SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 196, 18 August 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

THE WORLD'S RECORD FOR RAPID RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

In point of actual rate of construction the Siberian railway maximum is far behind the American one, though it must be considered fast" under the circumstances. Three miles and threequarters per day is the highest ever reached by the Russians, a poor record when compared with ten and a half miles credited to American brain and Chinese labour on the San Francisco section of the American line. But the Americans, on the other hand, toolc nearly seven years to complete a distance of 1800 miles; whereas in, Siberia nearly 1000 miles beyond that amount was accomplished in less than eight years. In sheer length the TransSiberian will be almost double that of the Trans-American continental railway. The maximum altitude of 3608 feet, overcome by very gentle gradients while crossing the Yabloiioi, or "Apple Mountains" (so called from their rounded contours), cannot be compared with the giddy precipes of the Sierra Nevada, or the 6500 feet ascent of the Rocky Mountains. And although the Siberian plains are perhaps as scantily populated as were those of the Far West in 1860-70, they include no such waterless tracts as the Utah and Nevada wildernesses. Leaving Trans-Baikalia and Manchuria out of the question the Siberian line was an exceptionally easy one from an engineering point of view. Beyond the Urals the rails could be laid in straight lines over immense plains. Between the Obi und the the Yenisei there are but gentle undulations to be overcome. After crossing the Yenisei a series of hills—never exceeding 2000 feet —are traversed at right angles. In the whole distance from Cheliabinsk to Irkutsk, Lake Baikal—nearly 2000 miles —no. single tunnel occurs, no gradiant is steeper than 174 in l°o0> and no curve sharper than a 270 yards radius. Convict labour was found unsatisfactory, but the Russian peasant followed the work, obtaining short periods of release to visit his home. A few English engineers are employed on the ice-breaker and dock at Lake Baikal, but otherwise all officials are Russian.