African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 209 The First Railway Project Approval
In mid-September, personnel from the former Rowens Railway Company arrived in East Africa, and their company name was changed to East African Railway Company, with no major changes in other directions.

Nordin, the chief engineer, was hired as a technical consultant to the East African Railway Department.

In October, personnel from the East African Railway Company conducted research on the topographic data provided by the East African government. Finally, Engineer Nuoding and his team were invited to participate in a working meeting of the East African government on railway construction issues.

"Everyone, this meeting determines the future fate of the East African Railway. It can be said that once it is established, the future East African Railway can only go down this road. Therefore, everyone can speak freely, summarize the actual situation in East Africa, and choose the most suitable one. Regarding the railway standards in East Africa, I would like to invite Mr. Notting to introduce the situation to you." Prince Constantine set the tone of the meeting.

Engineer Notting nodded to everyone, then got up and began to introduce popular science railway related content to everyone. There are a lot of high-achieving students with primary school education in the East African government, so this is very necessary.

"...The above are some key points of railway construction, but the topic finally returns to the choice of railway gauge. There is no unified standard in this regard. After all, the national conditions are different. Everyone can express their thoughts without worrying about what they think. What a layman." Engineer Notting said.

As Ernst's confidant, Stewart was confessed before the meeting and was the first to put forward his opinions, so he was the first to say: "There is no fixed standard for wide gauge and narrow gauge (International Union of Railways in 1937 1435mm was established as the standard gauge in 1500), according to my idea, it is better to take an intermediate number directly, and directly [-]mm."

With the first speaker, everyone is relatively active.

Yarman said: "I think it's better to build it bigger. I have been on the train. In the army, many people crowded in a small car. It was very crowded and the comfort was not good. At that time, I I was thinking that it would be better if the train carriage was bigger, and the experience would be better, so I suggested that it should be two meters straight, of course, this is my personal opinion, and please don’t take offense if I make a mistake.”

Yalman's statement was endorsed by some officials from the former Prussian army.

"I think it's not bad to use 1435mm directly, after all, there are many countries that use it."

"1435mm sounds awkward. It was originally 4 feet 8.5 inches in the UK. The British love to do this. It complicates the problem just like converting the pound. We use the metric system in East Africa, so it is better to use the metric system to round up. , which is also easy to calculate.”

"I don't agree with the use of 1435mm. Overseas, we Germans belong to the weaker side. Now Britain and France are the colonial powers. We Germans can develop East Africa, and Britain and France can also develop Africa in the future, and France is now in North Africa and West Africa. Britain happens to be in the middle of us in Somaliland and Cape Town, so I suggest that for national defense considerations, we should learn from the Russians and not have a unified railway standard with them.”

"I also agree with this point. We in East Africa don't need to consider the issue of connecting with the world in the future. Africa is not Russia. It connects Europe and Asia. Our connection with other regions of the world is still by sea. Land and Eurasia connection point That is a small area of ​​Egypt, and Egypt is still building the Suez Canal, Egypt is a wrestling field between Britain and France, and I don’t think outsiders will be allowed to intervene.”

"The advantage of wide gauge is that it carries a large load and has low technical requirements. The disadvantage is that the load is heavy and the horsepower cannot be increased.

But we don't pursue speed either. East Africa's bulk exports are grain and timber, and we don't have enough others, so I tend to use broad gauge. "

"In my opinion, the railway is better if it is big. As for the land issue, East Africa is more sparsely populated than Tsarist Russia. It doesn't matter if you occupy more land. The most important thing is that the cultivated land in Europe is dense. The railway will affect the farmland. We don't have to worry about it in East Africa. In this regard, so many grasslands and forests are not in vain, this is a small problem."

"Generally speaking, there is no such problem, because the wide gauge is only wider than the width of a seat. In addition to the rails, the railway line generally covers 10-30 meters on both sides of the railway, which is negligible in terms of the increase in track footprint. The impact is basically on tunnels and bridges." Engineer Noting added, "In terms of safety, wide-gauge can run more smoothly under the current technical conditions, but turning depends on the special design of the outer diameter of the wheel to solve the problem of differential speed. Inverted! So the gauge can’t be too wide.”

"Mr. Nording, how can you say this can't be too broad?"

"My suggestion is not to exceed three meters, because there is no actual operating railway with such a width.

The British built more than 1835 miles of railways with a gauge of 300mm in 2140 and operated them for a period of time. I haven’t studied locomotives in depth, but technology has developed over the years, so I estimate that within three meters is relatively safe.

Moreover, if East Africa adopts a railway gauge of more than two meters, it should be considered the only one in the world. This should be called an ultra-wide gauge.

However, as far as I am concerned, I think the future of ultra-wide gauge has more potential. As far as the current cargo volume in Europe is concerned, it has been increasing, and the development of railways is nothing more than the pursuit of speed and heavy load. direction.

If technical problems such as power can be solved in the future, none of this is considered a problem. According to the current development of science and technology, I think the possibility is very high. "

Hearing this, the new army commander-in-chief Felix said: "Then I think it's better to use 2500mm as our own standard in East Africa. This kind of technology is guaranteed and meets our needs in East Africa. The climate in East Africa is exactly the opposite of that of Tsarist Russia. But I know that Tsarist Russia is also dominated by grasslands and forests, and all routes lead to the same goal, so we in East Africa are more similar to Tsarist Russia in this regard, so there is no problem in using wide gauge.”

Felix's words were also supported by most people. Tsarist Russia does have similarities with East Africa in terms of geography. There are no forests, grasslands, and frozen land in East Africa, but there are many swamps in East Africa.

After the estimation of the East African government and the confirmation of Notting engineers, East Africa finally chose a maverick figure - 2500mm.

Originally Ernst was more inclined to the number of 1500mm, but what was said in the last meeting also made Ernst very interested.

It doesn't matter if you spend more money. The most important thing to repair the railway is the labor cost. Anyway, East Africans don't need to do it themselves, so feel free to do it boldly.

The first railway project in East Africa was officially established. Because the end point of this railway is in the first town, and it is the first railway in East Africa, the name is also directly called "First Railway", but later generations will add the qualifier East Africa in front of it.

The first railway, with a total length of 59 kilometers, is located a short distance from the first town and Dar es Salaam. This is the result of taking into account the defense project. Of course, the noise of the steam locomotive is quite loud, Enns It doesn't matter, but it's not good to disturb Prince Constantine's rest.

Because the first railway to be built is an experimental railway, Ernst is not afraid of making mistakes. If it really doesn't work, just stop it, and it will not be too late.

At the same time, this meeting also gave Ernst a sense of urgency. The ultra-wide gauge is a bold and avant-garde concept proposed by the engineer of Nottingham, but relevant technical reserves must be paid attention to.

The standard railway gauge was actually a path-dependent problem in the previous life. The British first developed it and exported it to the world. Later, it became the standard of many countries. When they want to change it, they will change the entire railway. system, so the cost of change is too great to give up.

Some people in the previous life of the Eurasian train proposed that an ultra-wide gauge of more than two meters should be adopted, which can increase the number of containers, but it can only be a dream.

In the time and space Ernst lives in, the railway has not been developed for many years. For many countries in the world, they have never even seen it. East Africa must be inferior to other countries in terms of steam power.

The first-mover advantage of the standard gauge has already been determined. If East Africa wants to stand alone, it must have its own breakthrough in technology.

Now Ernst has a trump card in his hand that has not been used, and that is the Berlin Energy Power Company - now the top company in the field of internal combustion engines in the world. Next year, that is, in 1870, the practical four-stroke internal combustion engine of the Berlin Energy Power Company, According to the schedule of the year, it will be released.

Now that the company is relatively free, it is necessary to increase their workload and set up a new department to focus on increasing research on internal combustion engine applications such as internal combustion engine locomotives and automobiles.

(End of this chapter)