1850 American Gold Tycoon

"Your drawings are very good."

Liang Yao put down the drawings in his hands and said that the drawings Fremont provided him were more detailed than those previously provided to him by California Railroad engineers.

“The distance between San Francisco and Sacramento is not long, and this is not a very long route. Since you think there is no problem, then hurry up and start construction.

As soon as the railroad was opened between San Francisco and Sacramento, I would resume my plans of exploration to discover a railroad route to the east for California. "

Fremont revealed his plan.

This railway route to the east was the Pacific Railroad, but Fremont's adventure in history did not succeed in exploring a suitable railway route.

The Pacific Railway is a bitter history of blood and tears for the Chinese. Liang Yao knew very little about other railroads in the United States, but he still had a certain understanding of this railway.

Liang Yao, who later learned for more than a hundred and seventy years, knew the general route of the Pacific Railway. With Fremont's ability, he believed that as long as Fremont pointed out a general direction, Fremont would be able to explore a suitable location for the Pacific Railway. Build routes.

"We have an old saying in China that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. The section of the railway from San Francisco to Sacramento is also the starting point of this more than 2,000-mile-long railway.

The main reason why I haven't started construction yet is not the raw materials, nor the labor force, nor the lack of trust in the California Railroad engineers and your ability. "

Liang Yao did not choose to start construction last year because of two factors: insufficient raw materials and insufficient labor.

However, with the development of coal mines and the opening of channels for importing iron ore from Mexico, the problem of raw materials has been solved.

At the same time, the number of blast furnaces in the steel plant also increased from two to eight. After trying to use the converter steelmaking method to smelt steel, the daily iron output of each blast furnace increased from the original 8 tons to the current 5 tons.

In January 1851, California steel mills produced a total of 1,101 tons of iron and 20 tons of steel.

This kind of steel production can basically meet the demand for laying rail tracks between San Francisco and Sacramento.

Last year, that is, in 1850, the national steel production in the United States was less than 10,000 tons, and the pig iron production was less than 600,000 tons.

It was only after the 1860s that the steel industry achieved technological breakthroughs and output increased by leaps and bounds.

Take the daily output of a single blast furnace as an example. In the 1850s, the average daily output of a blast furnace was 1 to 6 tons of iron. By the early 1880s, this number was about 100 tons.

As for the labor force, excluding the Chinese shipped by the Global Shipping Company from Guangzhou, there are one or two hundred Chinese who risk death across the Pacific to California every day for gold.

Liang Yao's immigration hostel is responsible for accepting all these Chinese, and he is not short of labor.

"Then what are you worried about?"

Fremont asked in confusion.

"There are some technical problems. During this time, engineers from California Steel and the railroad are working on solving some technical problems. I think these problems will be solved soon."

Liang Yao stood up and looked out the window. The sun was gradually sinking over the sea in the west.

"It's getting late. You go back and have a good rest. I'll take you to the steel plant and the railway company tomorrow to have a look. You'll understand."

The development of railways in the United States was not smooth sailing. The American railway industry began in 1829.

In 1829, the Delaware and Hudson Company of Pennsylvania imported America's first steam locomotive, the Stourbridge Lion, from the United Kingdom and put it into commercial use that year. Unfortunately, the first voyage was a huge and bulky steam locomotive. Just crush the rails.

The fundamental reason is that the track quality and technology built by the United States are not up to standard. The British will sell you steam locomotives, but it does not mean that they will also sell you the corresponding supporting technology.

The following year, the United States made a compromise to solve this problem. Through reverse engineering of imported British steam locomotives, it developed a steam locomotive suitable for America's national conditions, which was the "Tom Thumb".

"Tom Thumb" is as its name suggests. The biggest feature of this steam locomotive is its small size. The locomotive has small weight, small output horsepower, and small carrying capacity. Therefore, although this is a steam locomotive, it is not a qualified steam locomotive that can be put into commercial use.

The first qualified commercial steam locomotive in the United States had to wait until 1831.

In 1831, the news shocked the entire United States when the Best Friend locomotive running on the Charleston and South Carolina Railroad towed 4 to 5 cars at a speed of 25 miles (45 kilometers) per hour.

The Best Friend account has become the pride of the entire United States, although this parameter has lagged behind the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium at the same time.

But after all, this is the first steam locomotive produced and developed by the United States and put into commercial use.

Shortly after the launch of the Best Friend, the West Point Foundry Society of New York introduced America's second steam locomotive, and the Moheck and Hudson Railroad introduced the DeWitt Clinton.

The parameters of these locomotives are not much different from those of the Best Friends, and they became the main locomotives of major American railway companies in the 1830s, 1940s and early 1950s.

It was not until 1855 that the classic American 4-4-0 (the guide wheel and driving wheel configuration of railway vehicles, the first 4 represents 4 front guide wheels, the second 4 represents 4 driving wheels, and the third 0 represents no rear The American steam locomotive ushered in a disruptive change with the emergence of the American steam locomotive with a guide wheel layout.

This type of steam locomotive became popular throughout the North American continent in the next 40 to 50 years, with nearly 25,000 units produced.

At dawn the next day, the first thing Liang Yao did when he opened his eyes was to ask Tromoland for the shells used by the 10-inch and 8-inch naval guns on the Roland.

Tromolan was initially unwilling to give Liang Yao cannonballs, and wanted to blackmail Liang Yao for the cannonballs.

Liang Yao was not a vegetarian, and said that if Tromelan was unwilling to deliver the cannonballs, he would not be able to tow away another French ship that was being repaired in the dock. Only then did Tromelan relent and was willing to deliver the cannonballs to Liang Yao. .

After arguing with Tromolan, Liang Yao and Freemont came to the steel factory in the industrial zone.

The steel plant occupies a large area, and the eight blast furnaces currently in use only occupy less than 10% of the entire plant area. In addition, five blast furnaces are under construction.

In the warehouse inside the steel plant, I-shaped rails and a small number of steel rails are piled up.

In the open space in front of the warehouse is an experimental rail built by railroad workers and engineers of the California Railroad Company. Seven steam locomotives are parked on the rail.

"Where did you get all those steam locomotives?"

Freemont asked in surprise.

"Last year, I asked Strauss to buy them from the Eastern Railway Company. He bought ten units in total, and three of them were used for dismantling." Liang Yao said calmly.

"What are you doing dismantling these locomotives?" Fremont said with some distress.

"I never like to be controlled by others. I hope that our railway company will have the ability to develop and manufacture locomotives on its own." Liang Yao said as he walked towards the warehouse, "I also placed orders with the British and French railway companies. Five locomotives, if everything goes well, will be delivered to San Francisco by the end of this year.”

"You have money but nowhere to spend it? Give money to the British and the French?" Fremont was very puzzled by Liang Yao's move.

"I've never liked backward things. The steam locomotives we produce in the United States are not advanced enough." Liang Yao said with a smile.

"You want to imitate British and French locomotives?" Fremont seemed to understand. "But I have to remind you that the threshold for locomotives is very high, and it is not easy to successfully imitate them."

"It's not easy to do, but it's precisely because the threshold is high that we can make money. I hope that the locomotives we produce in California can be sold to Europe in the future." Liang Yao walked into the warehouse where track materials are stored and said to Fremont, "Look Look at the difference in these tracks inside the warehouse."

Fremont curiously observed the tracks stored in the warehouse. The first thing Fremont noticed was that among these track materials, there were actually steel rails.

"Is this? Steel? You prodigal son, you want to use steel to lay tracks? This is not how you spend money!"

Fremont almost jumped. What kind of company is this? It uses precious steel to lay tracks.

According to the original historical process, the rails were not manufactured until 1857.

Compared with railway rails, steel rails have the advantages of being stronger, having a longer lifespan, and a single rail can be manufactured longer.

Of course, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, steel is expensive.

Limited by the steel production in this era, the cost of laying rails is extremely high, and even if the rails are laid regardless of the cost, California does not have enough steel to supply Liang Huohuo.

Liang Yao currently has 52 tons of steel in stock. Even if all of it is used to lay tracks, he will only be able to lay more than 1 mile of railway.

And California uses steel for more than just laying railroad tracks.

"I would like to use all steel rails to lay railways, but the current steel production limits my performance." Liang Yao said with some helplessness, "These rails are used for experiments and comparisons between rails. Between San Francisco and Sacramento The railway between them must still be laid with rails.”

After reading the materials, Fremont left the warehouse and walked to the experimental rails laid in front of the warehouse. He squatted down and observed these rails curiously.

The rail has a wide and flat bottom surface, which can be easily fixed on the sleepers; the upper end surface of the rail has an excellent arc transition, which can fit well with the slope of the wheel.

This kind of railway track is the railway track that Liang Yao imitated based on the mature railway tracks of later generations.

However, due to material strength and workmanship, the strength of these rails was far from meeting the standards of later generations, but it was certainly sufficient in the 1850s.

This shape of rail track had never been seen in Fremont before, which was an eye-opener for Fremont.

"Did you make this kind of railway track?" Freemont looked at Liang Yao and asked.

"To be precise, I provided the engineers with ideas and drawings, and they manufactured the rails based on my ideas. Experiments have proved that this rail is a relatively successful rail." Liang Yao called over the chief engineer of the California Railway Company. Devo.

"Devo, please explain this kind of rail to the Senator."

The chief engineer of the California Railway Company was a Belgian. He originally worked for the famous Belgian Cockerill Company, which was the first company in Belgium to manufacture steam locomotives. Later, Devo was poached to the Moheck and Hudson Railway. company.

Last year, DeVoe was recruited by Liang Yaohua from the Moheck and Hudson Railroad Company to the California Railway Company.

"Your Excellency, there are currently the following types of rails in use in the UK and Europe. One is the T-shaped rail. However, the lower end of the T-shaped rail is very small and not stable enough. It needs to be fixed with a special metal base to increase stability. This It undoubtedly increases the cost.

There is also a kind of double-ended rail. When one side is worn, it can be used again. However, turning the rail over requires huge labor costs.

The last type is what Boss Liang calls the "I"-shaped rail. It is very simple and can be easily fixed on the sleepers using spikes. The disadvantage is that its strength is not high. However, the strength problem can be solved by using steel rails. "

DeVoe explained to Fremont very seriously.

"However, the track you just looked at is still a railroad track rather than a steel track. Due to material strength issues, we had to make certain compromises. However, I can assure you that this track is absolutely first-class track, at least in the United States."

When it comes to the railroad tracks in the United States, Ward's eyes are quite contemptuous.

Ward’s disdain for America’s railroads also had a reason.

At the same time, the frequency of train derailments and accidents in the United States was much higher than in Europe.

Ward discovered why while working for the Moheck and Hudson Railroad.

That is, although the United States has laid more than 20,000 miles of railways in the past two decades, this data has surpassed most European countries and has become an out-and-out railway power.

In fact, behind these data are a large number of shoddy and substandard railways. The low quality of American railways made Ward dumbfounded.

Not to mention the low quality of the spikes produced by American railroad companies, in fact, any railroad company that can produce spikes for railroads can be considered a very conscientious railroad company.

Many railway companies don't even drive spikes. The sleepers are placed on the ground very casually, without being compacted by heavy objects, and without considering the actual terrain conditions.

Even in the design of curves, in order to reduce construction costs, the turning rate was not fully considered, nor was the height of the outer guide rails increased.

All in all, the United States is more concerned about the mileage and quantity of railroads than the quality of railroads when laying railroads.

Ward, who had just arrived at the time, was incredulous that these inferior railways could be put into use.

He also understood why American Railroad's accident rate was so high.

Ward had reported this problem to the Moheck and Hudson Railroad Company, but the company's executives were more willing to spend their thoughts on how to build better locomotives than on the tracks.

Because they believe that manufacturing more advanced locomotives will attract more attention, promote the company's image, and attract more passengers.

Therefore, no company originally intended to focus on building high-quality railway tracks. It was not until Ward came to the California Railroad Company that he changed Ward's view of American Railways.

It turns out that in remote California, America, there was such a visionary leader of a railroad company.

"It seems you have a disdain for American railroads."

Ward's attitude toward American railroads made Fremont uncomfortable.

"Except for future railroads laid by California Railroad."

Ward did not deny this, he told Fremont.

"Senator, with all due respect, I sincerely invite you to get on board and experience our company's new trains and tracks. I think after experiencing it, you will understand why Mr. Liang wants to postpone the construction date of the San Francisco and Sacramento Railway. .”

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