there is now no technical obstacle to the early establishment.

of the Anglo- Canadian air link..

་

Thus this little Colony, for BO long regarded as a distant and: Isolated outpost of Empire, is seen as an important point in aviation's commercial conquest of the world, and it should not be many years before the traveller by air to and from Hong Kong can choose bg- tween routes to the homeland across the North American. con- tinent QI across India and Europe.

The Railway

The railway, from Kowloon to Canton la 11 miles long, of which 22 miles are in Britain ter.... ritory and. 89. in Chinese territory.

The British Section of the line was opened to trame on the 1st October 1910, and through traffic with Canton commenced

on 5ih October, 1211.

The British Section was pro- bably one of the most expensive pieces of railway construction in the world, The earthwork, fun- nels and bridges were excreding- all rock cuttings ly heavy and were made for double line. The cost of the line, exclusive of roll- ing stock, amounted to approxi- mately £75,000 per mile, tunnels being responsible for £17,500 of this amount and earthwork

£10,000.

Some 42 $ per cent of the British Section is curved and 8.2 per cent of this curvature is 5 degrees or more. The average curvature is

The Colony's first teamcar

the fact that Sheung Shul Station in situated at the end of a down grade, made slipping simple, while the Westinghouse brake fitted in addition to the hand brake ren- dered it safe. The north-bound

lent themselves expresses operations of this nature owing to the impracticability of stopping them

after in British territory clearance by Chinese Customs at Kowloon.

»

During 1938 two Bedford 3-ton lorry

chassis were welded 10- pro- gether, hack to back, and vided with a suitable body form a rail-bus, This bus runs on pneumatic tyres fitted with cast-steel flanges, and provides a service between 5 miles shutt'e Fanling and Taipo Market.

An Express leaving Kowloon.

1. which postulates the difficul- t'es experienced in locating the line.

Beacon Hill Tunnel, which is approximately 1 miles in length, cost $3,283,500 or £328,000.

The amount of earthwork in- volved on the British Section was 3,375,000 cubic yards, or 153,000 cubic yards per mile. Of this amount, 1,100,000 cubic yards were excavated from one cutting near Hung Hom, This cutting is about 4,000 feet long and 200 feet deep at its deepest point. The line; was taken through a hill at this point in order to provide filling for a reclamation on the sea front.

The terminal station at Kow- loon was completed and opened to the public on 28th March, 1,916.

Features, of the local service, on the British Section are a buffet. car and a slip coach. Both these carriages are fitted up to enable them to be slipped from express trains. The slipping of these coaches prior to the cessation of October 1938, through traffic in

was undertaken on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays, to enable members of the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club at Sheung Shul, which is 10/2 miles by rail from: Kowloon, to reach the courses in, the fastest possible time. The standard use of Janney automatic couplings and

The Chinese Section cost about £12,500 per, mile, or one-sixth that of the British Section, earth- work accounting for approximut- ly £2,100 of this figure.

There are

no tunnels Chinese Section and no parti- cularly heavy works with the ex- ception of the two bridges near aggregate 1,808 Sheklung which feet in length.

on the

Prior to cessation of through traffic, the through express trains between

Canton Kowloon and were the fastest in China. They accomplished the journey of 111 miles with four intermediate stops in 2 hours and 55 minutes. In view of the fact that the track is single and that all expresses un their journey had to pick up 20 tokens en route, this was no megn performance

.Streamlined luxury parlour ob- servation rail-cars with 150 H.P petrol; driven engines were, built, in the railway workshops and placed in service in 1936. During

run one its inaugural

of them performed the journey between Kowloon and Canton in 24 hours. These cars were intended primari ly for the accommodation of special tourist and other parties up to 24 in number who may wish fast to travel, in comfort, at a speed and, at rates which, com- pare favourably with third-class

travel in England. AL present they are used for the conveyance of golfers and are attached to the rear of ordinary trains on the re- turn journey.

An air-conditioned lounge car of the ice-activated type was placed on the Canton service in May 1937. It was withdrawn in October the same year due 10 Siuo-Japanese hostilities. This car proved very popular and in- creased first class travel consider-

ubly.

Prior to Sino-Japanese hostili- ties punctuality was a feature of the through service; for example the 1,796 through express trains between

Kowloon Canton and

› averaged less than one minute

late each during the year 1936.

Most travellers are impressed by the panorama of rugged gran- deur and scenic beauty disclosed through the carriage window. For miles the line traverses the verge . moun- of an inland sea with lainous background, which bears the a striking resemblance to

echs of Scotland.

Prior to 1937, the railway was kept alive by its heavy passen- ger traffic between the two ter- minal cities of Canton and Kow- ioon which averaged, about 3,609 per day. In 1935. 12.710 passen- Rers were conveyed from Kowloon to Canton in one day in eight" Expresses, and 2,237 passengers were brought down from Canton in the 12-coach "Flying Eagle" Express, This latter achievement is believed to be a record for u single-engined express. The pro- blem of human transportation in China is a question of providing facilities for carrying huge num- hers at the lowest possible costs, and third-class. traffic was con- veyed between Kowloon and Can- ton at the low rate of 0.0 cents (1/7.h of a penny) per mile,

Goods traffic increased consider- ably when the Canton Hankow Railway was joined to the Can- ton-Kowloon Railway in August 1937. When normality in China is traffic should restored, goods supersede coaching traffle as the main revenue producer.

Despite the stoppage of through traffic to Canton, and Hankow after October 12th, 1938, caused

Japanese

of by the

invasion South China, the British Section experienced a record year in 1938. The operating ratio prior to the stoppage was 49 per cent, and the unparalleled amount of traffle `put n heavy strain upon the resources of the Department calling for the utmost effort from all members of the staff.

In spite of the shortness of the British Section, it may be re- garded · for all practienl' purposez as the deep-sea terminal «for the various provinces in interior“. China served by the railway sy- stem. The main link of this sy- stem between Hankew and Kow-. loan, is 791 miles long.

Financial prospects when peaceful conditions," are resumed are most encouraging.

1941