NEW YORK TO BUENOS AIRES BY RAIL

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 83

NEW YORK TO BUENOS AIRES BY RAIL

THE PAN-AMERICAN RAILWAY DREAM. (Bv James Armstrong, in the World's Work.) A railway ride of 10,221 miles without change of carriage 1 Such .is the latest railway dream. And it is one that has attracted more than one railway magnate of the United States. Huntingdon, after he had brought San Francisco into railway touch with New York, and thus bonded the Atlantic with the Pacific, suggested a longitudinal backbone of steel to the American continent similar to the lateral vertebra he had completed. It went no further. The time was not ripe for such an enterprise. Then Harriman, when at the zenith of his power, advanced the same suggestion. But even he'did not carry it through; in fact, did not take a very pronounced step towards its consummation. But that a ribbon of steel should run from New York to Buenos Aires—a PanAmerican railway—has been brought before Pan-American congresses ever since this conference was first instituted. The visionary American has been looking forward to" the time when he can step aboard the car at New York and leave it finally at Buenos Aires, over 10,000 miles to the south. Some of the more enthusiastic go even farther, and anticipate the day when the thumb of a railway hand will rest on Nome and the little finger on the shore of the Straits of Magellan. It is not intended that a longitudinal line should be constructed specially, but that the [.end should be accomplished by linking up -the railway systems of the various ■ countries comprising the two Americas. The network of the United States already extends to the southern borders of Mexico; Gautemala possesses its system; while isolated stretches of railway exist in the successive Central American States and Columbia. Farther south, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and the Argentine c t an point to more or less extensive radiations of steel for transportation purposes. The idea is that these individual networks should be linked together, end thus establish a through steel channel from north to south for the flow of traffic. The possibility of travelling from New York to Buenos Aires is attractive to the railway dreamer. During the past few months its feasibility has been revived by the operations of an astute and enterprising American, Mr David E. Thompson, the first American Ambassador to Mexico, but who has now abandoned the diplomatic service for the fierce whirlpool of commerce. While serving his country in Mexico he suddenly lighted upon' the Pan-American railway created to bring the dream of Huntingdon to maturity. It was an insignificant stretch of lino measuring but some 286 miles in length from Gam boa to Mariscal in Mexico, the latter point being within a few miles of the Guatemala frontier. It had been launched with much noise, but somehow the enterprise had been ditched, with the result that it led practically from nowhere to nowhere. As a result it fell into desuetude, and when Thompson came along could be bought aim est at a scrap-heap price. As a matter of fact, Thompson gave less than £2,000,000 for the whole thing—lock, stcck, and barrel. A mere handful of £BO,OOO worth of stock which he could not secure is held by Mexican shareholders along the line. A stretch of 286 miles of line may seem a trivial link in a chain of some 10,000 miles, but the Pan-American railway, in the eyes of its owner, is destined to become a force to be reckoned with. He played the Pan-American- cards for all ho -was worth and succeeded in securing the assistance of other South American Governments. His first move was to overhaul his newly-acquired property, and then he set to work to carry the existing communication from Gamboa, over the Tehuantepec railay, controlled by the Pearson group, into Gautemala. To do this he Shad to throw a bridge 1200 ft long across the Suchiate River, thereby joining up with the Guatemada railway. Then he intends to push farther south, carrying with him the iron road through the Isthmian countries over the Panama Canal to link up with the railways of the Latin republics of South America.

—Costly Work in South America.— I Columbia and Peru offer a heavv stumb- ' ling-block at present. In these two countries alone some 3000 miles of railway muft be built. He has already been able to secure the construction of the necessary links in the chain through Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama; but the South American countries when entered offer a vastly different problem. | The internal dissensions in these territories are against the most determined railway conqueror; added to which it must be remembered that much of the interior which he desires to traverse is practically unknown. i The Pan-American railway organisation is stimulated in its efforts, however, by | local assistance in the form of kilometer ; guarantees. This system, however, does ! not meet with the approbation of all the republics, and the laudable idea of Mr ' Thompson will fall to the ground until British assistance comes to his aid. Indeed, as a matter of fact. British capital and engineering skill are destined to pro- j vide him with the greatest weapons for achieving his end. South of Panama American influence diminishes consider- : ably. The British and Germans are para- ] mount. Even Teuton effort is being ewamped rapidly by British energy. | Thus, for instance, in the face of the , most severe German competition Messrs Norton, Griffiths, and Jackson secured the contract for the building of the Arica-La JPaz railway. The United States and Ger- , man capitalists secured another set-back

a Jii-tl-i later from i>iit. which y incetf uiv consiriwtion of some f>«.:f■ miJes of ii*> iongi important part of the Pan-American line, in the hands of the same firms. These two contracts alone secured by the English organisations represent an expenditure of £5,000,000 or more. The United States capitalists were nettled decidedly at the Chilian contract being secured by an English house, as this stretch of iron road was regarded fondly, under the cloak of Pan-Americanism, as their especial preserve There are many who declaim widely and loudly about the depreciation of British influence in South America; but the result achieved in this case proves amply that the latter can more than hold its own when it comes to the delivery of the goods. —The Arica-La Paz Railway.—

The Arica-La Paz railway is one of the most audacious undertakings that have ever been attempted. La Pa,z, the capital of Bolivia, has suffered long from its isolation. It has demanded communication with the Pacific coast for many years past, bat there was one great obstacle standing in the way of the realisation of such an idea—the Andes. This formidable mountain barrier has upset more than one bold engineering dream. To connect the two points by rail will entail the construction of 292 miles of lino, and the mean altitude which the line attains is between 12,000 ft and 13,000 ft; for La Paz is situate 11,900 ft above the level of the Pacific.

For the most part the line runs through absolutely sterile country. Water has to be packed, and transport of this commodity under the most favourable circumstances is a most difficult proceeding. When undertaken in such a country as the Andean region it is truly Herculean. After leaving the coast, vegetation also disappears, and the mountain flanks are as void of anv vary to the monotony of as the sides of a cliff face. The undertaking hrwtlen with difficulties of a remarkable order. In the first place, the climb to the plateau, the highest known stretch of highlands in the world, is so strep as to lender adhesion working absolutely impossible. There is no type of locomotive that could do it. So, in order to overcome the ascent, recourse to racking will be necessary. From the coast of Arica to, Incara, a matter of 104 miles, it is a steady climb, climb all the way, and at places the grade ranges from 15 to 20 feet in 100. Tine engines used for the haulage of trains over this section will be of exceptional power, gripping with deeply-cut teeth into a heavy rail laid centrally between the ordinary two pa-Tello-1 line? of ©tee!. As the upper resions of the Andes are gained and the mountains become more abrupt, the peaks more broken and rerarated from one another by deep gulches, heavy bridging will become necEssarv to carrv the steel thread from one flank to another. At other places the line will have to be carried through shoulders of the pinnacles, and .altogether 70 tunnels will become necessary, representing a total length of over lo.COOft of this cßss of work, mostly through rock of a granitic nature. When at last Incara is ga'ned the line will have readied its summit level, 13,570 ft, and will be flanked on all s-idsre bv dizzv crests tower'ng from 20.000 ft 'to 23,000 ft into the clouds.

The Chilian longitudinal railway is almost as remarkable in every respect, for it involves a continual -wrestle with the lofty'Andes for the g-eater part of the wav. Its completion wall signifv a decided step iai the realisation of David Thompson’s dream, and will bring him appreciably nearer towards the through line from New York to Buenos Aires. —To the Straits of Magellan.— Whether the Pan-American undertaking will ever run farther south than the seaport of the Argentine time alone can prove. It is a matter' governed by economic considerations. But the Buenos Aires public are enthused with the idea of a line running from the extreme north, to the uttermost southern limits of the great continent, and have advanced seriously the extension of a Le.fr through Patagonia to the Straits of Magellan. But considerable hardship will he entailed in the fulfilment of this latter part of the project, for the interior of the greater part of Patagonia i© a closed bcok to the rest of the world. The Thompson dream is no mad scheme, however. The railway, or rather consecutive sections of line, pass through territories rich in various articles of commerce, from mineral to timber, wheat to coffee. The present stretch of the PanAmerican expects to handle the greater part of the annual traffic in the 30,000,000 pounds of Guatemalan coffee at present flowing over the Ocos railway. The Santa Fe railway of the United States is contracting for the annual delivery of 500.000 sleepers from the immense forest territories which the Fan-American line traverses. Altogether, the president of the undertaking considers that his outlook is extremelv rosy: and certain it is that the traffic wlrch he can create is extraordinary. Whether the iron horse will be able to compete materially with waterborne traffic, which is so much cheaper, is a question that time alone can prove.