Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

94 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Railway, and the fact that numerous sidings had been laid all along the other sections, Prince Khilkoff was able forthwith to increase to seventeen the number of trains running daily from Europe to the seat of war. It is no exaggeration to say that the success of this piece of engineer- ing was one of the principal factors which enabled Russia to con- clude a disastrous war with a not dishonour- able peace. Under circumstances thus impressive did the dream of the Czar Alexander become a reality. The remotest confines of his realm were linked together by an uninterrupted band of steel, stretch- ing from the German frontier to the waters of the Pacific. Much remained to do, for Siberia still stood but on the threshold of civilization, and many millions have since been spent upon the recon- The Railway s^ruction of the main line alone, of o-day. ge^jers anj traders are still COSSACKS GUARDING THE LINE. {From “ The Real Siberia,” by John Foster Fraser.) pouring into Siberia almost as fast as trains can be found to take them, and already its agricultural produce, including butter and eggs for our breakfast tables, has established a place in the British markets. Our Japanese and Chinese mails now cross Siberia, with a considerable gain in time over the “ All British ” route via Canada. To-day a traveller to the Far East may take his seat at Ostend in one of the sumptuous wagon-lits of the Trans-Continental express, and not have to change his carriage twice before he descends at Vladivostok. Over the Siberian line, with its now well-ballasted and well-graded track, the commodious broad-gauge coaches will carry him as smoothly, though possibly not quite so safely, as in England. An element of Train Robbers. peril always associated with railway travel in lonely lands—to wit, the “ holding-up ” of trains by armed ban- ditti—has to be ap- prehended in Siberia as elsewhere ; but con- sidering the generally disturbed condition of Russia during the last few years, outrages of this kind have not been conspicuously frequent. One such occurrence upon the Siberian line may be mentioned. As re- cently as August of last year armed rob- bers removed the rails for sixteen yards at a deserted spot near Omsk. The next train that came along was wrecked. The robbers fired upon the train when it lejt the metals, but were kept at a distance by the fire from the soldiers travelling on board as guards, until help arrived from Omsk, when they were put to flight without having effected their purpose of pillaging the mail- van, which they knew to contain a very large sum of money and other valuables. American operators would probably have proved them- selves more skilful and successful. The forecast of the Russian Government that when the Trans-Siberian line was in full working order the journey from London to Shanghai would be reduced to fifteen or sixteen days has the Railway been substantially realized. This railway affords the shortest and cheapest route from Europe to China and Japan, and