Chapter 356 Railway

On the second day, after a night's rest, they had a simple meal in the canteen of Anka Village. Everyone continued on their way. As the carriage started moving, Anka Village gradually faded out of sight.

Slowly, the farmland and plantations came to an abrupt end and turned into a desolate savanna scene. The straight gravel roads in the wilderness looked particularly abrupt against the surrounding wilderness. This feeling was just like the buildings built in the farmland. Like a subway station, it feels lonely.

I don’t know how long I’ve been walking, but a long object suddenly appeared on the south side of the highway. From a distance, it looked like a river lying on the horizon extending east and west, but it was raised on the ground and very regular. It should be It's something artificially constructed.

As the carriage continued to move forward, everyone felt more and more that the object was not simple. It gradually moved closer to the road, getting closer and closer, and it seemed that there was no end to the situation.

After the building finally ran parallel to the road, everyone could see its full picture clearly. Two ballasts paved on the ground with gravel blocks were about ten meters wide parallel to each other. There were strips of trimmed stones placed on them. The thick wooden bars look like thick iron bars with red rust.

Everyone started talking: "What is that?"

Aryan explained to them: "That's a railway."

"railway?"

"Yes, it is a type of transportation. It can transport people and goods just like roads. However, it is not a horse-drawn carriage, but a steam-spewing locomotive, with cargo boxes behind the locomotive. You only need to know that this is a kind of road. That’s it.”

"Mr. Aryan! That thing called the railway opposite, the iron bars on it are the source of its name, right? But are there really cars that can run on it?"

Aryan: "Yes, but they are not called iron bars, but railroad tracks. You should be familiar with such things as tracks. They are very common in some mines, but they used to be wooden tracks, and they were used to pull mine carts. Mineral. Later, the British took the lead in improving this kind of track and then used it on land to form railways. In fact, there are things with similar principles in the Far East, but they are concave, with ruts running inside (Qinchi Road), and railways It is convex, and the wheels are specially designed to run between the two rails.”

"Then what is the wood and gravel laid under the railway tracks used for? Can't it be laid directly on the road?"

"The wood is called sleepers, and the stones paved at the bottom are called ballast. Their function is to withstand the pressure of the rails, because the steam locomotive is quite heavy and presses on the rails. If there is nothing underneath to pave the rails, the rails will It will cut into the soil like a knife cutting through tofu.”

"So that's how it is, so we can understand!"

Aryan continued: "Not only that, the ballast can also buffer and stabilize the track bed, and can also achieve the effects of reducing noise and rapid drainage."

“How much pig iron is needed for this kind of road?”

Aryan: "I don't know, but it is indispensable. This kind of railway is often calculated in kilometers. Many railways in Europe and America are calculated in kilometers."

Aryan's words made everyone stunned. They really couldn't imagine how much iron this thing called a railway consumes.

By 1870, the total length of the world's railways exceeded 210,000 kilometers. Among them, the United States and Germany were emerging powers in railway construction, Britain and France were playing a steady role, and the relatively backward railways of Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia also made great progress.

The 60 kilometers of the First Railway in East Africa are nothing in the world, and are even lagging behind many colonies. Moreover, after the construction of the First Railway was completed, it has not yet been opened to traffic. It has been idle for a while since it was built. .

So some people noticed this and asked: "Mr. Aryan! Then why didn't you see the steam locomotive you mentioned running on it?"

"I'll ask Mr. Willix about this first." Then Aryan turned to communicate with Willix in German.

After a while.

"Okay, now I know the general situation. The railways in the East African Kingdom are technically deficient because their standards are different from most countries in the world. This has resulted in the railway in front of us. East Africa is called the First Railway. , the First Railway has been waiting for the locomotive to be developed after it was completed, but Mr. Alex just told me that the finished locomotive has completed the final test in Austria and will be officially shipped from Austria to East Africa next month for trial operation."

In the end, Hechingen Vienna Energy Power Company persuaded Ernst to maintain the original plan. After all, everyone had worked hard for so long and the results were about to be achieved. How could they change their minds casually.

Where is Austria? You don't know, but according to Aryan, this railway is just a good thing but not useful.

"Mr. Aryan, it sounds like the role of this railway is no different from that of a highway. Why do you have to go through such a thankless effort to build a railway? I think it would be good to build a few more roads if you have the spare money."

Aryan: "Then you are totally wrong. There is a big difference between railways and roads. Let me tell you this. The carriages we make now rely on horses to provide power, and horses consume food and need to eat and drink. Lurching and sleeping, physical strength will be consumed along with the distance, and the amount of pulling is not much, but the railway does not have so many problems. The locomotives running on the railway are powered by steam engines. You should all have seen how powerful steam engines are. It has passed, and the steam engine only needs people to continuously fill the boiler with coal to continuously generate power."

Everyone came to East Africa by ship, so they have seen the big smokestack of the steamship.

"Mr. Aryan, that big chimney on the ship!"

Aryan: "Yes, that's the thing. Just like boiling water will cause steam to hit the kettle lid, the water vapor will form high pressure in a closed space, repeatedly pushing the piston to move, and the piston drives the gear and crankshaft, and finally makes the wheels run. , if you have seen those steam engines used for survival in textile factories, you can probably understand its operating principle more intuitively."

Textile factories are indeed the easiest places to come into contact with steam engines, especially in the Far East. In fact, the first railway in the Far East was a railway built outside Xuanwumen in Beijing in 1865 by the British capitalist Durand. The British "used a strange car that ran on the railway very fast" in an attempt to win the approval of the Qing government. However, instead of being praised, this railway caused panic among the Qing rulers. Therefore, the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the infantry commander to demolish it on the grounds that it "lost my danger, harmed my farm and house, and hindered my feng shui." China's first railway died in this way.

This railway existed for a very short time, so many people have not seen it. On the contrary, there are many textile factories in the Far East. After all, the impact it brings to people is not as shocking as the railway.

The first time they see a machine running on a steam engine in a factory, most people will say in praise: "Excellent skills." If they see a steam locomotive for the first time, it will arouse fear. The British writer Dickens had very complicated emotions towards railways. He was both impressed by the tremendous power of the railway and fearful of this uncontrollable force. In "Dombey and Son", Dickens described the powerful destructive power of the railway by describing the changes in "Stargar Garden": "Traces of earthquakes can be seen everywhere." Using "earthquakes" as a metaphor, he vividly shows the railway construction zone The sense of destruction also implies the lasting damage that is difficult to restore to the original state after the disaster. The author also uses negative words such as "shaky", "chaotic", "mixed" and "dilapidated" to make readers feel the sense of fragmentation and chaos caused by the construction of the railway, giving people a huge visual and psychological impact.