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WORKSHOPS.

Running sheds and small workshops are being provided at Ssupingkai. These are apparently intended only for the making of current and general repairs, and are not intended for the manufacture of equipment. It is more than likely that many of the shop requirements of this line will be taken care of at the Shakako works of the South Manchuria Railway.

TRAFFIC AND EARNINGS.

The traffic of the present line will largely consist of agricultural products obtained along the line and both agricultural and pastoral products from Chengchiatun. It is reported that the earnings of the line for the first few weeks averaged about 2,750 yen ($1,370 gold) a week, which is somewhat better than the showing of the MukdenAntung branch of the South Manchuria Railway when first opened for traffic. From all appearances one seems warranted in predicting that this line will do a considerable volume of business, and particularly that it will make a valuable traffic feeder to the South Manchuria Railway.

OFFICIALS-PURCHASES.

Mr. Yu Yu (Chinese), formerly managing director of the KirinChangchun Railway, is now the managing director of this line and Mr. J. Fujine (Japanese) is chief engineer.

Purchases for this line were made largely by the chief engineer (Japanese) subject to approval by the managing director (Chinese). The rail fastenings came from the Han-Yeh-Ping steel plant, and the structural materials will be furnished from the Shakako works, as will also be the case with the rolling stock requirements. It is entirely probable that in the future requirements will be arranged for largely through the South Manchuria Railway purchasing department at Dairen, drawing on this company's Dairen storeroom and the Shakako workshops.

III. RUSSIAN RAILWAYS IN MANCHURIA AND EASTERN

SIBERIA.

INTRODUCTION.

While the heading of this section of the report is "Manchuria, it seems desirable to explain the general situation as regards the Russian railways in eastern Siberia. The Chinese Eastern Railway, Southern Ussuri Railway, Amur Railway, Pin-Hei Railway, and Amur River steamer lines are in a way under one general administration, and the Chinese Eastern and the Southern Ussuri are managed as one system.

This is a very interesting situation, about which much could be written, but, until some settlement of the present chaotic conditions is effected, such a discussion would have very little point in relation to markets for railway equipment and materials. The writer visited Changchun, Harbin, Nikolsk, and Vladivostok in August, 1917, but was unable to obtain information directly from the railway officials. on account of the large number of changes that had already occurred and the disturbed conditions prevailing even at that time. Therefore, the following account will refer very briefly to the situation and give an idea of the general arrangement.

The lines in which we are interested are the Chinese Eastern Railway-the part of the Trans-Siberian line in Manchuria-and the Southern Ussuri Railway-the part of the Trans-Siberian line from the eastern Manchurian border to Vladivostok. The other lines are mentioned for the reason that this can be done much more briefly when they are combined than when they are referred to separately. The Chinese Eastern Railway includes all that part of the Russian Trans-Siberian route that lies in Manchuria. It consists of the main line running west from Pogranichnaya (Suifenho, Chinese name) on the Ussuri border to Manchuria (Manchouli) on

Baikal border, a length of about 926 miles, and a branch south from Harbin to Kwanchengtze (a_point_about 2 miles north of Changchun), from which place the South Manchuria Railway owns the tracks giving entrance to the central station used by all railways entering Changchun.

The Southern Ussuri Railway starts at the port of Vladivostok and runs north a distance of about 68 miles to Nikolsk. Shortly after passing this place, a turn is made and the line runs west to Pogranichnaya, a distance of about 143 miles from Vladivostok. In addition, what may be called a section of the Amur route continues north from Nikolsk, following the Ussuri River to its junction with the Amur River at Khabarovsk, or, as it is frequently called, Habarovsk. This line between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk was the first part built of the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian route, work being officially started in May, 1891, at Vladivostok.

It is not generally known that the Amur Railway-running parallel to, and 15 to 50 miles from, the north side of the Amur River from

Khabarovsk to a point just east of Chita, a place about 300 miles farther west than Manchuria station and about 650 miles east of Irkutsk is connected and that trains are being run by this route. While this line is connected, it is not ballasted or in serviceable condition for reliably handling regular traffic.

The bridge across the Amur River at Khabarovsk is approximately 7,600 feet in length, was opened in November, 1916, required five years to build, and cost about 18,000,000 rubles, or approximately $9,000,000 gold. The construction of this bridge was contracted for in Austria, but, as most of the material was on the ground at the opening of the war, it was finished by the Russian engineers.

There is one branch from the main line to the important city of Blagovestchensk, on the Amur River nearly opposite Aigun and Tahieho, the northern terminus of the proposed Chinchow-Aigun Railway.

During the navigation season of about six months, the Amur River steamer lines form a very important feature of the transportation situation in this part of the world. These steamer lines cover not only the Amur River but its navigable tributaries, of which there is a very considerable number, the Sungari being the most important. Much of this transportation is done by native Chinese craft, but in the last 25 years there has grown up a fleet of Russian river steamers and trailer barges. The Chinese Eastern Railway owns 13 of these steamers and 30 barges. In the operation of this river traffic one steamer at times tows as many as five good-sized barges. In recent years most of these steamers and barges have been operated as a combination, under the direction of Messrs. Oparim and Alexieff, two well-known merchants of Harbin. This combination included the leasing of some of the Chinese Eastern floating equipment above mentioned. It is access to this system of navigable rivers that is desired by the Japanese in acquiring the additional 75 miles of the Harbin-Changchun branch, so as to reach the first crossing on the upper part of the Sungari River, where it is still navigable by these river steamers.

As regards the projected Pin-Hei Railway, it may be noted that a preliminary agreement was made between Russia and China in 1915 and 1916 for building a line from Harbin to Mergen and then on to Aigun and Taheiho on the Amur River, with a branch from the Chinese Eastern Railway at Angangki through Tsitsihar to Mergen, to connect there with the other line. This railway, according to the agreement, was to be built by Russia as a Chinese Government railway and to be guaranteed by the Chinese Government, but it would be entirely for the benefit of Russia, particularly from a strategic standpoint. The line would be through a rather rough country but one rich in both agricultural and pastoral products. Apparently little or nothing is known about the mineral resources along this line.

THE PORT OF VLADIVOSTOK.

Vladivostok is a very excellent port with deep water in the harbor, and with the ice breakers now used it is actually kept open for navigation all the year round. This result is greatly assisted by the favorable winds during the winter, which blow in a direction tending

to drive the broken ice to sea. There are large warehouses along a large part of the water front, all of which are served directly by railway tracks. These facilities are, however, more for the handling of inbound materials and manufactured products than for outbound shipments. During normal times soya beans, bean oil, and bean cake constitute one of the largest items of export. The beans are handled in sacks in a way quite similar to the methods of handling wheat in Australia.

CONDITIONS AT HARBIN.

Harbin is the administration headquarters for the Chinese Eastern and the Southern Ussuri Railways. The town is divided into two distinct parts. The railway and civil administration is in a part of the town lying on the high ground, but on account of the port facilities and for other reasons a large part of the civil population lives in what might be called the lower town. Harbin is, without doubt, the most important commercial center in all of central and northern Manchuria, and it is the principal port for the fleet of river steamers above mentioned. The tracks of the Chinese Eastern Railway extend for a considerable distance along the river front, where transfer is made directly from railway cars to the river steamers and barges, and from this point shipments are made to all the places reached by this system of navigable rivers. It would undoubtedly be of great benefit to the development of all this region if the HarbinChangchun branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway were changed to 4-foot 84-inch gauge, thus enabling shipment to be made directly from China and Southern Manchuria to these river wharves. This is one of the reasons why the Japanese have made such persistent efforts to secure control of this branch.

FINANCES, MANAGEMENT, AND EQUIPMENT OF LINES.

So many writers have already fully covered this situation that it seems unnecessary to include any historical statement in this report other than what has already been said and what is given in Appendix 2.

CONSTRUCTION COST AND CAPITAL LIABILITIES.

The Far Eastern Review, in its railway number of November, 1909, shows the cost of the Chinese Eastern Railway as $90,000,000 gold. This has been added to somewhat-chiefly on account of reconstruction, though it is very probable that some of the additional amount was spent on other than strictly railway expenditures. There seems to be a variety of opinion as to the actual construction cost of this line, but if it is not in excess of the above figures it is not so unduly expensive as is usually stated, particularly when all the conditions are considered. No accurate information was obtained concerning the present capital obligations of these lines.

TRAFFIC.

The traffic on the Chinese Eastern Railway totaled about 2,121,500 tons for the year 1915, of which grain was the largest item, constituting about 45 per cent. Coal was next, constituting about 8 per cent, and tea was next, amounting to almost 5 per cent. There

was a large increase of tonnage handled as compared with the previous year, grain and coal each increasing about 50 per cent and tea about 100 per cent.

ORGANIZATION AND OPERATING METHODS.

The organization is of the typically bureaucratic type in all features. Methods of operation and train running conform to the stationmaster method in all its purity. There are buffet stations, averaging about 25 miles apart, where ample time is allowed for refreshment. One memorable feature of Russian train operation, particularly in yard switching, is the constant use of a large resonant whistle to sound a code of signals to switchmen who are located on the ground to throw switches for the handling of cars. In the yard at Harbin a surprisingly large number of men are used as ground switchmen.

While the writer made inquiry as to the performance figures of these lines, it was impossible to obtain data that would satisfactorily show the facts and represent the normal conditions.

ROADWAY AND TRACK.

The line passes through a great variety of country; therefore the location and construction are all the way from "easy" to "difficult and expensive." As a whole, the line appears to be reasonably well located and the construction substantial, although the Southern Ussuri line shows to some advantage over the Chinese Eastern, particularly in the use of stone ballast on the former as against indifferent gravel ballast on the latter. The structures are all permanent and some of the bridges are imposing, especially the fivespan bridge over the Sungari River at Harbin. The tunnels, of which there is a considerable number, are well constructed, particularly the substantial lining in most of them.

There

All these lines are of the Russian standard 5-foot gauge. is a great variety of materials-some rather unusual-used in the track work, and the writer was impressed with the fact that those in charge seemed able to use any kind of a track device that they were able to obtain.

ROLLING STOCK.

The rolling stock is even more varied than the track devices. The recent equipment received from the United States seems to be used without any apparent difficulties, with the other mixed equipment, but most of this new American equipment was loaded at Vladivostok and sent to Russia, and it usually never came back. Therefore, most of this equipment that the writer saw was in transit on its way to Russia. Most of the rolling stock in use for local service was of continental types and much of it was manufactured in the Russian shops. The locomotives, as a rule, were small, and many of them had an adjustable diamond stack for the burning of coal or wood.

WORKSHOPS.

Large workshops are located at Harbin. These are capable of handling all classes of repairs to rolling stock, as well as a good deal of manufacturing, if the latter is desired. Since the beginning of the war, a car erecting or assembling shop has been used at Vladi

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