Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 502 Railway Age ([-])

On New Year’s Day in 1646, there was a huge crowd of people outside the Merlin Port Railway Station. Hundreds of police officers from the Ministry of the Interior separated a large space in the station so that a large group of central government officials who drove all the way from the capital by rail carriage could watch the ceremony at close range. The departure ceremony of the first steam train in the history of the East Coast.

The boiler of the Barbarian-5 steam engine, which has been hastily finalized and produced many problems, finally began to pressurize as the fire in the furnace burned more and more.The cylinder pistons on both sides start to do work slowly under the push of steam, and the wheels connected by the connecting rod slowly rotate under the action of the pistons.When the connecting rod turned to the maximum length, the train body relied on inertia to move forward, so that the connecting rod got back to the starting position again.In this way, with the push and pull of the cylinder piston and the inertia of the train body, the locomotive and the cars attached behind can move forward continuously.

The steam engine used in this locomotive has a horsepower of about 75 horsepower and consumes 110 kilograms of standard coal in Tacheng per hour, and its efficiency has improved compared to before.The first carriage suspended from the rear of the steam locomotive (that is, the locomotive) is a tender car, which is loaded with several tons of coal and a small amount of fresh water, which can be used for the continuous operation of the locomotive for about two days.In fact, there is no need to carry so much coal and fresh water when driving in the hinterland, because there are railway stations (later renamed railway stations) along the route to replenish coal and water, which is very convenient.

There are 7 carriages hanging behind the tender. Except for the first carriage which is an open-top passenger carriage, the latter 6 carriages are all filled with coal from the north, a total of 60 tons.There are many new immigrants sitting in the passenger compartment at this time. They will be honored to be the first group of passengers traveling by train on the east coast to settle in Port Rocha.The total weight of the entire train plus the cargo loaded on it was about 80 tons. At this time, the locomotive was violently puffing out black smoke and began to accelerate slowly, transporting the heavy cargo to the south along the standard heavy-duty rails with a width of 1500 mm.

The train accelerated for a certain distance in the factory area of ​​the South Vehicle Factory, and then when it passed the crowd of spectators, its speed had climbed to about 12 kilometers per hour, and it was still rising.This caused a group of officials from the Executive Committee, the Government Affairs Council, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to stand and applaud standing in the field. It was not easy. After so many years of time travel, at least the train was a big killer.Although I don’t know how reliable it is, this is always a good starting point. With the development of various domestic industries, the quality and reliability of trains will become higher and higher, and eventually become a sharp weapon for people on the east coast to open up inland areas. .

"Wherever the railway is built in the future, it will be our land." Qi Wangping, director of the personnel department who came to watch the ceremony on behalf of the executive committee, was rarely excited. He is in his 40s, and his palms are almost red at this time.

"Not only to open up the inland, but even in the existing land, the importance of the train is self-evident." Peng Zhicheng, who is the supervisor of the national railway, naturally wants to attend this kind of occasion, I saw him watching the train gradually going away Back, said in a slightly excited voice: "Due to the serious shortage of canal transport ships, in the three deep inland towns of Xiayihe Fort, Canyon Fort, and Ningjin Fort, the supply of various materials, especially living materials The supply is seriously insufficient. Even if some merchants trafficked supplies from the eastern region, the price was astonishingly high. When I was researching there, I found that some residents of Lower Yihe Castle were reluctant to buy the high-priced Pingan coal as fuel. Turning to burning fire with cow dung makes people feel sad!"

Qi Yongjie, who was grinning from ear to ear, was taken aback when he heard the words, and then wondered in his heart whether this old Peng wanted to build an east-west railway extending to the inland area?Could this railway be used as a supplement to the insufficient water transportation capacity of the Yihe River?However, Qi Yongjie only denied this idea after a little thought. What a joke, now is the time to fully ensure the completion of the Northwest Railway. All other railway plans have to be put aside for the time being. When will the Northwest Railway go straight to Only the Corrales mining area can talk about other things.

"Trains really need to be vigorously developed." Xiao Bailang, the former Minister of Communications and the current chairman of the National River Dredging Committee, also echoed Peng Zhicheng's words. One-half to one-half, as if we have to dig canals all over the country. Let alone where the large amount of labor required to dig the canals comes from, is the cost of water transportation really lower than that of trains? Whether the river section is good or not, such as the upper reaches of the Yihe River and the south end of Milin Lake, or the waterway is seriously silted and dredging is required on a regular basis; But it’s not low. Compared with the average 5-6 maintenance personnel per kilometer of the railway, I think the maintenance cost is comparable, and the advantage of the railway is still obvious.”

In fact, judging from the experience of later generations of Britain, since the opening of the train, two transport organizations that originally existed widely in the UK: the National Customs Road (that is, post road, land transport) company and the major companies contracting canals have been greatly impacted.The Guandao Company could not continue to compete at first. When the railway between Liverpool and Manchester was opened to traffic, Eccles Checkpoint used to cover the one-year toll tax at a price of 1830 pounds in 1700, but it was directly reduced to 800 in the second year. On this road, another tax card that was originally sold for 1300 pounds could not even be sold for 500 pounds, which shows the tragedy.

And the canal company was also hit very badly.In order to compete with the railway companies, the shareholders who contracted the various canals had to slash freight rates. Some canal companies with high maintenance costs first went bankrupt, and then were acquired by the fast-growing railway companies and became accessories to the railways.Even for the canal companies with better business, the annual dividends generally fell from more than 1815% in 30 to less than 1838% in 10.And with the rapid development of railway technology, their profit margins have been slowly declining, and they are finally barely supported by the boom in freight traffic brought about by the economic boom.

Even in an island country like the United Kingdom, where canals and sea transportation extend in all directions, trains can compete with most canal companies so that they cannot survive, which shows how great its advantages are.And in an area like the east coast with a large inland hinterland, the train is an indispensable tool.Without trains, the exploration and colonization of the inland areas in the west would be in the foreseeable future; with trains, materials, troops, and personnel can be easily transferred from the eastern coast to the inland areas. Minerals and agricultural products in the inland areas, etc. It can also be quickly transported to the densely populated eastern coastal market.

In the 19s, when Britain vigorously built railways, the telegraph, once an extremely important accessory of the railway, also developed rapidly. Almost wherever the railway line was repaired, the telegraph line was also erected, which made the transportation of British society And communication development has been greatly improved (the Onishi Company laid the first early telegraph wire in 30).However, this thing is too tall for the current East Coast. Some technicians who were born as physics teachers are still studying how the telegraph can be used on a large scale, but it seems that there is no clue in a short time.

As the train gradually disappeared on the horizon of the Far East, the people watching the ceremony walked a short distance and walked into the waiting room of the nearby railway station to rest and eat.The waiting room of Merlin Port Railway Station has not been built for a long time. It occupies a large area and is well lit, comfortable and ventilated.The restaurant attached to the waiting room can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time, and the food provided is also varied and looks extremely delicious.

"The newly built railway is mainly for freight." Peng Zhicheng sipped a cup of coffee, and then said: "The goods carried are mainly grain, coal, wood, animal skins, machinery and equipment, etc. It is much faster and safer to quickly transfer troops, weapons and ammunition on land than by boat. As for passenger transportation, our country’s population is still small at present, and there are not many passengers traveling from south to north. It would be too wasteful to set up a passenger carriage. It is better to let them take the boat, and it is better to use the train carriage to transport valuable materials."

"What good luck is there for supplies?" Xiao Bailang disagreed with Peng Zhicheng's opinion at this time, and only listened to him say: "The transportation of supplies between the north and the south depends on the coastal transportation of 72-ton small steamships. On the contrary, some of the more important The transmission of information and the exchange of official documents still need to consider the issue of efficiency. At this time, the advantages of taking the train are reflected. The passenger fare of the train does not need to be set too high, of course, it cannot be too low. I think it is 2% per kilometer. The money is about the same. According to this fare standard, the whole journey of the Luomei Line is 150 kilometers, and the ticket price is 3 cents. Of course, ordinary people probably cannot afford this price, but the railway has just started to develop, so it is normal for the fare to be more expensive , When the economy develops and everyone’s income increases, the ticket price will not seem so high.”

Everyone chatted casually again, and then dispersed one after another.Everyone still has a lot of things to do, and there is no time to spend long here.And about 5 hours after they left, the first train in the history of the East Bank blew its whistle and slowly entered the Luocha Railway Station, which was greeted with lights and festoons.The average speed of the whole process has reached 30 km/h, and the maximum speed has even reached more than 70 km/h according to the train driver's estimation. The trial run of the train has been a complete success.

After unloading the materials and personnel, the train slowly drove into the garage behind the train station, and the workers prepared to conduct a detailed inspection of the locomotive to evaluate the reliability and practicality of each part of the current steam locomotive sex.

(End of this chapter)