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The stations (Mandarin rendering in brackets) with the times of departure were as follows:-
Swatow (Sban-tou)
Am-pou (An-p'o)..
Tshua-tag-chhi (Ts'in-tang-sbih)
Phu-ien (Fou-yang)
Pang-khoi (Feng-ch'i)
Tie-chin Hu (Chao cbon Pu)
Depart 7.2 AM.
7-27 34
7:50
33
*
8-11
21
35
8-27 Arrive 8-86
In addition to the new terminus at I-khoe, it is intended to make new stations at Tou-men-ch'iao and Chin-shih-kung.
Fares, first-class, 1 dol. 25 c. each way; third-class, 50 cents or 90 cents for the return journey.
A great many Chinese travel by the line, and on my train I noticed two or three Japanese passengers.
At Swatow and Ch'ao-chou Fu the railway stations are single storied and built of mud and cement and whitewashed. They each contain several rooras. At the other stations there are only small wooden huts, open at the sides, with small mud-houses for the railway employés.
ants.
The wooden post sunk into the ground is a perilous venture in this land of white
The platforms of the stations are raised about 2 feet above the line, built of sand and earth, and faced along the line with stone. Each platform is about 80 yards long by 6 yards wide.
At Swatow there are six sidings, with an additional four, which run into two goods sheds. There is also an engine-house and a water-tank.
As Am-pou there is only one siding. At the other stations there are two sidings, the longer one being from 100 to 150 yards long. The terminus at Ch'ao-chou Fu is about 200 yards beyond the station and close to the city wall.
Ch'ao-chou Fu is estimated to have a population of 300,000 inhabitants.
The train stops to water about 2 to 3 miles south of Tshua-tng-chhi, at a hugo raised water-bucket, supplied by cans from a stream close by. There are two additional water-tanks at Tshua-tng-chhi station and one at Ch'ao-chou Fu.
Two telegraph lines ran on the right (east) side of the line, a single strand being presumably the railway telegraph, whilst beyond it is the Government telegraph.
Except for one or two very short cuttings beyond Pang-khoi station, the line runs along an embankment the whole way. It is usually from 2 to 4 feet above the surrounding country, though at the Swatow end it is raised about 6 feet for the first few miles.
The line is standard gauge and single, and very little width of embankment is allowed on either side of the rails. The embankment is made mostly from field mud, dry out of a trench, close to the left (west) side of the embankment. The soil is mostly alluvial clay, though in some places beyond Tshua-tng-chhi it is sandy. The line throughout is ballasted with a very thin layer of sand. Before reaching Am-pou many small streams from 3 to 10 yards wide are crossed by culverts, all faced with stone, whilst two small branches of the Han River, respectively 30 and 40 yards wide, are also crossed by bridges of one and two stone piers. These small streams and water outlets were the greatest difficulty encountered in the construction of the line.
along it.
The embankment is not revetted, and no grass or trees have been planted
The line appears to have been done in a hurry, and also to have been done too much on the cheap. A siding could easily have been run into the hills 2 or 3 miles to the west, and ballast of disintegrating granite obtained. The railway was opened in the driest season, and the general opinion is that it will not be able to survive a storm or the rainy season that is usual from May to August. A missionary told me that there had only been one shower since the line was opened, and it was followed by an accident on the line. He also said that the embankment was so rotten, that he was able to run his umbrella for some distance under the sleepers. Beyond one small party throwing up a few clods of earth, I did not see any steps being taken to strengthen the bank.
I also found the line very shaky.
The rolling-stock is sufficient for present needs; they have at present three American locomotives, one at least of which has done duty elsewhere.
my train was small, and marked American Brooks Works, 1904,
The one on
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There are about twenty-two passengers' coaches, constructed in Japan, and marked K.S.K. Osaka. My train consisted of two vans, two composite first- and third-class carriages, and eight third-class carriages. The composite cars can seat twelve first-class passengers, and eighteen third-class passengers, whilst the third class seat fifty-two passengers on small wooden benches. All the carriages are corridor compartments. The first class are comfortable with reversible backs on the beuches, though there is a good deal of shoddy, rough castings, inferior veneer, and imitation leather on the cushions.
The rails, which are about 30 feet long, appear to be second-hand, as they are very rusty, and I could not decipher the name on them. They come from America, and are laid on Japanese hard-wood sleepers, each rail being fixed to the sleeper by two rivets, whilst each fish-plate is attached by four rivets.
The construction of the line has taken two years to a day, and has cost up to date close on 3,000,000 dollars. A first-class English firm (I believe Jardine, Mathieson) tendered to do the whole for 1,750,000 dollars, but the Chinese elected to give carte blanche to a Japanese Company with the present result. It has been planned and entirely carried out by Japanese and Chinese. The line is managed by Japanese, and they supply the station-masters at the termini and the guards on the trains. Permission was also given to them to supply the engine drivers, until the Chinese ones were trained, but I believe the train I travelled on was driven by Chinese.
The line belongs to a private Company, and is supposed to be entirely financed by Chinese, though possibly there is some Japanese money in it. The Chinese admit they are losing money over it, and the receipts are barely enough to cover their daily expenses, and are not sufficient to pay the interest on the 3,000,000 dollars spent in constructing the line.
It is intended to eventually connect the line with the trunk line from Canton to Hankow, and also with the coast line from Canton to Foo-chow, but all these lines remain to be built, and the Swatow line will no doubt have gone through some serious vicissitudes before this happy cousummation is arrived at.
The railway offices are in the town of Swatow, where I saw several stands of Mauser (1888) repeating rifles for nine rounds. The clerk at the office told me that the line is guarded by 300 "Fu-yung," or protecting Braves, men raised locally by the Company to protect the line. I only saw a few of them at Ch'ao-chou Fu station. The clerk also said that the people had shown a good deal of animosity to the con- struction of the line, which was now, however, dying out, as they became accustomed to it. There was also a good deal of difficulty in the purchasing of the land.
I am appending a tracing of the line which I copied from the one in the railway offices.
G. PEREIRA, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Grenadier Guards, Military Attaché.
(Signed)
Hong Kong, December 23, 1906.
620
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