TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY 



5862 



TRANSVAAL 



and continues east to the Pacific slopes. From 

 Khabarovsk it extends south to Vladivostok. 

 As originally planned the section between Stre- 

 tensk and Khabarovsk was to follow the Amur 

 River, but the rough hills and steep grades 

 made it necessary to substitute a line running 

 farther to the south through Manchuria. This 

 Manchurian section also has a branch extend- 

 ing south to Port Arthur, and connection is 

 made at Mukden with the Southern Man- 

 churian system, affording communication with 

 Peking. 



The building of the division around Lake 

 Baikal and across the eastern mountains, known 



in other countries. The weekly'^'international 

 train de luxe" is steam heated and electric 

 lighted, and carries corridor trains, dining cars 

 and first- and second-class sleepers, which are 

 divided into staterooms containing two or four 

 berths. This train was temporarily discon- 

 tinued during the War of the Nations. The 

 stations are located thirty-three miles apart and 

 are of substantial and artistic design. A wooden 

 blockhouse, the headquarters of the local police, 

 flanks every station. The great station at 

 Omsk, crowded with immigrants and travelers, 

 in its busy activities resembles the railroad sta- 

 tion of an American metropolis. 



ROUTE OF THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILROAD 



as the Trans-Baikal section, presented vast diffi- 

 culties because of the steep slopes and appar- 

 ently bottomless marshes. The line was opened 

 to traffic before this section was completed, and 

 for three years cars were transferred across the 

 lake by ferry, or in winter on rails laid on the 

 ice. Most of the line was originally single 

 track, and though the roadbed was fairly sub- 

 stantial, light rails and inexpensive ties were 

 used. It has been much improved, however, by 

 enlarged sidings, extended sections of double 

 track and reduced grades. Where double tracks 

 have been laid it has been necessary to widen 

 the roadbed and tunnels. Substantial culverts 

 are built of masonry, stone or heavy timbers, 

 and steel bridges span the larger streams; that 

 bridging the Irtish River is almost four miles 

 in length, and is considered one of the best 

 railway bridges in the world. 



Powerful locomotives burning wood, coal or 

 oil are used, and passenger trains are well 

 equipped and cqmfortable, although they do 

 not possess the luxurious appointments of roads 



During the Russo-Japanese War, the Trans- 

 Siberian Railway was one of Russia's most 

 valuable assets and transported 1,000 troops a 

 day to the front, as well as enormous quantities 

 of arms and munitions. In the War of the 

 Nations it was again of invaluable military 

 service, although the enormous demands upon 

 it seriously impaired its equipment. Although 

 supplies were carried from the East to Russia 

 by way of Archangel and the White Sea, the 

 railroad furnished a quicker and safer route and 

 transported quantities of munitions from the 

 Pacific ports to Russia in Europe. The rail- 

 way was the chief factor in consolidating Rus- 

 sia's Asiatic possessions and in extending its 

 influence over that great domain. E.B.P. 



TRANSVAAL, trans vahl' , THE, one of the 

 richest mineral countries in the world, is a prov- 

 ince of the British Union of South Africa. It 

 forms a compact territory in the table-land of 

 Southeastern Africa, about fifty miles from the 

 Indian Ocean at Delagoa Bay. Having an area 

 of 110,426 square miles, it is about as large as 



