CO129-559-1 Canton - Hankow Railways 15-1-1936 - 23-6-1936 — Page 42

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6,000 per mile. Trees are also being planted which it is

hoped will be available for the production of sleepers in

25 years.

29. The technical standards adopted for Construction

are on a far grander scale than those in vogue on the two

terminal sections, and unification will become a pressing

problem if the traffic develops at anything like the rate

anticipated. This scale may be judged from the fact that

all new locomotives designed for through use are of a

4-8-4 type with a tractive effort of nearly 40,000 lbs.

capable of attaining a speed of 50 miles per hour on level

track and of hauling 1,000 tons at a speed of 15 miles per

hour up a 1 in 100 grade.

30. The northern section of the Railway from uchang

to Chuchow is, I am given to understand, in a very bad

state and requires urgent rehabilitation.

Sleepers are

particularly bad, but I believe a grant of $600,000 has

been made by the Ministry of Railways to enable defective

sleepers to be renewed. The distance by rail from Chang sha

to Wuchang is 228 miles and, as the timing by the present

express is 14 hours (16.3 miles per hour start to stop),

the necessity for track strengthening to enable a

competitive speed to be obtained against the river boats

is obvious.

31. All the new covered, high-side, and flat wagons

are steel of 40 tons capacity. New passenger cars are

similar to those of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway with slight

modifications. The rolling stock ordered in London for the

completion of the Canton-Hankow Railway comprises 28 Lo como-

tives, 160 Covered Wagons, 175 High-side Fagons, 90 Flat

Wagons and 50 Carriages.