The Ordos people gathered together and held an emergency military meeting to discuss countermeasures.
Construction is in full swing at the railway construction site in Beizhili. Now Yang Fan is on his way to the west. Xiao Niangpi takes charge and presides over all the big and small affairs in the family. Lin Yueru, as her deputy, assisted her in her work.
At this time, Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru's lower abdomens had bulged. As soon as they came out, countless maids and women crowded in front of them to wait on them, fearing that something might happen to them. The master's heir is the top priority that everyone in Yang Fan's system is eyeing. This determines whether the wealth of their children and grandchildren can be inherited and protected.
Today, Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru came to inspect the railway construction site.
Due to the segmented construction, the project from Zhangjiakou to Dagukou in Tianjin is divided into thirty sections. Start work at the same time. The roads are filled with caravans transporting ballast gravel, sleepers, and rails.
Because this year's disaster is more serious than last year, more refugees have been added. Recruitment is not a big problem. As long as you take care of the food, you can recruit people. Instead of paying wages at the railway construction site, workers were given ten kilograms of cornmeal every day. This is a more attractive treatment than wages.
Nowadays, the world is in chaos and hungry people are everywhere. Food is the biggest temptation. Those shady grain merchants sold grains at prices as high as five taels of silver per load, and rice even went for three taels of silver. There are crazy rumors in the market that the price of rice will soon reach five taels.
I can no longer afford groceries while working odd jobs. In other words, the money earned is no longer enough to support oneself, let alone the family.
Now the only place to feed the family is on the railway site. A strong worker takes care of food and housing. An extra ten pounds of cornmeal was distributed a day. This is a good job that can no longer be found in the north of the Ming Dynasty.
The railway site is now flanked by makeshift shacks. There lived women and children with sallow complexions and skinny muscles. The men in the family went to work. They eagerly waited for the man to come back and bring back ten kilograms of food for the day.
They had not had decent food since they fled the famine, and they did not have food until they were recruited as workers at the railway construction site. The men went to work on the construction site, while the women and children smashed rocks at home. Use a hammer to smash large rocks into small pieces of cat's claw.
These small pieces of stone are used as ballast, laid under the sleepers to cushion the impact of the train on the roadbed.
These big rocks were brought by the caravan, and the women and children at home took over the work of smashing the rocks. For every ton of rocks smashed, they were paid thirty pounds of cornmeal. Someone will come to buy the smashed ballast.
This narrow-gauge railway with a track width of 762 mm is almost half narrower than standard gauge. The trains that can move are also much smaller. The speed of small trains generally does not exceed 40 kilometers, and the average operating speed of this railway is around 25 kilometers. It can travel six hundred miles in one day and one night. It takes forty hours from the capital to Guihua City.
Although this is very slow compared to now, it is already very fast for Ming Dynasty.
Xiao Niangpi looked at the roadbed, sleepers, and rails under her feet, and asked Chen Xi puzzledly: "Mr. Chen, I heard from the master that the most suitable track width is standard track. Why don't we get it right in one step and build 1435 standard track?" . Instead, we need to repair this 762 narrow gauge first. We will have to dismantle it and replace it with standard gauge in the future. Isn’t this a waste?”….
Chen Xi knew that his wife and second wife did not understand railway engineering. He smiled and explained: "Madam, you don't know something. The reason why I finally decided to build the 762 narrow gauge is because the track is only half narrow. But because the roadbed is trapezoidal, the width of the track is doubled, and the volume of the roadbed needs to be increased. Four times. The amount of work increased six times, and the cost differed ten times."
"Ah! Such a big difference." Lin Yueru exclaimed in surprise.
Chen Xi nodded with a smile and continued: "It is true that standard rail trains have larger locomotives, larger carrying capacity, and faster speeds. But the impact is also greater, requiring thicker roadbeds and more ballast. And there are many rivers in the Ming Dynasty. We need to build Special railway steel bridge. We don’t have this technology yet.”
"The 762 narrow gauge is different, because the car body is light, the load is small, and the speed is slow. General stone bridges and even wooden bridges can pass. In this way, the problem of the river is solved. The construction speed of the 762 narrow gauge during the construction period is standard Four times the size of the 1435 track. The entire line from Tanggu, Tianjin to Zhangjiakou will be open to traffic by the end of this year.”
The little girl nodded, she knew that the old man
The sooner the railway is built, the better. The Mongolian army is gathering, and the war in the northwest may not be over in a short time. Military transportation is a big problem. A short construction period has the advantage of being short-term. Now is the time to use it urgently.
Lin Yueru measured the width of the track with a small leather boot and said, "This one does look quite narrow, a little over two feet. It's not as long as my saber."
Chen Xi smiled and said: "There are even shorter ones. This 762 master is used as a trunk line. The branch line is much narrower than this one."
Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru were surprised. Compared with this era, this 762 is much shorter than the wheelbase. It actually has branch lines that are shorter than this.
"The branch line I ordered is a narrow gauge of 381 mm, which is the fifteen inches I mentioned. This construction speed is faster and the bridge requirements are lower."
The little girl was shocked, fifteen inches, 381 mm, a little over a foot. It's only as wide as one person. With such a narrow track, how narrow is the train?
Chen Xi saw her worries and said: "The carriage can probably accommodate two people side by side, and is less than one meter wide. But don't underestimate this 381mm narrow gauge. The transport capacity is much greater than that of a carriage. The speed can also reach 25 kilometers per hour."
There is a 381 mm narrow gauge railway in Kent, England. Although the train is less than one meter wide, it still played a huge role in transporting a large amount of supplies during World War II. And the wider the track, the easier it is for trains to derail. Narrow gauge is actually safer.
Lao Maozi's wide gauge is not as safe as standard gauge.
Lin Yueru asked: "Compared with heavy-duty carriages such as caravans, how much advantage does train freight have?"
Chen Xi said: "Thirty percent can be left for freight. The train is enough to eliminate the horse-drawn carriage."
At this time, many road sections have been connected. There are already trains transporting rails, ballast and sleepers. The train is sent to the construction site for unloading and then returns. These rails continue to extend forward.
Xiao Niangpi looked at the project's ledger. The more he looked, the more he frowned. The investment cost of this railway is also too high. It's really not cheap. Although there are many benefits. At present, trains have not been accepted by the majority of officials, gentry and people. The plan envisaged by the master to issue stocks to raise funds to build railways is currently unfeasible.
You can only build a few profitable railways with your own money before anyone will be willing to invest. Raise funds through crowdfunding.
"Hurry up, the sooner it opens to traffic, the better, but the quality must be ensured and problems cannot occur all the time. It will be built to Zhangjiakou at the end of this year, and next year it will be built in Guihua and Jiuyuan. Finally, it will be built to Linhe."
A book full of poems and thousands of flowers
