Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY. 91 ward, defining a broad belt of Russian territory between Manchuria and the coast. At the southern end of this maritime province lies Vladivostok, the “ Mistress of the East,” and the real terminus of the Siberian Railway. The construction of this section presented far sterner physical difficulties than had been faced hitherto. To cross the Yablonoi Moun- The unlooked-for event which had pushed the Amur Railway project into the background was the war between China and Japan in 1894- 95. An immediate result of this conflict was the “ lease ” by China to Russia of Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan (the latter place being re-named Dalny—that is, The Manchurian Railway. THE STATION AT BOGOTOL. tains the line has to climb 3,412 feet. The formidable gradients required thorough methods and heavy rails, the last supported by ties set in cement. Cuttings are numerous, and, owing to the intense cold of this high region, the frost-bound earth had to be blasted with dynamite and all masonry to be built in warmed shelters. In mild weather floods gave constant trouble. Rail-head reached Stretensk in July 1900, a little more than eight years from the start at Tchelyabinsk. The line had leapt forward at record speed. Omsk was Quick Work. . _ . reached m 1895, after three years’ work ; Obi in 1896 ; Irkutsk in 1898. By the same date the Ussuri section had been completed, making an average rate of con- struction, as has been said, of about a mile a day. 1 “ Far off ”), carrying with it the right to lay down railways through Manchuria, to bring these seaports into direct communication with the Siberian system. This concession was of inestimable value to Russian ambitions. Sur- veys were made promptly to establish the most suitable route for a track to connect the Trans-Baikal Railway with Vladivostok. The surveyors selected a line leaving the main track at Kaidalovo, 72 miles east of Chita, and running thence in a south-eastern direc- tion across Mongolia and Manchuria to Tsitsikar and Harbin, and from Harbin almost due east to join the Ussuri Railway at Nikolskoye, 68 miles north of Vladivostok. This line was called officially “ The East Chinese Section.” It may be mentioned that, in true Russian fashion, the station of Tsitsikar lies 21 miles from the town of that name. The length of