Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

84 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. pairs of trains a day. Light steel rails, weigh- ing 18 lbs. to the foot, were held to be of sufficient strength. The bridges, excepting those across the great rivers, were to be of should have been 15 feet, was reduced to barely 11 feet. Knowledge of facts like these led foreign critics to say that the Siberian Railway could not be relied upon in the hour AN EXPRESS CROSSING THE STEPPES IN WINTER. {Photo, Locomotive Publishing Company.) wood. The width of the embankment was fixed at 2’35 fathoms, instead of 2-6 fathoms, which is the normal width, a Russian sa- zhene, or fathom, containing 7 feet. On the steepest gradients and sharpest curves con- siderable deviation from the generally ac- cepted rules was allowed. The sleepers were to be laid on a thin bed of ballast, and all station buildings were to be of the simplest construction. Thus in the beginning one part at least of the Czar’s aspirations was heavily discounted. Worse was to follow. The work being let out by contract, the 5,3rrU?t corruption and neculation so Officials. 1 rampant in Russia got a golden opportunity. Everywhere the Government was plundered most flagrantly, and millions of roubles found their way into the pockets of officials leagued with the contractors. For instance, in many places the width at the top of the embankment, which by contract of trial, especially as the line was a single track. These views have been fully borne out, for the traffic has been repeatedly stopped by “ wash-outs,” landslips, and accidents to the permanent way. As late as May 1908 the manager reported to St. Petersburg that an interruption of the traffic was due at that time to the permanent way and embankment having been washed away for a distance of 3 J miles, and that one thousand men had been set to work to repair the damage. One cannot avoid the' reflection that the patriotic resolve of Czar Alexander to employ none but Russian brains and hands upon his great undertaking is more to be applauded than admired. Per- haps he might have adjusted his wishes, however, could he have foreseen how political engineers were to force the pace. These initial mistakes, and the heavy price that has since been enacted for them, must neverthe- less compel great respect for the dogged per-