What difficulties did Zhan Tianyou overcome when he presided over the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway?

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Zhan Tianyou’s difficulties in building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway

Reward points: 0 - Solved time: 2008-10-3 19:00

Except Difficulties other than those mentioned in the sixth-grade text "Zhan Tianyou"

Asker: Little Angel 999 - Doorman Level 2

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At the beginning of the construction, there was a shortage of engineering and technical personnel. In May 1905, Zhan Tianyou led the only two engineers to survey from Fengtai to Zhangjiakou via Nankou and Badaling. They then back-tested and selected the route from Yanqing Prefecture. A comparison line that passes through Badaling, passes through Deshengkou, the Ming Tombs, and ends at Changping (the route along the Yongding Valley was also considered, but due to the difficulty of the project, it was impossible to adopt it due to limited funding and construction time, so it was not surveyed). In June, he returned to the Tianjin General Administration to submit a survey and investigation report and draw up a construction plan. It is planned to be constructed in three major sections. The first section (Fengtai to Nankou) will be started first to benefit from the early opening to traffic. The second section (Nankou to Chadaocheng) and the third section (Chadaocheng to Zhangjiakou) will be surveyed in detail. In particular, the terrain from Zhongnankou to Badaling in the second section is steep and requires further selection of comparison lines. The report stated, "The sooner this road is completed, the public will reap the benefits, the business travelers will be able to enjoy the convenience, and the outsiders will be able to stop coveting it. The difficulty of road construction is actually "Unprecedented"

In order to solve the shortage of engineering and technical personnel, Zhan Tianyou successively recruited engineering directors Kuang Sunmou, Yan Deqing, etc. from Guanwai Railway, Jinpu Railway, and Jiangsu Railway, as well as several engineering students from Shanhaiguan Railway School to Beijing and Zhangjiakou. Railway work.

As for the road construction policy, Zhan Tianyou believes that the faster the railway is built, the better. Firstly, it can break the contempt of outsiders; secondly, it can recover funds as soon as possible; thirdly, it can cultivate its own engineering department as soon as possible. , support the construction of other roads.

In October 1905, construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway started. With his innovative spirit, Zhan Tianyou, on the one hand, adopted new technical measures and introduced new foreign technical equipment according to local conditions; on the other hand, he formulated many advanced management methods and systems to ensure the completion of road construction tasks and provided services for other roads across the country. imitated.

1. Carefully select locomotives and carefully select and test lines

1. When selecting the maximum slope of the line, pay attention to the selection of the locomotive type. The Nankou Guangou section "from Juyongguan to Badaling, the route is not long and the height varies greatly. It is surrounded by mountains and valleys, and there is no ground rotation. Although we tried our best to extend the route, we can only get a slope of thirty feet high and one foot high." Zhan Tianyou resolutely chose a maximum gradient of one-thirtieth, which is a rare large-slope mountain line in mountain railways. Initially, it used 2-6-0 Mogul locomotives for dual-machine traction. After consulting E.P. Lord, a classmate who was engaged in locomotive manufacturing in the United States, he decided to purchase the 0-6-6-0 Mallet locomotive from the British North British Company, and arrived at the Guangou section in 1908. At the construction site, we successively purchased 4 units, and later continued to purchase the world's new 2-8-8-2 Malay locomotive from the Baldwin Factory (Ba1dwin) in the United States. Its rated traction was 42,000 kilograms, which was the largest horsepower in Asia at that time. locomotive. In 1909, he purchased three mountain road locomotives and Shay gear-driven vertical cylinder locomotives manufactured by Lima in the United States. In 1912, he purchased three more.

According to the needs of large-scale locomotive operation, maintenance equipment and locomotive maintenance factories were set up when Jingzhang Road was built. In addition, in order to solve the problem of coal consumption for locomotives, Jimingshan Coal Mine was specially opened, and Jimingshan Coal Mine Branch Line and Mentougou Coal Mine Branch Line were built.

2. In order to solve the problem of Badaling line crossing the ridge, Zhan Tianyou made repeated and detailed measurements in the Qinglong Bridge area, and finally decided to go up the mountain from Shifo Temple, enter the east ditch of Qinglong Bridge, then turn back through Badaling to form a zigzag line, and excavate the 1091-meter Badaling Tunnel. , compared with the original plan to dig a tunnel from Shifo Temple to the west of about 1800 meters, the length was shortened by nearly half, successfully solving the key issue of crossing the entire line. However, he clearly pointed out that the zigzag line selection plan was a last resort under the specific conditions of construction funds and construction period at that time. It would be better to use a spiral mountain line (Loopline).

3. The Guangou section adopts a 1/30 large ramp. Ensuring driving safety is an extremely important issue. To this end, a safety turnout is set up so that in the event of a failure, the train can enter the safety turnout line of the reverse slope for safety. There are 12 safe turnoffs installed in the Guangou section, including 4 within the station and 8 within the interval.

In addition, in order to ensure driving safety, special driving measures have been formulated and will be implemented after it is opened to traffic.

4. The rails used on Jingzhang Road were heavy-duty rails at that time. Both the main line and the station line used 85-pound rails (approximately 42 kilograms per meter). The Guangou section uses special reinforced Sandberg rails. In view of the problem that rails on large slopes are easy to crawl, practical and effective anti-climbing measures have also been taken.

2. Adapt measures to local conditions and strive to make the project fast and stable

1. The Badaling Tunnel is 1,091 meters long and is a key project along the entire line. It is the first railway tunnel in my country that is over 1,000 meters long. In order to speed up the progress of manual excavation, the vertical well method was adopted. According to records, two wells, one large and one small, were excavated. "A large well was opened in the middle of the cave body and moved in parallel with the two ends." A ventilation building was built above the large well, which is still in use today. The remains of the small well dug deep outside the entrance to the west cave can no longer be found. Another key project, the Juyongguan Tunnel, is 367 meters long. Use the two-end excavation method. According to records: "The Juyongguan cave was originally planned to use the well-drilling method. However, since the mountain was too high and the distance from the cave was too far, construction was very difficult. Compared with the two, the method of digging at both ends was more suitable. Therefore, although the well-drilling method is to open up a long The best way to make a cave is to carefully examine the terrain, and not stick to the rules. ""The middle five to six hundred feet of the Juyongguan cave is the most difficult. The reason is that it is located under the city, the earth and rocks are fragile, and it rains every day, and there is mud and water. Even though there were explosives, nothing was done. Instead, they used large wooden sections to support each other, and used small steel rails to pass through them. They gradually attacked and finally conquered the Badaling Tunnel in only 18 months. Its completion marked the beginning of my country's independent construction of long tunnels. The explosive used for tunnel excavation is Rackarock, which has strong explosive power but relatively stable performance. Zhan Tianyou used this kind of mining explosive for tunnel excavation for the first time to ensure construction safety.

2. For bridges, houses and other projects, try to use local materials and strive to save money. There are 20 bridges in the Guangou section, including 13 concrete arch bridges, to save the cost of ordering steel beams from abroad. In order to save cement, measures were taken to add rubble to the concrete. In house construction, we also pay attention to frugality.

3. Determining standards and formulating the first engineering specifications

Zhan Tianyou attached great importance to engineering standardization. He presided over the preparation of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway standard drawings, which were the first set of engineering standard drawings for my country's railways. Including 49 standards for bridges and culverts, tracks, lines, tunnels, locomotive depots, water towers and cranes, houses, buses, and vehicle boundaries. It strengthens the project management in the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, ensures the quality of the project, and provides a good reference for other domestic railway construction. In view of the chaos in my country's early railway engineering standards, when he was presiding over the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, he also wrote to the Qing government to put forward specific suggestions for unifying national railway engineering standards. He insisted that the country should adopt a unified standard gauge of 4 feet, 8 and a half inches (1.435 meters), and believed that China should absorb the experience and lessons of Western countries and not take the detour of adopting narrow gauge. He also proposed standards for line grade, bridge load, roadbed width, minimum line radius, restricted slope, platform height, vehicle limits, locomotive load, coupler installation and other standards. Later, the Qing government formulated technical standards for national railway construction accordingly, and Zhan Tianyou was appointed as a road councilor and consultant in the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Posts and Communications of the Qing government.

In the above-mentioned proposal to the Qing government (submitted to the Ministry of Commerce), Zhan Tianyou also suggested that the country adopt the most advanced automatic coupler in the world at that time, namely Janney Cou-pler. This type of coupler is still in use on my country's railways and is still full of vitality, bringing great benefits to railway transportation. Zhan Tianyou’s foresight will benefit future generations.

4. Innovate management and pioneer in road construction in our country

1. Simplify the organization, strengthen management and improve efficiency.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Administration was originally located at Jiajia Bridge on Xinma Road, Hebei, Tianjin. In order to reduce the service level and personnel expenses and facilitate the command and construction, Zhan Tianyou moved the General Administration to Beijing, merged the Railway Bureau originally located in Beijing into the General Administration, and established the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Bureau inside Fuchengmen; the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Bureau was established outside Fuchengmen. Zhang Railway Engineering Bureau handles transportation and construction matters respectively. At the construction site, the responsible engineering department is designated according to the construction area. In order to control the progress and solve existing problems, he held regular construction site telephone conferences, which was the forerunner of telephone conferences for my country's self-operated railways. Although the bureau was busy, he still went to the construction site to inspect the work.

2. Establish a personnel assessment management system and formulate management methods centered on rewards.

What Zhan Tianyou thinks is particularly important is the training of our country’s engineering department. To this end, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Engineering Department's promotion and transfer regulations have been formulated, which clearly stipulate the moral character, work ability and performance requirements that the Engineering Department should have, conduct regular assessments, and strictly implement them. In the process of road construction, a large number of young engineers in my country were trained. This assessment and promotion regulation has been followed by many other domestic railways. Zhan Tianyou believes that the working ability of Chinese engineering companies is not lower than that of foreigners, and he insists on salary standards that cannot be lower than those of foreign engineering companies. At the beginning of the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, he formulated the salary standards for engineering departments and engineering students at all levels, and implemented them in conjunction with the assessment system, which promoted the growth of the engineering department and was conducive to the completion of the construction tasks. During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, in order to reduce absenteeism , improve work efficiency, and formulated a leave charter, which stipulates: "After four years of service, employees on duty will be granted two months of leave. If they have never asked for leave during the four years, they will be included in the calculation and two months of leave will be added. , all are paid in full.” The formulation of this charter was advanced and enlightened at the time. While implementing the system, he also paid attention to strengthening education, advocating self-denial and devotion to public service, and advocating unity in the engineering department.

3. Strengthen material supply management and strictly control the use of funds.

In order to solve the transportation difficulties in mountainous areas, when selecting the Guangou route, it was considered that the original post roads could be used to transport materials. After the start of the project, the construction of Fengtai Materials Factory was first strengthened, and then the Nankou Materials Factory was set up as a material supply base.

When ordering materials and equipment from foreign companies, Zhan Tianyou negotiated directly with foreign businessmen, strictly set quality specifications, and abolished the material rebate fee system to prevent waste and corruption in the use of material funds. During construction, we strengthen fund management, pay attention to economy, and strictly control the use of funds by contractors.

At the beginning of the construction, it was originally scheduled to be completed in the seventh year. Two years after the construction started, the Qing government changed the time limit to four years, so the project in the next two years was the four-year work in the original plan. All the road construction personnel, led by Zhan Tianyou, worked together and worked hard, and finally successfully completed the project and saved construction costs. On September 19, 1909, the road was completed and inspected, and a tea party was held in Zhangjiakou; on October 2, a grand opening ceremony was held at the south entrance. The total road construction cost was 7,291,860 taels in the original budget. The Qing government actually allocated 7,223,984 taels, and the actual expenditure was 6,935,086 taels, which was a saving of 356,774 taels compared with the original budget.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was successfully completed and opened to traffic with good quality. After acceptance by the Postal and Communications Department of the Qing government, it was deeply felt that "the completion of this road will not only increase the great reputation of Wuhua Engineering Department, but also strengthen the self-confidence of those who engage in engineering in the future, and have the courage to complete the plan!" at the opening ceremony! Zhu Qi, the representative of Guangdong Province, gave the most exciting speech. He said: "Foreigners wrote in newspapers about the success of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway and the engineers who built this road in China had not yet been born. For a time, it was a joke across the five continents. Today, Zhan Jun built this road with no effort from foreigners, and all the road construction and management were done by Chinese people! It can be said that people like Zhan Jun can breathe a sigh of relief with the Chinese people! , since China can build it alone, in the future all mining machinery manufacturing and other matters can be done by the Chinese. Today I wish for the development of the railway, and also for the mining, forestry, machinery and factories across the country. First of all, what is the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway called today? ”

During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou was sent to the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge construction site in 1907 to conduct investigations. In 1908, he was sent to examine and approve the design plan of the Luokou Yellow River Bridge in Jinan; in 1909, he was sent to inspect and accept the Jiangsu-Shanghai-Jiaxing Railway Project. After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was opened to traffic, he continued to build the Zhangjiakou-Suiyuan Railway. In the winter of 1909, he was invited by the Henan Commercial Office's Luotong Railway (more than 230 kilometers from Luoyang to Tongguan) to serve as an engineering consultant, and he and his accompanying engineers conducted on-site survey of the mountainous railway line in this section. The planned route plan will save a lot of construction costs

Answer: Xiaojudeng 12685345 - Xiucai Level 2 9-16 20:49

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In the United States, students in the overseas preparatory class witnessed the great achievements in science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and were amazed by the rapid development of machines, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing industries. Some students became pessimistic about China's future, but Zhan Tianyou said with firm belief: "In the future, China will also have trains and ships." With the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland, he studied hard and He graduated with honors from New Haven High School in 1867. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, specializing in railway engineering. During his four years at the university, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and ranked first in the graduation examination with outstanding results. In 1881, among the 120 Chinese students who returned to China, only two received degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou was enthusiastically preparing to contribute the skills he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the Westernization officials of the Qing government were superstitious about foreign countries and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways. They ignored Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise and sent him to the Fujian Naval Academy to learn how to sail a sea-going ship. In November 1882, he was sent to the flagship "Yangwu" as a pilot to command drills. In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out. The following year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Min River one after another and was ready to move.

However, He Ruzhang, the surrendering shipping minister in charge of the Fujian Navy, ignored him and even ordered: "You are not allowed to fire first, and those who violate the rules will be killed even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately ordered the "Yangwu" to Captain Zhang Cheng said: "A lot of French warships have come with ulterior motives. Although we have received orders not to fire first, we must not fail to take precautions." Due to Zhan Tianyou's warning, the "Yangwu" was very Be alert and ready for battle. When the French fleet launched a surprise attack, Zhan Tianyou braved fierce artillery fire and calmly and tactfully directed the "Yangwu" to go left and right; avoiding the enemy's artillery fire, he seized the fighter plane and hit the French command ship "Volta" with its tail cannon. ", the French naval expedition commander Guba almost died. Regarding this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by a British businessman in Shanghai, had to marvel in its report: "Westerners did not expect that the Chinese would fight so bravely. The five students on the 'Yangwu' warship , Zhan Tianyou’s performance was the most courageous. He showed no fear in the face of the enemy, and he was still calm at the critical moment of life and death, mustering up the courage to rescue many people in the water..."

Answer Author: Yue Liu33 - Magic Apprentice Level 1 9-14 14:00

Foreigners’ ridicule

Answer: 947955821 - Doorkeeper Level 2 9-16 12:00< /p>

China’s early railways are inseparable from the name of the outstanding railway engineer Zhan Tianyou. Zhan Tianyou worked hard all his life for my country's railway industry. During his more than 30 years in the railway industry, he almost never left the railway for a day. Almost every railway built in our country at that time had contact with him to varying degrees.

Zhan Tianyou was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong in 1861. When he was 12 years old, due to family life difficulties, he went to Hong Kong to take a preparatory course for young children to go abroad and study in the United States. In June 1881, he graduated from Yale University's Railway Major with first place in the examination and returned to his motherland in August of the same year. When he was a student, he was determined to make the motherland prosperous and strong by building railways. After he returned to China, he was responsible for the construction of the railway between Tanggu and Tianjin and the construction of the Luanhe River Bridge. He first showed his talents, and even those pretentious foreign engineers had to admire him. Zhan Tianyou made many contributions throughout his life, the most outstanding of which was undoubtedly the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.

After the failure of the Boxer Rebellion, the national crisis became increasingly serious. Our people demanded to protect the right of way and build their own railways. The Qing government had to change its mind and decided to build its first important railway - the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. In May 1905, the Qing government appointed Zhan Tianyou as the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road Committee Office (later promoted to the General Office) and chief engineer.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is about 200 kilometers long and passes through the Yanshan Mountains inside and outside the Great Wall. This area is full of steep mountains, and the "Guangou Section" from the south entrance to Chadaocheng is particularly steep, with Badaling being the highest peak. As soon as the news came out that Zhan Tianyou was responsible for building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, the imperialists immediately said sarcastically: "The Chinese engineers who can build the railway through the Guangou section have not yet been born!" It was "arrogant" to attack Zhan Tianyou as the chief engineer of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. "Arrogant" and "overestimating one's abilities". At that time, many people in China lacked confidence in building such a railway themselves. Zhan Tianyou devoted himself to bringing honor to his country and withstood all doubts, censures and slanders from both at home and abroad. On October 24, 1906, he expressed his determination and belief in a letter to a teacher when he was studying in the United States: "China has woken up. The Chinese will use their own engineers and their own money to build. Regarding the railway, I seem to be a Chinese engineer at the forefront. All Chinese and foreign people are watching the Jingzhang Road project that I am in charge of. If the Jingzhang Road project fails, it will not only be my personal misfortune, but also the misfortune of the Chinese engineers. It would bring great losses to China. Before and after I accepted this task, many foreigners openly claimed that Chinese engineers could not undertake the arduous projects such as stonework and caves on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line. But I persisted in my project and now the first section of the project. It has been completed..." Zhan Tianyou completed every task in the construction of Jingzhang Road with amazing perseverance. Outside the Great Wall, the wind often howls and the sky is filled with gray sand. People are in danger of being swept into deep valleys by strong winds at any time. Zhan Tianyou personally led the engineering staff, carrying benchmarks and theodolite on his back to draw maps at fixed points on the cliffs. In order to find an ideal route for building a line, he often rode a donkey on rugged mountain trails; he climbed mountains and ridges during the day and drew and calculated under an oil lamp at night. After actual survey and investigation, he once selected three lines, one of which was the Fengsha Line built after 1949. Compared with the other two lines, this line has a higher train throughput capacity, a larger transportation volume, and a more arduous project, with the cost exceeding the original budget of 7 million taels of silver several times. The corrupt Qing government would not be interested in this. Zhan Tianyou had to give up this route, which he considered to be an ideal route.

The most difficult aspect of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the Badaling Tunnel project. In order to ensure that the railway was built ahead of schedule, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt a segmented construction method for the Badaling Tunnel. This was not easy when my country's construction machinery was very simple and backward at that time. In order to ensure the quality of tunnel construction, Zhan Tianyou lived and ate on site and personally checked the alignment, positioning, and even the diameter and distance of each blast hole. His diligent work day and night deeply moved all the construction workers on site.

Zhan Tianyou also creatively used the principle of "return lines" to build a "herringbone" shaped line at Qinglong Bridge, a mountainous and steep mountainous area, reducing the slope of the Guangou section to less than 33‰ and reducing the length of the Badaling Tunnel to half. Zhan Tianyou also designed many magnificent stone arch bridges with national characteristics based on the characteristics of road construction in mountainous areas and using local materials. Not only does it save steel, but it also greatly reduces the project cost. Zhan Tianyou's three requirements of "low cost, good quality, and quick completion" were all realized. On October 2, 1909, at the opening ceremony, Chinese and foreign guests expressed their extraordinary admiration for Zhan Tianyou. He said very modestly: "This is the strength of the more than 10,000 employees of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. It is not my personal contribution. The glory should belong to everyone."

The completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway greatly inspired The national self-confidence of the Chinese people has promoted the patriotic movement of the broad masses to "take back the right of road" and build their own railways. Since then, in addition to presiding over the construction of the Zhangjiakou to Suiyuan railway, Zhan Tianyou was also invited to take charge of commercial railways such as Sichuan-Hankou and Guangdong-Hankong, and worked hard to train China's own technical personnel. He devoted himself to the road protection movement, warmly welcomed the Revolution of 1911, and felt that this was the hope of saving China. He took practical actions to help Mr. Sun Yat-sen realize his plan to build a 100,000-mile railway.

In January 1919 AD, Zhan Tianyou was sent to attend the meeting of the Allied Powers' "Central Eastern Railway Supervision Committee" and fought resolutely against the imperialist aggression in occupying the Eastern Railway. He also called the "Paris Peace Conference", Oppose the imperialist conspiracy to plunder all China's railways. Facing the rough fate of his motherland, he was deeply worried. Looking back on his life, he realized that his ambitions had not been fulfilled. He fell ill during extremely stressful work. In the end, due to overwork, his illness became serious and he unfortunately passed away on April 24, 1919. , died at the age of 58.

The story of Zhan Tianyou and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is well known to all students in China.

However, most people don’t know that before taking over the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway project, Zhan Tianyou had been working on China’s railway construction for nearly 20 years. During this period, he participated in the surveying and design of the Tianjin-Tongzhou Railway planned to be built by Li Hongzhang (the Tianjin-Tongzhou Railway that caused fierce controversy); participated in the construction of the Tianjin-Shanhaiguan Railway; and participated in the construction of the Luanhe River Iron Bridge that still exists today. .

To be precise, "the first railway built by the Chinese" is not the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. In 1901, Cixi returned to Beijing from her escape and took a train for the first time on the way. The train left a good impression on her, and she proposed to take the train to Xiling to pay homage to the mausoleum in two years' time. So the Qing government urgently raised funds to build a branch line from Gaobeidian Station of the Beijing-Hankow Railway to the Imperial Mausoleum of Lianggezhuang. Liang Ruhao, a "young boy studying in the United States" who was the General Office of Railways inside and outside Guanhai at that time, presided over the matter, and he recommended Zhan Tianyou. Zhan Tianyou rose to prominence and directed the project to be completed quickly in the ice and snow where construction was difficult.

This is the first railway built independently by the Chinese. Although it is only 37 kilometers long, it is ironic: it is a railway built for one person to worship his ancestors.

Zhangjiakou is the gateway from Beijing to Inner Mongolia, and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has obvious military, economic and political value. When news of the road construction came out, Britain, which had the most power in China, was determined to win. Tsarist Russia, which regarded the north of the Great Wall as its sphere of influence, would not give in. The two sides argued and finally reached an agreement: If the Qing government did not borrow foreign debts and did not use foreign craftsmen, it would be entirely done by The Chinese built it independently, and neither side extended a hand. From the perspective of Britain and Russia, backward China has no such ability at all, and they are waiting for the Chinese to ask for help when they reach a deadlock.

On May 3, 1906, Zhan Tianyou wrote to Mrs. Northob, his "parent" when he was studying in the United States. The letter said:

I am now the mother of seven children. Father—three girls and four boys! I am currently the "Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Committee Office and Chief Engineer". This railway is about 125 miles long and will have three tunnels, the longest of which is three-quarters of a mile. This road is the first railway to be built entirely by Chinese engineers. I hope we can complete it smoothly!

Zhan Tianyou surveyed three routes. The second detour is too far and is not advisable. The third line is today's Fengsha Line. It was built from the south to the west of Beijing and passed through a large number of cemeteries, which created too many obstacles. Due to limited funding and time constraints, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, which was from Xizhimen via Shahe, via Nankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Jimingyi, Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 360 miles. The difficulty of the whole line lies in Guangou. This area is full of mountains and cliffs. The engineering difficulty was unprecedented in the country at that time and rare in the world. The slope is extremely steep, and the height difference between the south entrance and Badaling is nearly 60 meters.

On October 24, 1906, Zhan Tianyou said in his letter:

Dear Mrs. Northop:

It is true that I am very lucky to be appointed now. work. China has gradually awakened and is in urgent need of railways. Now all over the country, Chinese engineers are being recruited. China must use its own funds to build its own railways. It seems that I have become the best engineer in China, so all Chinese and foreigners are watching my work closely. If I fail, it will not only be my personal misfortune, but also the misfortune of all Chinese engineers and all Chinese people, because Chinese engineers will no longer be trusted by people in the future!

Before I was assigned this job, and after Ji Shi took office, many foreigners publicly claimed that Chinese engineers would never be able to take on such an arduous task, because they would have to dig mountains, cut rocks, and build extremely long tunnels!

But I tried my best and have already completed one stage of practice.

I am attaching a newspaper clipping to let you know that a Chinese child who was under your supervision in New Haven has now completed and will continue to complete the tasks in the future. His early education was entirely indebted to you!

......

Your most loyal Zhan Tianyou

On September 30, 1906, the first section of the project was opened to traffic, and the second section of the project started at the same time. Herein lies the rub. First, four tunnels, namely Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling, must be opened. The longest Badaling tunnel is 1,092 meters. This requires not only precise calculations and correct command, but also new types of mountain excavation machines, ventilators and water pumps. The former was no problem for Zhan Tianyou, while the latter was not available in China at the time and could only rely on the hands of workers.

This story is well known to everyone: Zhan Tianyou used both the north and south ends to dig into the middle point of the tunnel at the same time. However, the tunnel is too long, and two vertical shafts are dug in the middle, which can be dug in opposite directions, so that there are six working faces at the same time. He used the principle of "Zigzag Line" to build a "zigzag" route to reduce the climbing gradient, and used pull carts at both ends to cross. At the beginning of the construction of the railway, there were car derailments. Zhan Tianyou thought of a way: add the automatic hook invented by American Jenny to each carriage to combine it into a solid whole to ensure safety when climbing hills.

On December 11, 1906, during the most stressful days of the project, Zhan Tianyou wrote in a letter to Nosoub’s son and his boyhood friend Willie:

Currently, China is in an extremely unstable situation. It is conducting very costly experiments and striving for innovation. But no one can predict what will happen in the future. My current railway requires me to only use Chinese people to build it. If I have the right. I would be happy to introduce you to a job. Unfortunately, I am now ordered not to hire foreign employees.

Building railways near the capital often requires unexpected "prices". The railway passes through the graveyard of a former Taoist priest. He is a relative of the royal family and has influence in both the government and the public. This person led the crowd to cause trouble, stopped the project, and privately offered heavy bribes to demand a diversion. However, the north, south, and west are all the cemeteries of the powerful. It would be a huge waste to change the routes. Zhan Tianyou endured the humiliation and spent a lot of time dealing with the powerful, and finally allowed the railway to pass outside the tomb wall. However, in order to maintain the "feng shui", they agreed to build another river and send officials to burn incense and offer sacrifices. After the road was completed, a monument would be erected to commemorate it. The engineering staff were indignant, but Zhan Tianyou said that as long as the railway could be repaired, other minor issues could be tolerated.

The difficulty of the third section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is second only to Guangou. The first thing I encountered was the Huailai Bridge, which is the longest bridge on Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road. It is erected by seven 30.48-meter-long steel beams. Thanks to Zhan Tianyou's correct command, the bridge was successfully completed.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was originally planned to be completed in six years. With the efforts of Zhan Tianyou, the entire line was opened to traffic on August 11, 1909, two years ahead of schedule. Not only did the project not exceed the budget, it also saved 280,000 taels of silver.

The photos that Zhan Tianyou left for posterity seem to have been stern since he was a child. He is a rigorous engineer, pragmatic and meticulous. But occasionally, he also reveals the interest that studying abroad has brought him.