On New Year's Day 1646, hundreds of Ministry of the Interior police separated the station from the station to allow a large group of central officials to come from the capital by railcar to observe the departure of the first steam train in the history of the East Coast.

The boiler of the Barbarian-5 steam engine, which had been hastily finalized and had many problems, finally began to pressurize it with a loud start as the fire in the furnace burned. The cylinder pistons on both sides began to work slowly under the impetus of steam, and the wheels connected to the connecting rods slowly rotated under the action of the pistons. When the connecting rod is turned to its maximum length, the train body continues forward by inertia, so that the connecting rod returns to the starting position. In this way, with the push and pull of the cylinder piston and the inertia of the train body, the locomotive and the carriage attached behind it can continue to move forward.

The steam engine used in this locomotive has a horsepower of about 75 horsepower, and consumes 110 kilograms of Tacheng standard coal per hour, which is more efficient than before. The first car suspended behind the steam locomotive (i.e., the locomotive) was a coal water car, which was loaded with several tons of coal and a small amount of fresh water, which could run the locomotive continuously for about two days. In fact, driving in the hinterland, there is no need to carry so much coal and fresh water, because there are railway stations (later renamed railway stations) along the line to replenish coal water, which is very convenient.

There are also 7 cars hanging behind the coal water truck, except for the first open-top passenger car, the last 6 cars are all filled with coal transported from the north, a total of 60 tons. Inside the passenger carriage were many new immigrants who would be honored to be among the first passengers to travel by train in the history of the East Coast. Go to Rocha Port for settlement. The weight of the whole train plus the goods it loaded, the total weight is about 80 tons, and the locomotive is violently puffing black smoke at this time. It began to slowly accelerate and transport the heavy cargo south along standard heavy rails 1,500 mm wide.

The train accelerated for some distance in the South Depot and then climbed to about 12 kilometers per hour as it passed the crowd of spectators, and it continued to rise. This made the officials from the Executive Committee, the Government Council, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce who stood in the field to salute one after another give a standing ovation. It's finally the big killer of the train. Although I don't know how reliable it is, it is always a good starting point, with the development of various domestic industries. The quality and reliability of the trains will also increase, and eventually they will become a powerful tool for the East Coasters to explore the inland areas.

"In the future, wherever the railway is built, it will be our land." Qi Wangping, director of the Personnel Department, who came to watch the ceremony on behalf of the Executive Committee, was rarely excited, a person in his 40s. At this point, I almost slapped my palms red.

"It's not just about the outback. Even in the existing country, the importance of trains cannot be overstated. Peng Zhicheng, as the supervisor of the national railway, naturally wanted to attend this kind of occasion, only to see him look at the back of the train that was gradually moving away, and said in a slightly excited voice: "Due to the serious shortage of canal transport ships, in the three deep inland towns of Xiayihe Fort, Canyon Fort, and Ningjin Fort, the supply of all kinds of materials, especially daily necessities, is seriously insufficient. Even if some merchants were to bring in goods from the east, the prices were prohibitively high. When I was researching there, I found that some residents of Xiayihe Fort were reluctant to buy the expensive Ping'an coal for fuel. Turning to cow dung to burn the fire, it makes people feel sad to watch! ”

Qi Yongjie, who was grinning from ear to ear next to him, was stunned at first when he heard this. Then he muttered in his heart, does this old Peng want to build an east-west railway that extends to the inland areas? Is this railway to supplement the lack of water transport capacity of the Yi River? However, Qi Yongjie only denied this idea after a little thought, what are you kidding, now is the time to make every effort to ensure the completion of the Northwest Railway, and any other railway plans must be put aside for the time being, and it will be possible to talk about anything else when the Northwest Railway will go directly to the Corrales mining area.

"Trains really need to be developed." Xiao Bailang, the former minister of transport and now chairman of the National River Dredging Committee, echoed Peng's words, saying: "Many people say that the cost of water transportation is only a quarter to half of that of a railway, as if we have to dig canals all over the country." Let's not talk about where the large amount of labor required to dig the canal comes from, but is the cost of water transportation really lower than that of trains? This also depends on the quality of the river section, such as the upper reaches of the Yi River and the southern end of the Milin Lake, or the channel is seriously silted up and needs to be dredging and dredging regularly; Either the water is not abundant enough and a large number of water transfer sluices, water lifting stations or something, which is not cheap to maintain. Compared with the average of 5-6 maintenance personnel per kilometer of the railway, I think the maintenance cost is comparable, and the advantages of the railway are still obvious. ”

In fact, from the experience of later generations in Britain, since the opening of the train, the two kinds of transport organizations that originally existed in Britain: the national customs road (i.e., post road, land transport) company and the major companies contracting the canal have been greatly impacted. When the railway between Liverpool and Manchester was opened, the Ecles Pass paid a year's toll tax at £1,700 in 1830, but the next year it was reduced to £800 and no one cared; On this road, another tax card that was originally wrapped for 1,300 pounds could not even be sold for 500 pounds, which shows its tragic situation.

And the Canal Company was also shocked very badly. In order to compete with the railroads, the shareholders who contracted the canals had to slash freight, and some canal companies that were expensive to maintain first went bankrupt and then were bought by fast-growing railroads and became appendages of the railways. Even the Canal Company, which had a good business, generally paid out its annual dividends fell from more than 30 percent in 1815 to less than 10 percent in 1838. And with the rapid development of railway technology, their profit margins have been slowly declining, and they have finally managed to survive on the huge increase in freight traffic brought about by the economic boom.

Even in an island country like the United Kingdom, where canals and shipping extend in all directions, trains can compete with most canal companies to the point that they cannot survive, which shows how big its advantages are. In a region like the East Coast, which has a large hinterland, trains are indispensable. Without trains, exploration and colonization to the western interior would be far away; With the train, whether it is materials, troops or personnel, can be easily transferred from the eastern coast to the inland, and minerals and agricultural products in the inland areas can also be quickly transported to the densely populated eastern coastal markets.

In the thirties of the 19th century, when Britain vigorously built railways, the telegraph, as an extremely important accessory of the railway, also developed rapidly, almost wherever the railway line was built, the telegraph line was erected, which greatly improved the development of transportation and communication in British society (in 1839, the Great West Company laid the first early telegraph line). However, this thing is too tall for the current East Coast, and some physics teachers-turned-technicians are still studying how to put the telegraph into practical use on a large scale, but it seems that there is no eyebrow in the short term.

As the train faded into the Far East horizon, the crowd walked a short distance and walked into the waiting room of the nearby railway station to rest and eat. The waiting room of Port Merlin Railway Station has not been completed for a long time, and it covers a fairly large area, with good lighting, comfort and ventilation. The restaurant attached to the waiting room can accommodate hundreds of people at a time, and the variety of food served is also very delicious.

"The new railways are still mainly freight-oriented." Peng Zhicheng sipped a cup of coffee, and then said: "The goods carried are mainly grain, coal, timber, animal skins, machinery and equipment, and everything that can be transported, of course, you can also quickly transfer troops and weapons and ammunition on land, which is much faster and safer than taking a ship." As for passenger transport, at present, our country's population is still small, and there are not many passengers shuttling between the south and the north. Let them take the boat, the train carriage is still better used to transport valuable supplies. ”

"What's the luck with the supplies?" Xiao Bailang disagreed with Peng Zhicheng's opinion at this time, and only listened to him say: "The transportation of materials between the north and the south depends on the coastal transportation of 72-ton small steamboats, but some more important information transmission and official correspondence still need to consider the efficiency problem, and the superiority of taking the train at this time is reflected." The passenger fare of the train does not need to be set too high, and of course it cannot be too low, I think 2 cents per kilometer is about the same. According to this charging standard, the whole journey of the Luomei line is 150 kilometers, and the fare is 3 dimes. Of course, this price is estimated that ordinary people can't afford it, but the railway has just begun to develop, and it is normal for fares to be more expensive. ”

The crowd talked nonsense again, and then dispersed. Everyone has a bunch of things to do, and they don't have time to spend a lot of time here. About five hours after they left, the first train in the history of the East Coast whistled and slowly drove into the Luoqia Railway Station, which was greeted by lights. The average speed of the whole train reached 30 km/h, and the maximum speed was estimated by the train driver to reach more than 70 km/h.

After unloading the supplies and people, the train slowly moved into the garage behind the railway station, where workers prepared to carry out a detailed inspection of the locomotive to assess the reliability and practicality of the various parts of the current steam locomotive. (To be continued......)