Feng Sha Camel: My story related to trains

My story about trains

Feng Sha Camel

On September 30, 1952, the first float full of guests from Tianshui arrived at Lanzhou East Railway Station

On October 1, 1952, the 347-kilometer-long Tianlan Railway was opened

On October 1, 1952, the 347-kilometer-long Tianlan Railway was opened

Today, no matter who rides on the high-speed railway train that crosses the motherland, east, west, south and north, you have to sigh that the "one day and a thousand miles" that you used to hope for is no longer a dream, but a reality. Looking out the window at the rapid changes in urban and rural areas, you have to marvel at today's gods and earth. ”

In my generation, most of us, like me, the impression of trains and railways in our minds is gradually deepening.

When I was young, I heard the word train for the first time and felt so amazing. When I was young, I was so surprised to see a real train for the first time. I felt lucky to get on the train later. Now, riding the high-speed train is like the change of the century. This feeling, the current generation of young people, may not be able to experience.

Sitting in a comfortable high-speed train seat and looking out the window at the kaleidoscopic changing scenery, I can't help but take me into the unforgettable years of the past, and the memories related to trains more than half a century ago reappear in my mind.

Tianshui Station in 1945

On September 29, 1952, 30,000 people celebrated the opening of the Tianlan Railway in North Province

One of the stories Listen to the train

In my memory, when I entered the elementary school campus at an early age, after hearing the teacher talk about the word "train" for the first time, I felt so amazing, and after returning home, I asked my mother, what is a train? Who would have thought, the inquiry evoked her mother's memories of the train. After listening to my mother's experience about the train, I was even more mysterious about the train.

My mother said that the first time she saw a train was on New Year's Day 1946, when the Shaanxi Baoji to Gansu Tianshui Railway opened ceremony. On that day, the news that the opening ceremony of the Baotian Railway was going to be held at the then Tianshui Railway Station reached the school. The school decided to organize some teachers to participate, and her mother was only a twenty-year-old elementary school teacher, and she was particularly curious, and at repeated requests, she set out from the city with teacher representatives from other schools to Beidaobu, where the Tianshui Railway Station was located.

At that time, Beidaobu was the location of the current Maiji District of Tianshui City, which was more than ten kilometers away from Tianshui City. Since the Baoji-Tianshui railway was opened, Tianshui Railway Station was selected in the north port of a small village on the Weihe River, which is close to Tianshui City and has a relatively open terrain. During the railway construction period, in order to facilitate the needs of railway construction, many railway units set up camp here, and the former small village suddenly became lively with the railway construction, and soon became prosperous with the establishment of Tianshui Railway Station.

I heard that on this day, the Baoji to Tianshui train opened, to hold the opening ceremony, and there is a train to come, Tianshui Railway Station around the crowd, from the city to the north port to participate in the opening ceremony, many staff and family members of the railway system, more are local people who heard the news and came to see the train. As a teacher representative of the city school, the mother and her party made an exception to allow them to enter the train station.

My mother said that the Tianshui Railway Station was a very ordinary station building, although the area was only about four or five hundred square meters, the appearance was not very eye-catching, but in the eyes of ordinary people at that time, it was a very conspicuous and mysterious place. Entering this building, it seemed empty, only to see a few long wooden seats inside, a small ticket window on the wall, a small wooden sign of the train timetable hanging on it, and near the inside there was an entry gate, which is the place to enter the platform after ticket verification.

Entering the railway station, on the side of an iron track, there is a stone platform nearly one meter high above the rails, about 20 or 30 meters long, on top of which is a shed made of wood for shelter from the rain. There are three strands of railway tracks under the platform, and the rails are erected on the sleepers that are laid in all directions, saying that the sleepers play a role in fixing the railway track gauge, carrying the weight pressure of the rails and passing vehicles, and keeping the line stable and smooth. Under the sleepers is covered with stone slag, called road slag. It is to protect the roadbed, bear the weight of sleepers, rails and trains, keep the track from deformation and displacement, and at the same time facilitate drainage, buffer vibration, and absorb the vibration and noise generated when the train passes by. The train is pulled by the locomotive on the railway track, and if it deviates from the track track, the train cannot move forward, and even a subversion accident will occur.

My mother said that at that time, standing on the platform and looking at both ends, the railway extended to both sides, and I heard that the east side was directly connected to Baoji, and the west side could only lead to the maintenance workshop of the station. There is no accurate news on when the train will arrive, and no one can tell the exact time of arrival. And on the platform, there is already a flood, everyone wants to stand in the front to see the real railway, and then see how the train travels on the railway. The staff on the platform repeatedly said that the train was coming, but the horn before the train entered the station could not be heard.

Finally, several railway workers appeared on the platform, shouting; "Everyone step back and stay safe. Being close to the train is life-threatening. "While evacuating the crowd crowded on the platform to the back and sides.

Not long after, the whistle of the train was faintly heard in the direction of the east side of the railway, and everyone shouted excitedly; "Coming, coming, the train is coming." Then, from the far east bend, a black behemoth drove along the railway track towards the train station. The sound of the train horn is getting louder and louder, and the black smoke and dust that continue to spew out from the cigarette pipe above the locomotive form a black cloud in the air. The train "clicked, clicked" like an old cow and panted slowly, and finally heard the "squeak, squeak" of the harsh brakes, the locomotive pulled out of the platform and stopped, only a few cars stopped at the platform.

In the crowd, my mother squeezed to the side of the carriage, looked inside, and saw that there was a passage in the middle of the carriage, all wooden seats on both sides, and the passenger car compartment turned out to be like this. There are also several carriages, without a roof, and the doors on both sides can be opened and lowered. Everyone talked about it and said that this is a freight car, which is usually mainly used for loading, but sometimes there are more passengers, and it is also used as a passenger car. Following the crowd, I stepped off the platform and finally squeezed to the side of the locomotive. Standing next to the railway, looking up at the front of the train, the black locomotive is tall, the middle of the front is round, in the cab, red light comes out from time to time, and someone is waving a shovel to remove slag. Someone on the side said that there is a small boiler in the locomotive, which constantly adds coal, and the train can only start after adding power, and the person who removes the slag is called the stoker, which is specially boiled during the train. A knowledgeable pedestrian pointed to a copper nameplate on the side of the locomotive, saying that this locomotive was made in Germany and was a product of the 20s, lamenting that our China is too backward, and it is difficult to build railways now, who has the ability to build locomotives.

My mother said that there was one more thing that I remember that day. While looking at the locomotive, I suddenly heard someone screaming; "Why am I covered in black ash?" Someone on the side looked at it, and sure enough. Everyone around looked at each other, and everyone had black ash on their heads. Someone on the side said, "That's not strange. When the train is running, it is necessary to constantly add coal to the boiler to help combustion, coal dust is discharged from the cigarette pipe of the locomotive, and it is normal for the people who come into contact with it to be sprinkled, that is, you sit on the train, coal ash will also float in from the window with the wind, and there will be a layer of coal ash on your body after getting off the train, don't make a fuss. ”

My mother said that I set out from the city before dawn in the morning, arrived at the train station at noon, did not know what time it was in the afternoon to see the train, returned home in the middle of the night, and crowded in the crowd to watch the excitement, I was really tired enough, but at that time I was young, in good health, and very curious, although tired, but I saw the real train with my own eyes, and saw what the railway and railway station were like, and I was very excited to give lectures to students after returning to school. After a few days, the mood gradually calmed down. As for how the ceremony was, she didn't leave any memories, but she was deeply impressed by the train. At that time, I heard the people on the station say: "The train departs from Baoji, stop-and-go, the road needs to be filled with coal, water, the average speed is only twenty or thirty kilometers per hour, the highest can reach more than 40 kilometers, has been walking for more than ten hours, it is relatively smooth from Baoji to Tianshui, and completed the opening ceremony." He also said, "You guys were lucky, you waited a little long, but you still saw the train." ”

Later, I heard that the railway was said to be repaired, but most of the time the train was driving, and the road was either a train failure, or a collapse of the roadbed, or a track problem, and the train often either stopped or returned to its original place, often late and almost on time. At that time, there were also a few smooth words circulating in society; "The treasure antenna is blind, it will be broken if it does not collapse, and the flat car buys tickets, and I don't know when it is on time."

Listening to my mother tell the story of the train in those days fascinated me deeply. Living in the second most famous city in Gansu, the train station is not very far from home, but in the 50s of the last century, in my young heart, my home was so far away from the train station, not only had I never seen a train, but I had never even heard the whistle of the train. Since then, I have wondered when I will see the train, and as for getting on the train, I didn't even dare to think about it.

Gradually growing up, consciously or unconsciously, I paid attention to some news about the railway, especially the legends, memories and records of the construction process of the Baoji-Tianshui railway, and gradually understood how tortuous the construction process of this railway was and how difficult the construction process was.

The construction of the Baotian Railway has a long history. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army planned to advance westward many times, a large part of the country fell, and the unique strategic location of Tianshui became increasingly prominent. In 1938, the Nationalist Government established the Northwest Travel Department in Tianshui and appointed Cheng Qian as its director. In order to meet the needs of the long-term war of resistance and to ensure the security of the strategic rear and the supply of strategic materials in wartime, it was decided to build the Baotian Railway, which runs from Baoji in Shaanxi in the east to Tianshui in Gansu in the west, with a total length of 153 kilometers.

In May 1939, the construction of the Baoji-Tianshui section of the Longhai Railway began, and the railway followed the Weihe Exhibition Line. The Wei River is an important tributary of the Yellow River, with vertical and horizontal rivers, and its curves and changes. On both sides is the majestic and continuous Qinling mountain range, in the middle is the winding, choppy Wei River, the terrain in the canyon is very precipitous, the geological situation is extremely complicated, the construction conditions are extremely poor, and the surrounding people are sparsely populated, the land is poor and poor, grain procurement, logistics supply is very difficult, under such conditions to build this railway, how easy it was to talk about back then, even today is unimaginable.

The National Government mobilized tens of thousands of migrant workers in Tianshui, Baoji and surrounding areas, and mobilized domestic technical forces, which took seven years before and after. Each migrant worker has a pair of dustpans, a flat burden, and shoulders to carry earth and rock. 126 tunnels with a total length of 20.5 km were all hand-hammered and illuminated by oil lamps. More than 100,000 sleepers used for construction were cut down from the Xiaolongshan forest area by farmers along the route, and transported to the construction site one by one by small donkeys over the mountains. The required cement and steel were transferred by car from the Yunnan (Yunnan) Myanmar (Burma) Highway to Baoji, and then transported to the construction site by donkey carts and ox carts. The required rails were first transferred from the Pinghan Railway and Longhai Road to Yuxi in the occupied area for burial, and then found a way to transfer them, and after purchasing the rails that had fallen to the people, they were smuggled in the middle of the night by ox carts. Under such extremely difficult conditions, we went all out to speed up the progress and meet the construction schedule, although huge manpower, material resources and financial resources were consumed, but due to the difficulty of financing at the time of construction, the price of materials increased exponentially, and it was not until December 1945 that the railway was basically built. It was completed and opened to traffic in 1948. The Tianshui Railway Station, built in the 34th year of the Republic of China (1945), was the last railway station built by the Republic of China government on the mainland at that time, and it was also the railway station closest to the west of China.

Looking back at history, under the historical environment at that time, it was a remarkable event in the history of Chinese railways to be able to basically build this railway under harsh geological conditions, difficult construction environment, limited technical strength, relying on the enthusiasm of engineers and technicians and migrant workers to resist the war, and with flesh and blood. After the railway was basically completed, the local authorities used the surplus money from the construction of the Baotian Railway to build a "Memorial Hall for Migrant Workers" in the Tianshui Public Stadium. The building area is 1800 square meters, and there are 4 large red columns in the front entrance hall, symbolizing the power of migrant workers standing tall in the sky. In the hall of the auditorium, there are six decorative oil paintings each three meters wide and three meters long, reproducing the deeds of migrant workers rushing to build roads at that time. The roof of the door is made of cement seal lettering, the body length is 2 meters, the width is 1.2 meters. There are 4 big characters on the book "Migrant workers are great". The whole building is unique and integrated, with a profound meaning. Unfortunately, it was demolished in 2003 during the construction of the city. The Tianshui Women and Children Activity Center was built on the original site.

At the beginning of the founding of New China, in January 1950, the Central People's Government decided to establish the Northwest Railway Trunk Line Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Railways (referred to as the West Trunk Bureau), which was located in the planned Tianshui West Railway Station, which is now the Tianshui Railway Cable Factory. Yan Rong, deputy chief of staff of the First Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, was appointed director of the bureau and Bai Rubing, deputy director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Northwest Military and Political Commission, was appointed political commissar. The Baotian Engineering Office was established under the Xigan Bureau to be responsible for the design and construction of the Baotian Railway Improvement Project.

Railway soldiers laid the roadbed on the Tianlan Railway

In the spring of 1950, Peng Dehuai, then chairman of the Northwest Military and Political Commission, issued an order to restore the Baoji-Tianshui railway. After taking part in the campaigns to liberate the great northwest, the troops of the 64th Army of the 19th Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Shaanxi Provincial Military District were ordered to move to the Qinling mountains and the banks of the Weihe River and plunge into the construction of the Baotian Railway.

After the construction began, in the face of the defeat of the Kuomintang troops on the eve of liberation, the railway line from Baoji to Linjia Village was destroyed, and 14 bridges and culverts west of Donggou were blown up, causing the entire Baotian railway line to be paralyzed. Coupled with the dilapidated protective facilities along the route, the steep gorges, the rushing Wei River, the intermittent supply of materials and logistical support, as well as the very difficult construction conditions and difficult living environment, a total of 55,000 military, road workers, engineering and technical personnel participated in the construction of the project, all relying on manual work, a total of more than 4 million square meters of earth and rock were completed, and the treasure antenna was basically dredged. During the construction, 1,086 of the troops participating in the construction were wounded and 56 soldiers died gloriously. The number of casualties among the migrant workers is countless.

At the beginning of 1951, just as the construction of the Baoqiao antenna was intensive, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began, and the troops participating in the construction were ordered to evacuate the construction site and go to the front line of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In view of the changes in the situation, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, the Northwest Military and Political Commission formulated the "Implementation Plan for Mobilizing Migrant Workers to Build Railways in the Northwest Region in 1951", which put forward the requirements for the unimpeded opening of the Baotian Railway in 1951 and the opening of the Tianshui-Gangu line in the construction of the Tianshui-Lanzhou railway. After seven months of hard work, the Baoji-Tianshui railway was successfully opened to traffic in July 1951. It means that in the railway development map of New China, with the opening of the Baotian Railway, known as the "cecum of the Northwest Great Trunk Line", the line east of Tianshui of the Longhai Railway that crosses the east and west of China has been completely penetrated, which has played an extremely important role in accelerating the extension of the railway to the great northwest.

When the Baotian Railway was about to be opened, in order to ensure the smooth flow of the railway, in June 1951, the Baotian Railway began to implement the first phase of the reconstruction project. More than 4,000 members of the newly established Chinese People's Liberation Army Railway Corps entered the first line of the Baotian Railway. After three years of hard work, the first phase of the reconstruction project of Baotian Railway was completed. During this period, after the abolition of the Xigan Bureau in 1952, the Baolan Engineering Agency and other railway construction agencies undertook the arduous task of ensuring the organization and leadership, material supply, and logistical support of the entire line during the reconstruction project.

At the same time as the Baotian Railway Reconstruction Project was intensively constructed, on September 30, 1952, the Tianshui-Lanzhou Railway was completed and put into operation, and Chairman Mao waved an inscription after hearing the news: "Congratulations on the opening of the Tianlan Railway and continue to work hard to build the Lanxin Road." Chairman Mao's inscription greatly encouraged all the builders in railway construction.

In view of the complex geological situation along the Baotian Railway, the rapid flow of the Weihe River, landslides, debris flows, collapses, rockfalls, deformation of embankments, tunnel collapses, river bank protection erosion and other geological disasters and roadbed diseases along the banks of the river often occur, which seriously affect the current situation of traffic. In January 1955, the Baotian Railway began its second renovation project. A total of 51.04 million yuan has been invested and after three years of hard work, the reconstruction project of 153 kilometers with a total length of 153 kilometers, 125 tunnels and 281 bridges and culverts has been completed. After the reconstruction, the quality of the entire section of the Baotian Railway has been greatly improved, the railway running time has been shortened from 12 hours in the early days of liberation to about 6 hours, and the transportation capacity has been increased from 800,000 tons to 2 million tons, making important contributions to the development of national defense, economy and social undertakings. On July 1, 1954, the Ministry of Railways ordered the establishment of the Tianshui Railway Branch of Zhengzhou Railway Bureau. In April 1955, the Ministry of Railways ordered the Tianshui Railway Branch to be transformed into the Tianshui Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Railways. On March 1, 1956, the Tianshui Railway Bureau moved to Lanzhou and was renamed Lanzhou Railway Bureau.

Although the Baotian Railway has been reconstructed twice, due to the rugged terrain and ravines along the way, especially the heavy rains in July and August every summer, landslides and debris flows along the route have caused continuous landslides and debris flows, which have repeatedly caused the main artery of the Longhai Railway to be forced to stop. From the 60s to the 70s, the state invested a lot of money to renovate the entire section many times, mainly to change the line, transform the bridge and culvert, reinforce, control landslides, etc., especially after the completion of the electrification of the entire line of the Baotian Railway in the 80s, the railway natural disaster accident was greatly reduced, and the train speed was also increased from the original 70 kilometers to 120 kilometers.

In this century, the construction of the Baoji-Tianshui high-speed railway is listed as an important part of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway main channel in the national medium- and long-term railway network planning in this century. The Baolan high-speed railway (Baoji-Lanzhou) leads from Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, through Tianshui City to Lanzhou, with a total length of 401 kilometers. Construction started on November 19, 2012. In order to completely solve the frequent geological disasters in the Weihe River Gorge along the line, the terrain and landform are narrow, and it is impossible to adapt to the current situation of high-speed railway traffic, the construction plan of Baotian high-speed railway is changed to the southern line construction plan. After the train is led out of Baoji, it will go west along the south bank of the Weihe River Gorge, mainly through Dongcha, Yuanlong and Shetang towns in Tianshui City, Gansu Province, and then enter Tianshui South Station along Mabaoquan Town, and continue to the west to connect with the Longhai Line.

On July 9, 2017, the high-speed train from Baoji to Tianshui South Station was fully opened

With the opening of the Xi'an-Baoji high-speed railway in 2013 and the Lanxin (Lanzhou-Urumqi) high-speed railway in 2014, among the thousands of kilometers of ancient silk road, only the Lanzhou-Baoji section has become a neck section, of which the most critical section is the Baoji to Tianshui line. The whole line of bridges and tunnels is dense, the bridge-to-tunnel ratio is more than 90%, and it is very difficult to build, which can be called one of the most difficult high-speed railways in China. After four years of hard work, railway builders overcame many difficulties and on July 9, 2017, with the opening of the high-speed train from Baoji to Tianshui South Railway Station, the entire line of Longhai high-speed railway running through China's east-west railway artery was completed and put into operation. The hidden dangers of the Longhai Railway, from Baoji in Shaanxi to Tianshui in Gansu, which had plagued China Railway for decades, were completely eliminated and became historical records of the past.

Tianshui station in the 60s of the last century

Story 2 Go see the train

When I actually saw the train, it was ten years later. That year, I was in middle school.

Now even elementary school students, even kindergarten children, which do not know the train, many students often take the train, they know more about rockets, space shuttles, astronauts, travel to space and so on. To my shame, as middle school students, we had never even seen what a train looked like. Among the classmates, there are only a few people in the class who have seen the train, and there are even fewer who have taken the train. Even so, at that time, I learned a lot about trains and railways from the teacher's lectures and textbooks.

China's first railway, Wusong (Shanghai Zhabei-Wusongkou) railway. It was built by the British capital group in the second year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1876), which was the first commercial railway in China. The Qing government considered it "strange and obscene." It was ordered to be demolished after redemption the following year. After twenty years, in the twenty-third year of Guangxu (1897), there were finally a few people in the Qing government who understood it, and after dredging up relations, they used official funds to follow the original route of the Wusong Railway, and then built the Song-Shanghai Railway, and the 24th year of Guangxu (1898) was completed and opened to traffic.

The Tangxu (Tangshan-Xugezhuang) railway is the first standard gauge freight railway built in China. Construction began in May 1881 and was completed in November. It is a single-line light railway, mainly used for coal transportation, and at first it was actually pulled by horse-drawn carriages, which became a horse-drawn train spectacle, and only began to be pulled by locomotives the following year. Later, the line continued to extend and finally reached Tianjin, with a total length of 110 kilometers, called the Tianjin-Gu Railway.

The first trunk railway designed and built by Chinese was the Beijing-Zhangjiakou (Beijing-Zhangjiakou) railway, designed and built by Zhan Tianyou, China's outstanding railway engineer. Construction began on November 2, 1905 and was opened to traffic on November 2, 1909. This railway, which China built itself without any foreigners' participation, eliminated all kinds of criticism from all sides, withstood many pressures, overcame difficulties such as complicated terrain and harsh geology, and after four years of hard work, it was completed and opened to traffic, which became sensational news.

The Qiantang River Bridge, the first double-decker railway and highway bridge designed and built by the mainland, was designed and built by Dr. Mao Yisheng, a contemporary bridge expert, and completed in 1937. A few months after the opening of traffic, the War of Resistance broke out in full force, and in order to block the Japanese attack, it was blown up painfully. However, the completion of this bridge has become a milestone in the history of railway bridge construction in China.

The first train in China is said to have been modeled after the famous British steam locomotive "Rocket" by the wife of the then chief engineer of the Tangxu Railway, and named it "China Rocket". Chinese workers carved a dragon on each side of the locomotive, so they called it the "Dragon" locomotive.

China's comprehensive railway construction plan was proposed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the provisional president of the Republic of China after the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, who designed three major trunk lines connecting the whole country, with a total length of 200,000 kilometers. In the "Ten-Year Plan" and "Fourth Plan" in the "Founding Strategy", Dr. Sun Yat-sen carefully designed five railway trunk lines that run through the whole country, namely the Central Railway System, the Southeast Railway System, the Northwest Railway System, the Northeast Railway System, and the Plateau Railway System, with the aim of promoting China's rise through developed transportation.

I also learned that the railway system of that year was composed of seven parts: car (car service), industry (public works), engine (engine maintenance), vehicle (vehicle), supply (power supply), communication (communication), and passenger (passenger transport), and they had a clear division of labor, cooperated with each other, and closely cooperated to jointly maintain the safety of railway traffic and complete the task of railway passenger and freight transportation.

In high school, I was fifteen or sixteen years old, and like the rest of my class, I was flourishing, strong-blooded, and very curious. Although in the 60s of the last century, closed and backward, closed information, inconvenient transportation, and very limited access to knowledge, the daily scope of activities was from home to school, from school to home, there was no outing, traveling, visiting and so on. But I was still fascinated by the occasional talk of others, listening to the teacher in class, and reading about trains and railways in books and other written channels.

For a while, after class, many male students in the class for some reason became extremely interested in trains and railways, and the discussion continued, some said that trains burn coal, some said that trains burn oil, some said that the train driver drives a train like a car The steering wheel is round, some say that it looks at the oval, and so on, and so on. All kinds of rich imaginations, even some inconsequential ideas, came out and became the focus of discussion, and interestingly, what began as a discussion quickly turned into an argument, and there was no truce for a long time. The controversy then escalated, becoming more and more intense, sometimes even to the point that no one could convince the other, and would never stop arguing. However, what a real train and railway look like, no one who participated in the dispute and watched from the sidelines or even booed has seen it with their own eyes.

Beginning in 1964, Chairman Mao made a series of speeches on the "educational revolution", arguing that there were many problems in school education, "one is that there are too many classes, and the other is that there are too many books, which is too heavy. He proposed that "the academic structure can be shortened" and "the curriculum can be cut in half". Immediately afterwards, he wrote a letter about the burden on students: "There are too many classes in school now, and there is too much pressure on students. "The burden on students is too heavy, it affects their health, and it is useless to learn, so it is recommended to cut a third of the total amount of all activities." Later, Chairman Mao's conversation with his nephew Mao Yuanxin on educational reform was also conveyed to the school, and the core was to reduce students' learning burden and develop morally, intellectually and physically in an all-round way.

With the deepening of the "educational revolution", each middle school is required to open a second classroom and organize students to carry out collective labor activities on a regular basis while reducing the burden of students' study. In order to make collective labor long-term and standardized, the school specially chooses a place close to the school to open a school farm, and the collective labor of teachers and students in the whole school is organized on the farm. The location of our school farm is not far from the school, on the north hill of the urban area, a place called "Imperial City".

Speaking of the imperial city, it leads to relevant historical legends about shame.

He is famous for his special status and great influence when the two Han dynasties alternated in Chinese history. According to research, the word Ji Meng is ashamed, and Tianshui becomes a jiren. Born in the Longyou clan, he was an official in Yanjun County in his youth. Longshang is famous for its knowledge of books and scriptures. In 8 AD, after Wang Mang overthrew the Western Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, his national teacher Liu Yun was ashamed of his name and recommended him as a national teacher. Later, Liu Yun rebelled and returned to his hometown in shame. After the establishment of Liu Xuan's first regime (23 years), with Tianshui as the center, he took the opportunity to occupy Pingxiang, successively capturing Longxi, Wudu, Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang and other counties, completely controlling the Longyou region. In the first twelve years, he was embarrassed to return to the first emperor Liu Xuan and was made a right general. After Liu Xiu acceded to the throne (25 years), he was ashamed to persuade Liu Xuandong to return to Liu Xiu, but Liu Xuan did not allow it, and he was ashamed to hold Liu Xuandong back, but the attempt failed. After the incident was revealed, he fled back to Tianshui overnight, regrouped his old troops, proclaimed himself the general of Xizhou, and once again gathered his forces and became a local force on the separatist side. During this period, with the goal of reviving the Gaozu Han system, he established an administrative system based on the county system of the Western Han Dynasty, imitated the Han system and established relevant official ranks, forming a relatively complete political system, which became the institutional basis for him to achieve separation and rule for a long time. When he was ashamed to claim the king, he built an imperial palace in Longshang, and the imperial palace was built on the top of the North Mountain in the current Tianshui City District, named Shame Palace, and the construction time was about 23 to 33 AD, with a history of more than 2,000 years. The Palace of Shame has always been called the Imperial City and the Imperial Castle by later generations.

The Royal Castle is the most valuable historical relic left over from the Shame Dynasty. It is built in a stepped manner along the Beishan Mountain, with a total area of about 700,000 square meters. The city wall is made of loess rammed, the height is about four meters, the thickness is about two meters, the core area is 500 meters long from east to west, from the lowest city wall to the top of the city wall, about 1,000 meters, an area of about 5,000 square meters, can accommodate nearly 10,000 people, at that time, such a wide area, large scale of buildings are rare. The road below the imperial castle is called Huangcheng Road, and there is a village on the mountain called Huangcheng Village, which is said to be the place where the shame was active.

In the second year of Tang Suzong's Qian Yuan (759 AD), the poet Du Fu, who went to Sichuan because of the "Anshi Rebellion" and went to Qinzhou, faced with the situation that "the mountains and rivers were broken and the people did not live well", he climbed to the imperial city and was ashamed of this hero of the year. Facing the devastated but still grand and imposing imperial castle, which is still well-preserved in the mountain gate, palace and other buildings, he sighed and left a famous miscellaneous poem; "Shengji City North Temple, rumored to be the Palace of Shame; Moss Mountain Mengu, Danqing Ye Temple; The moon is dewy, and the clouds are crossing the stream wind; Qingwei is extremely ruthless, and when it is sad, it is alone to the east. Wang Wei of the Ming Dynasty wrote in "Qinzhou Poems" that "the monument Li Guangzhai, the abandoned temple is a palace of shame." "I will remember Li Guang and Gui Hao, who are separated by more than 200 years, as heroes. Similarly, the people of Qinzhou have not forgotten him for more than 2,000 years. Over the years, Tianshui folk have been circulating many stories related to shame, such as Tianshui's well-known snack "buckwheat noodles", which is said to be a favorite food of his mother. Ashamed to honor his mother, sometimes cook and serve it himself. After losing his power, the chef also went to the people, and the production method was transferred to the people, which has been passed down to this day.

The school's farm in the imperial city was soon built. The so-called completion means that the government directly allocates land to the school as special land for the farm, and after the school and the commune under its jurisdiction are handed over, the school farm will be started after a little rectification.

After hearing the news that the school's farm is located in the Imperial City, there was immediately a well-informed classmate who let out the wind, there is a railway under the mountain behind the Imperial City, and I heard that there is a railway station nearby, and trains and railways can be seen on the mountain, which made many students very excited. Soon after, the school officially decided that collective labor would be carried out once a month in each class, alternating. Hearing this news, the students began to make noise again, looking forward to this day coming soon, everyone can return to nature like a flock of sheep released from the sheepfold, breathe fresh air in the wild, work freely, and play, and our male classmates are most excited to see what the railway and train are like in the mountains? At the same time, students are also looking forward to this day, bring their own food, picnic with everyone on the mountain, food is nothing more than coarse grain steamed buns, flatbread and the like, students with better conditions some bring eggs, pickles, etc., the school farm also prepared boiling water in advance, lunch can also provide everyone with pulp soup, although the living conditions at that time were very limited, no matter what food to bring, no one will dislike anyone, but this is completely different from eating three meals a day at home, students are full of freshness, that is, happy, happy, and looking forward to it.

The day when it was our class's turn to work collectively for the first time came. Early in the morning, the students arrived at school early with labor tools and lunch, and after the school was unified and concentrated, they were elated, talking and laughing, and headed for the school Huangcheng Farm on the north mountain.

The school Imperial City Farm is halfway up the hill behind the Imperial Castle on the north hill of the city. Beishan mountain ravine is deep, ravines are longitudinal and horizontal, is a typical loess plateau landform, the entire mountain is covered by a loess layer up to tens of meters thick, almost rarely see trees, even a little green grass, look at the entire mountain, almost all in front of you is yellow.

At the bottom of the mountain, you can see a winding path that leads to the top. This path is actually a small ravine formed by years of rainwater in a fragmented ravine, and I don't know how many years and how many people have walked and trampled in the ravine, forming a steep slope path. The trail is winding, on both sides is a layer of loess more than ten meters high, and the middle is not a road surface, that is, it can barely pass a path for two people, not only the slope is very steep, but also often washed by rainwater, the road surface is like being crawled by earthworms, curved, uneven, extremely uneven, and it feels very difficult and laborious during the march. The layer of loess raised by pedestrians lingered above the top of the ditch for a long time, and it was difficult to disperse.

As soon as the class team reached the side of the road, the line began to chaos. Among the classmates, especially the male students, they are in adolescence, competitive and competitive, not only to show their own manhood in front of female classmates, but also to compete for the first place among their classmates, and they do not want to fall behind. Several physically strong students were ready to move, and they couldn't wait to rush out of the team, rush forward first, and began to climb the mountain. Not long after, the male classmates left the female classmates far behind, looking back, the layers of loess set off when climbing the mountain, floating in the air, like a yellow streamer, for a long time, even the air emitted the earthy fragrance of loess.

We climbed to the top of the mountain with a bang, under the blue sky and white clouds, the mountains are continuous, majestic undulating, unobstructed, the sky and earth are so vast. Under the cool breeze, sweating profusely, we stood comfortably on the earthen slope on the top of the mountain, enjoying the blessings of nature. Some students turned around and shouted loudly to the students behind to work harder, hurry up, and more students looked ahead, as if looking for something.

"See, see, there!" The sound of classmates shouting loudly attracted everyone's attention.

At the foot of the mountains in the distance ahead, a line like a long dragon can be faintly seen, stretching forward through the mountains, intermittently, stretching forward, under the illumination of the sun, from time to time glowing white light and shadow.

Everyone shouted: "Railway, that's railway." ”

"Why don't you see the train?"

A classmate replied, "You think that trains can be driven casually, they can only travel according to the specified time and on the specified line, otherwise, they will collide and accidents will occur." ”

Before the words were finished, I only heard a sound in the distance, "Tweet... Toll... The sound of the train whistle echoed continuously in the mountains, and then I saw a black smoke rising from the air. The train is like a long dragon, flickering out of the mountains in the distance, and you can faintly hear the sound of a train colliding with the rails. The sound soon became quieter, the sound of whistles and collisions gradually disappeared, only a black smoke on the mountains in the distance gradually drifted in the air, and in an instant, the mountains returned to calm.

On the first day of labor, like my classmates, in addition to the novelty of working on a farm in the mountains, the railways and trains were the most talked about. Almost all the students were greatly disappointed to see only a few sections of railway at the foot of the mountain and the faint, speeding train, but they were full of greater curiosity, more about how to see the real railway up close, the real train, to verify how far they think the train, the railway and the actual are.

After the first collective work on the farm, we began our normal study life step by step, but the thoughts of railways and trains that had been haunting many students not only did not end, but became stronger and more urgent. Some students consciously approached the geography teacher and asked where is the closest railway to Tianshui City? Some students asked their parents about the Tianshui Railway Station after returning home. Many students have the desire to never see the real railways and trains.

One afternoon at extracurricular activities, some of our male classmates gathered again, and somehow the conversation shifted to the question of how to meet the real railroad and trains. Everyone, you say a word, I say a word, you compete with me, but most of the many ideas put forward are not related, and some are not reliable at all. In particular, the idea of going to Tianshui Railway Station to see the railway and trains was debated for a long time, but in the end it was still rejected by everyone. Many students think that Tianshui City is so far from the railway station, and the only means of transportation to the railway station is a horse-drawn carriage, and there are no other cars, how to go? Besides, now it's only one Sunday a week, that is, homework and housework to do, and there is no time, and even if there is time, parents will definitely disagree if they know it. In addition, even if you get to the train station, you can't enter without a ticket, and you don't know when the train will come, and you will go in vain. At this time, a classmate suddenly said: "I have a good solution." Isn't there a farm collective labor in our class once a month? If we finish early, we slip down the mountain from the imperial city, and there is a railway below the mountain, as long as you get there, don't you see the railway and wait for the train to go? In addition, it is said that the railway at the foot of the mountain is very close to the nearby Minamihechuan Railway Station, so we went to the station to pick up a freight car to North Road, and then went home, both saw the train and took the train, wouldn't it be wonderful! Immediately a classmate picked up the stubble and said: "My uncle came to Tianshui City from North Road to catch a carriage, and after arriving in North Road, we can take his carriage back to the city." As soon as the students heard this, they immediately shouted happily, saying that this method was good, and unanimously agreed to prepare according to this method, and everyone also discussed that it should be quietly and the news should not leak out, especially not to let the head teacher know. A classmate pretended to grimace, imitated a line from a certain movie, and said to everyone in a serious way: "Guys, quietly, don't shoot." ”

From that day on, we quietly got together from time to time, and some said to bring more dry food just in case. Some say to prepare some change, in case there is a place to spend money, it is easy to deal with it. Some students were worried that if it rained that day and labor was canceled, we would not prepare in vain, the bamboo basket was empty, and Bai was happy. More students gathered their energy, confident that the plan for that day would definitely be realized.

The day of the second farm collective labor came. Early in the morning, I quickly went out of the house and looked up at the sky, the blue sky was white clouds, it was a sunny day, and I was worried about the weather in my heart.

When I got to the mountains, the main labor of the day was to turn the ground, and I only felt that time passed slowly. At noon, while eating lunch, someone suggested to the teacher: "It's best not to rest at noon, let's work hard and finish the task." Descend early. The suggestion was immediately echoed, and the group of us shouted, "Agreed! Agree! "Some can't wait, pick up the tools and get up to work. The head teacher saw that everyone's enthusiasm was so high, the weather was hot, and there was nowhere to rest at noon, and immediately agreed to this suggestion. As soon as we saw it, we got up from the ground with a huff and shouted, "Ura! Ulla! "Grab the tool and do it.

Organizing students to work on farms was mainly an important part of the practice of the "educational revolution" at that time; through labor, students were combined with the reality of production and labor, and the tendency of "four bodies are not diligent, and grains are not divided" is overcome, so the labor tasks arranged are not heavy. On this day's work, everyone has something in their hearts, and they only hope that it can be finished early, so the labor is full of energy. Soon, after 3 p.m., the day's labor tasks were successfully completed. The teacher told everyone to bring their tools and repeatedly told them to slow down the mountain, pay attention to safety, and arrive at school on time tomorrow. In the teacher's shouting, several male students had already rushed down the mountain with tools, and some were grinding and tidying up, and a few simply got into the mountainside and said that it was convenient.

Seeing that the teacher also went down the mountain, the students who went to the convenience immediately appeared, and the movements of the students who were still grinding just now suddenly became faster, and after a while, several male students who went down the mountain in advance suddenly returned. They said triumphantly, "How is it? The teacher thought we had gone down the mountain, but we actually hid behind the mountain and watched them come down the mountain. ”

Everyone laughed "ha, ha" and said: "Cunning! Big cunning, cunning! ”

"Brethren, go down the hill, go!" With a shout, a dozen of our male classmates were elated, jumping and jumping, and ran down the road down the mountain. Several classmates let go of their throats and sang the lyrics from "Return from Targeting" loudly: "The sunset is red and the sun is flying, and the soldiers are returning to the camp and returning the camp to the ,......。 Other students also sang along with the song, opening their throats and singing, laughter, and cheering echoed in the mountains. Singing all the way, trotting all the way, in ten minutes we arrived at the foot of the mountain, and when we looked, there was a small village at the foot of the mountain in the distance, the village was not big, probably a dozen or twenty families, and when we arrived at the entrance of the village, I saw a small wooden sign on the side of the road with the three characters "South River" written on it, which is a village behind the bottom of the Imperial City Mountain. Everyone estimates that there should be a railway in front of the village.

Sure enough, once passing the village of Nanhechuan, in the opposite canyon, the Wei River was glowing yellow, from west to east, mighty, rushing down, far from the river, a railway reflected in the mask.

I saw that in the winding mountains, a railway along the mountain and water, along the riverbank mountain side like a ribbon across the ground, stretching forward and backward, more like a beautiful arc in the mountains and mountains to draw a beautiful and magnificent picture, it seems so spectacular, so magical.

Under the sunlight, stretching out into the distance of the rails, like twin brothers, looking at each other in parallel, tireless, hard work, lying quietly on the sleeper, straight ahead. After the surface of the railway track is repeatedly rubbed by the train wheels, it is silvery white, like two glowing ribbons, shining dazzling under the sun. Under the rails, sleepers of uniform specifications seem to be lined up in a row of soldiers on the parade ground, neatly forming a line, stretching infinitely to both sides. Under the sleepers, by the countless sizes of basic spoons, small stones piled up of slag to form a trapezoidal railway road base square, crouching dragon-like vertical and horizontal on the railway, willing to be a cushion stone, it is the backbone of the rails, sleepers, no regrets, supporting the entire railway line. Who can imagine that it is this inconspicuous stone, ordinary sleepers, and two rows of iron and steel forged rails, years, months, and moments, carrying thousands of tons of train load, ensuring that all trains are safe and on time, rushing to the east and west, north and south, in all directions.

"Arrived, we saw the railway!" Everyone took three steps and made two steps, couldn't wait to run to the side of the railway, a few steps on the railway, the real railway is under your feet, so real. As far as the eye can see, two silver lines zigzag in the gorge, unobstructed, straight into the mountains. It's more spectacular than we imagined, and we can't help but get excited. Facing this steel dragon, I couldn't help but sigh: how small the individual seems here, and how great it is for human beings to conquer nature.

Some people stepped on the sleepers, stepped one step at a time, cautiously, and moved forward with broken steps, and some simply stepped towards two sticks, involuntarily trotting all the way. Some put their feet on the rails, sway, sway from side to side, stretch out their arms and swing to maintain balance, as if performing a balance beam on the rails. Others picked up the stones in the slag under their feet, threw them at the end of their feet, and threw them vigorously into the Wei River in the distance. Some people don't know how to vent their feelings, holding their mouths with both hands, making a trumpet, pulling their throats, standing on the railway and shouting loudly, screaming desperately, and echoes continue to sound in the canyon.

Suddenly a classmate shouted: "Everyone stop, stop, don't move!" Hear if there is a train coming? ”

The group was startled, but I saw him climbing on the railway and said; "Don't talk, be quiet, don't make a sound!" Then put your ear on the rails, squint, listen quietly, listen, and enjoy some moving music as if you were fascinated. After a while, he slowly stood up and said seriously; "No sound was heard, and there is definitely no train coming now. Let's go, we walk towards the train station, we will definitely see the train. ”

The group got on the railway line, walked along the railway, felt really different, one by one very excited, one moment on the railway, the next down again, while walking and singing, shouting and jumping, the desire to see the train is becoming more and more urgent, and the excitement in everyone's heart cannot be calmed.

Suddenly, you can faintly feel a slight vibration on the railway under your feet, everyone immediately stopped, held their breath, and soon, felt the vibration more and more intense, before turning their senses, there was a train whistle in the distance, although the sound was not loud, but in the silent valley, it seemed very loud. Everyone exclaimed; "The train is coming, the train is coming." Immediately after, it was obvious that the vibrating feeling of the tracks, buzzing, and buzzing on the railway became more and more intense, and as the continuous honking of the train got closer and closer, more and more loud, everyone began to panic, some were in a hurry, overwhelmed, and some hurriedly ran down the railway, panicking and asking what to do? What to do?

In the panic, someone shouted; "Don't run around, you can't stand on the side of the railway, the train on the side of the station will suck people in, and everyone hurry to the ditch on the side." Everyone hurriedly slipped into the ditch in a panic. Seeing that someone was still standing by the railway, as if in a daze, everyone was shouting anxiously; "Quick, hurry up into the ditch, quick, hurry!"

The side ditches on both sides of the train road are specially used for railway drainage, which are fifty or sixty centimeters deep and seventy or eighty centimeters wide, in the hectic, no one cares how dirty the ditch is, three times five divided by two, even crawled into the ditch, all tried their best to curl their bodies, lying on half of their bodies, raised their heads, shrugged their ears to listen to the train whistle coming from the west direction, their eyes were firmly fixed on the direction of the train tracks, more than a dozen people squeezed together, for fear that the train would really suck everyone in.

Crouching in the ditch, we half-tilted our heads, only to hear the train whistle getting closer and louder, and the "dudang, dudang" sound of the railway overhead getting tighter and tighter. Soon, the railway in front of me vibrated strongly, and the entire track seemed to start beating.

We clearly felt that the train was getting closer and closer, our hearts were tightening, and our hearts were even starting to beat. Everyone tensed their faces, constantly tightening their bodies in fear, and the dozen or so people who had already leaned together, at this moment, like grasshoppers tied together, connected together, shrunk together, no one dared to move, no one could move, and no one dared to speak,

Several thunderous train whistles sounded, accompanied by a huge sound of "boom, boom, frame, frame..." In the distance, a train flew from the bend in front of the railway at a gallop, and the train roared, emitted a shocking sound, and roared, like thousands of troops galloping. For a moment, we only saw a huge black steel nose coming towards us, as if to crush all obstacles in front of us. We instinctively curled up tightly, shrinking our heads as much as we could, for fear that the train would actually swallow us. At this time, we leaned on one by one, shrinking as tightly as possible, firmly clinging to the edge of the ditch, and did not dare to move at all. With the loud sound of the arrival of the train, the breath is tight, the heartbeat is faster, the heart vibrates violently with the vibration of the train, and the eardrum of both ears is like constantly being struck by thunder, buzzing, and you can only press your ears as much as possible with your hands to reduce the impact of noise. Although his eyes were confused by sand and dust, he still rubbed his eyes while trying his best to open his eyes, shrink his neck, raise his head, and stare at the flying train, at this moment, for fear that it would disappear from his eyes, and wanted to let the train pass quickly.

Haven't you fully seen what the shape of the locomotive is? The locomotive was already flying past us with lightning speed. This was followed by the rhythmic and very rapid sound of wheels and railroad tracks colliding, one after another of the carriages, like the impact of the waves of the sea, and the small stones, soot, and powder on the roadside set off by the wind, were simple to the face, as if they were hit by a sandstorm, a feeling of raw pain and pain.

Suddenly, the white steam spewed out by the locomotive in front of us sprayed along the railway, and in an instant we were involved in the white vapor, and the whole body immediately felt like it was wrapped in a heat wave, and the face seemed to be soaked by the sudden rain and hail, a hot, slimy, itchy feeling, and smelled of a bad and choking soot smell emitted from the steam.

In just a few minutes, the train roared away. The fog on the railway gradually disappeared, and only a layer of black smoke floating above the railway gradually dissipated in the air. In the gorge, there was no sound except the sound of the rushing water, and everything returned to tranquility, as if nothing had happened here just now.

Lying in the ditch, we have not fully recovered from the shock just now. It just feels like it's short and long. How can the train travel so fast, just for a moment, before you can see it clearly, it is gone. But bent in the gutter, a little numb in the legs, uncomfortable on the body, and the stay time felt very long, very long.

Gradually, the people who were close together, one by one, turned their bodies, raised their heads, straightened their waists, took a long sigh of relief, moved their almost numb bodies, and climbed up the ditch. People with numb legs can't get up in a hurry, and others pull and drag them hard. Someone opened his eyes, found that he couldn't see anything clearly, rubbed his eyes vigorously, rolled his eyelids, and let people help blow and wipe again. Some looked at each other talking with their mouths open, couldn't hear what was being said, and shouted anxiously: "How can I not hear, I can't hear." "Hurriedly squeezed his ears with his hands, held his breath, held his breath, deflated.

Just as the ocean was in full swing, suddenly, bursts of loud laughter rang out one after another. Everyone you look at me, I look at you, from inexplicable to involuntarily laughing, and watching, watching, everyone laughs.

Some people laughed breathlessly, laughing out of tears, and some laughed so softly that they couldn't even stand up to their waists, but they were still laughing. It turned out that after climbing out of the ditch, everyone raised their heads, looked at each other, and took a closer look, only to find that everyone's heads were full of black ash, and there was also a layer of dust on their clothes. What's even more ridiculous is that everyone is unrecognizable, their faces are all horizontal and vertical, black and white. Some of their faces were touched white, black, and a mess, and some except for two eyes and a mouth of white teeth that opened their mouths and smiled, their faces looked like black-faced Bao Gong, which turned out to be a gift from the steam and coal ash spewed out by the locomotive boiler when the train passed by. Everyone was playing on the railway, chasing, pointing at each other, making fun of each other, and wiping each other's faces around, and the shocking scene and the tension at that time that no one had experienced in their lives just now were suddenly swept away. Rushed down the railway to the Wei River, found a safe place, washed the black ash on the head and face in the river, patted each other to clean the dust all over the body, everyone was not happy, playing, telling each other about the ugliness, once again crossed the railway line and walked in the direction of the station.

Following the railway line at the foot of the mountain, we turned a few railway bends and a tunnel appeared in front of us, and we immediately got excited. Today the train is seen, the railway is also gone, the tunnel has not been seen, let alone entered, today to have a good time, and then look at what the tunnel is like, everyone can't help but speed up their steps, trot up, and want to enter the tunnel first.

I haven't reached the tunnel entrance yet. In the distance, I saw a railway worker walking out of the small room next to the tunnel, waving the little red flag in his hand, and shouting: "What are you doing, get down, pull over, come here." "We hurried down the railway and hurried to him.

It was a railway worker who guarded the tunnel, and he made us all stand on a flat piece of land at the mouth of the tunnel. Asked; "Who are you? Where to go? What to do? ”

Our tongue-in-cheek answer; "We are students. After the labor, we were ready to go to the North Province and then return to the city. ”

The worker looked at us left and right, up and down. Say; "This tunnel is the longest section of the South River, almost 1 km long. No one can pass by except the railway workers on patrol. ”

We began to intercede so that he could be accommodating and let us go.

He said sternly; "If you say no, you can't. This is discipline on the railway, which no one can violate. ”

At this time, someone said; "If not, let's go in and take a look, and we'll come out after reading it, okay?"

"Nope! The tunnel is very dangerous. No one can afford to be responsible for an accident. ”

He told us; "You have to go, there is a path on the side. It is possible to bypass the tunnel to the South River. But to climb a mountain, the road is long, you still hurry back the same way, no matter how late, it will be dark. "Soft grinding and hard grinding really doesn't seem to work. We crested our heads, one by one, like eggplants beaten by frost, and the excitement just now suddenly disappeared, and the people were half wilted. When I looked up, the sun was already westward and was about to set. At this time, no one said anything about taking the path to Nanhechuan to go home.

He looked at us in a stern and clearly concerned tone; "It's dangerous not to run on the railway. Take safely from the patrol path under the railway, avoid the train early and avoid the distance. ”

Leaving the tunnel entrance, our group had no choice but to return along the same road, and when I turned the railway bend, I subconsciously looked back, in the distance, at the mouth of the tunnel, the railway worker on duty, still holding a small red flag, stood straight, and kept his eyes on us walking on the side of the railway.

Red Guards await Chairman Mao's reception in Tiananmen Square

Story 3 Take the train

I have seen real trains, walked on the railway, and although I did not enter the tunnel, I also saw the appearance of the tunnel. Soon, the students' mystery about trains and railways diminished a lot. With the tension of study, many students' interest in them gradually faded.

But in my mind, when can I take the train once, really feel how fast the train is, what it is like to ride, has become a new luxury.

I never expected that after only one year, I not only took the train for the first time, but also took it many times in a row, speeding north and south in the motherland, hoping to become a reality, and really living the addiction of taking the train.

It was 1966. I went to high school. In more than half a year to graduate, we will welcome the college entrance examination.

This year, the domestic political situation changed. In May, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting in Beijing and adopted the "Circular of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," known as the "May 16 Circular," which was personally revised by Chairman Mao Zedong. The curtain was quickly lifted on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution throughout the country. In accordance with the spirit of the circular, the college entrance examination for middle schools nationwide was postponed, all universities and middle schools were suspended, and the Cultural Revolution was carried out.

On 18 August, in the capital Beijing, Chairman Mao personally met for the first time with the young generals of the Red Guard Organization formed by middle school students in the capital. Calling on students to go out into society, smash the old world, and build a new world. Since then, schools across the country have been boiling, students rushing out of school and into the community, and then a nationwide tandem begins.

At this time, our school has long been closed. The class teacher and most teachers stepped aside and became the object of criticism. Every day, we study Chairman Mao's quotations, People's Daily editorials, write big-character newspapers, and make mass criticisms. The newly formed school "preparatory committee" explicitly forbade all students from leaving the school gate and making a revolution in the school.

Chairman Mao has already received the Red Guards twice in a row, and every day you can hear the news and reports of many Red Guards, teachers and students from all over the country flocking to Beijing to meet Chairman Mao. A few of us who can usually talk together and play together began to churn in their hearts, Red Guards, teachers and students from other places can go to Beijing, why can't we go? But then all kinds of entanglements poured out again. I don't have money for tickets, how to take the train? When I arrived in Beijing, I was not familiar with the place, where did I live? The "Preparatory Committee" is not allowed to leave the school, what should I do if I am discovered? From the beginning of the discussion, to the final decision, only He Huaisheng, Wu Wei and I among the classmates refused to give up. Huai Sheng's father was an old Red Army, in the early days of liberation, he served as the head of the local armed forces department, but unfortunately died of illness and was buried in Babaoshan in Beijing. Huaisheng said; "It doesn't matter, there is no place to live in Beijing, let's go to my relatives and ask them to find a way." Wu Wei's father was the deputy secretary of the Tianshui and Earth Committee at the time and was still working normally. They were the children of military cadres and the children of revolutionary cadres, and at that time they were the red five categories of the famous and tough state, and we were steadfast in our hearts when they went to Beijing together. In those days, we quietly gathered together, repeatedly planned, and finally decided that we would definitely meet Chairman Mao if we arrived in Beijing before the National Day sooner rather than later.

On 13 September, after hearing the news that Chairman Mao had received the Red Guards for the third time, we could not wait any longer and decided to hurry up and make preparations and set out for Beijing within one or two days.

To prepare, it was too simple at the time. I took the family's 10 yuan, did not bring any change of clothes, only carried a satchel, packed a few cakes, used as dry food, and took my student ID. Before leaving, I left a note for my family, saying that I and a few classmates would go to Beijing in tandem to meet Chairman Mao and let the family rest assured.

At that time, the only train to Beijing via Tianshui was a special express train that ran directly from Lanzhou to Beijing and stopped at Tianshui Railway Station at night. Speaking of express, the train departs from Lanzhou at 15 o'clock in the afternoon, and it is 23:59 p.m. to arrive in Beijing on time, and it is about 5 o'clock in the morning of the third day.

On the night of departure, we quietly arrived at Tianshui Railway Station at ten o'clock in the evening.

Tianshui Railway Station has rudimentary facilities and limited passenger trains, so we climbed over the station's wooden fence and entered the platform after the arrival and departure of the trains.

Under the dim light, the platform is silent, almost no one can be seen, only the red lights at both ends of the railway in the distance can be seen, which is eye-catching. Afraid of being discovered, we hid behind cypress trees on the platform, anxiously waiting for the arrival of the express train.

The train arrived on time and we got on the train without a hitch. There were not too many passengers on board, it was past midnight, most of them were sleepy, and many had already fallen asleep.

The train started, and the tension that had been tense suddenly relaxed, and we split up to find seats and sit down, looking out the window, it was pitch black, and from time to time only the lights flickered. With the friction sound of the train "dudang, dudang", the continuous honking sound, the train roared into one tunnel after another, under the car lights, almost all passengers have entered a state of sleep, gradually, drowsiness surged up, I involuntarily dozed off and entered a semi-asleep state.

"Wake up, everyone is ready, start checking tickets." With the conductor's shout, I was startled from a trance-like dream. As soon as I saw that the sky was already bright, the scenery outside the window gradually became clear. The railway is flanked by a field of crops, and along the middle road, village after village, flashes by. A passenger on the side said, Baoji has passed, and the front is almost to Xi'an, this is eight hundred li Qinchuan. We listened, how could we still be in the mood to see the scenery outside, and we only thought about how to deal with the current difficulties.

I still have to check the ticket on the train, I really didn't expect it in advance, what should I do? We panicked. There is no good way, there is no place to hide in the car, it seems that you can only deal with it truthfully.

We gathered, and the conductor arrived and asked; "Where to? Get your ticket out. ”

We timidly answered; "We are students. To Beijing to go tandem, there is no ticket. ”

"Which school are you from?" As we answered, we hurriedly took out our student ID and handed it to the conductor.

The conductor took the student ID, looked through it carefully, and gave it back to us.

"Sit down and don't move, we'll talk later." After that, he continued to move forward and continue to check the ticket.

Sitting on the seat, we are like sitting on pins and needles, up and down in our hearts, uneasy, cranky, what can we do if we are really driven off the car?

After a while, the conductor who had checked the ticket came over, and he asked us to go with him, and went to the small room of the conductor on duty on the side of the carriage and said; "You are students of Tianshui No. 1 High School, I am also from Tianshui, and we are fellow countrymen. It stands to reason that you can't take the bus without a ticket, but you guys are going in tandem. Now from Tianshui to Beijing in tandem, very few people go. Buy a ticket does not buy a ticket, there is no statement above. Just stay there, don't run around, there is something you can tell me. "And tell us with concern;" There is a small boiler room at the docking of the two carriages where you can drink boiling water. ”

Hearing this, I had been in a tense mood, and suddenly relaxed, feeling a stone falling to the ground, and my whole body was extremely relaxed. Facing the conductor, he repeatedly said from the heart; "Thank you! Thank you! From leaving home last night and getting on the train in the middle of the night to checking the ticket just now, although it has only been less than ten hours, I have been in tension, panic, anxiety, and high nervous tension, and now I have suddenly relaxed, and then I have turned my attention to the train and seriously felt the different taste of taking the train for the first time.

The train runs on the 800-li Qinchuan, Yuxi Mountains and North China Plain, although it only has a speed of 60~80 kilometers per hour, but I feel that this speed is amazing enough, there is a feeling of fluttering, very comfortable.

During the train, the carriage was filled with the smell of sweat, as well as various strange odors emitted by various foods, the smell of soot blowing in from time to time outside the window, and the soot mixed together, making the whole carriage in an indescribable special air. The noise from time to time, the sound of talking, the shouts of children from time to time, the shouts of passengers getting on and off the train, the sound of the radio on the train, the whole carriage seemed very noisy.

Looking out the window, on the plain, the endless crop fields, one village after another, all kinds of cars driving on the road in the distance, the plains, hills, mountains, rivers read in books, very real into the eyes. When the train drove out of the 800-li Qinchuan River and entered the territory of Henan, the mountain situation changed significantly, and mountains, valleys, rivers, and plains changed from time to time. After crossing Zhengzhou, driving on the Yellow River Iron Bridge, rolling the Yellow River, gushing, rushing endlessly, rushing to the sea, the land of the Central Plains, is so magnificent. Entering the North China Plain, although the sun began to set and the sky gradually darkened, the former country of Yan and Zhao, the sweeping North China Great Plain, felt that it was still so vast.

The express train, which flew all the way forward, roared and leaped past like a horse galloping past the small station. Looking outside, I only feel that all the small station facilities are almost the same, and the difference is the difference between the station signs and the number of railways. After passing through Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Luoyang and other big cities, after stopping at the station, we did not dare to get off the train, only to see that the station was very large, there were many trains coming and going, and the passengers up and down were bustling. Looking outside the station, the city is brightly lit, people are coming and going, and the traffic is rushing, which seems very lively.

Driving through Shijiazhuang, into the night, before dawn, Beijing is about to arrive. How do I get out of the station after arriving in Beijing? Where do I go after leaving the station? A series of anxieties came to mind, and my companion and I were sleepless, anxiously waiting for the arrival of Beijing.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning, the front soon arrived at the terminal, and the conductor began to shout for the passengers to wake up, pack their luggage, take their tickets, and prepare to get off the train. He came to us and made a point of admonishing; "After getting off the bus, take your student ID and go to the exit to say that you are coming to Beijing in tandem." Also tell us; "There are Red Guards and school teachers and students in Beijing in tandem reception stations, and they will arrange them after you find them."

Along the way, I was very lucky to meet this enthusiastic and kind fellow conductor, when he was on duty, he saw the dry cakes we ate, came over with his own water cup, let us drink some water, there were many people on the train, there was no place to sit, let us take turns to sit in his small room, let the conductor on duty pay attention to take care of us when the shift was handed over, and before getting off the train, he told us what to do after getting off the train? More than half a century has passed, and the scene on the train is still vivid and unforgettable. Unfortunately, we were too young to even ask what his last name was. But that friendship will always remain in our hearts.

Bid farewell to the conductor, got off the train, followed the passengers to the exit gate, showed the student ID card to the station staff, they looked at it and said; "Oh, you are from Gansu, and there are very few Red Guards from Gansu. Welcome to Beijing! Suddenly, a warm current welled up in my heart. In the end, it is the people around Chairman Mao, how cordial!

I walked out of the Beijing railway station with ease. The sky has gradually broken, the eastern sky floats a fish belly white, the land that was still hazy just now suddenly brightened, the rainbow-colored clouds in the sky gradually became brighter and brighter, more and more red, and Beijing City ushered in a golden morning light.

We were full of excitement, like a dream, we never expected that we would arrive in Beijing so smoothly, and shouted in our hearts; "Beijing, here we are"

It was still early in the morning, and the streets were sparsely pedestrianized, with only people rushing to work. We wandered the streets near the Beijing railway station, not knowing where to go? Suddenly, a bicycle braked sharply and stopped in front of it.

It was a young worker in overalls who was supposed to go to the morning shift, he asked; "Are you Red Guards who came to Beijing in tandem? Are you looking for a tandem reception station for teachers and students?"

We hurriedly answered; "yes. We don't know where the reception station is? ”

"Don't worry, it's not far ahead, you follow me, I'll take you."

Thanks to this enthusiastic Beijing worker, in a short time, we arrived at the reception station of the National School Teachers and Students at the Xiannong'an Gymnasium. After registering the student ID, each person was issued a card, and they all boarded the car and drove to the Beijing Exhibition Center, the arranged accommodation.

Oriental red, the sun is rising. Looking at the very wide and tidy street of the capital outside the window at this moment, the neat and tall green street trees on both sides, the buildings of different colors, different heights, and the pedestrians on the sidewalk, my whole brain was always in a state of excitement, without a trace of sleep.

The car drove into the spacious Chang'an Avenue, which was the ten-mile long street read in the books, and we greedily looked out and watched. Suddenly, someone in the car shouted; "Tiananmen, that's Tiananmen in front." The car suddenly boiled. Everyone huddled in one direction, countless heads huddled together, staring out the window, excited speechless, Tiananmen Square and Tiananmen City Tower, which they had never dreamed of even in their dreams, were close in front of them, right under their eyes. Outside the window, the rising sun reflected the sky a golden yellow, and the golden light emitted by the sun reflected the red wall of the Tiananmen City Tower under the yellow glazed tiles in a brilliant and brilliant way. The two banners on both sides are particularly eye-catching, and the huge portrait of Chairman Mao in the center of the city tower comes to life in the golden sunlight, watching us cordially, as if welcoming us to his side.

On 1 October, together with Red Guards from all over the country, teachers and students from all over the country, we marched from east to west into the majestic Tiananmen Square. At about 12:10, our team began to walk into the Huabiao next to the Tiananmen City Tower, and saw that on the majestic and tall Tiananmen City Tower, Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Mr. Zhu and other central leaders were constantly waving to us. At that moment, although the time to pass was limited, the distance was so far, and the view was not so clear, we were there and really saw Chairman Mao. In our lives, this moment is so exciting, so precious, so memorable, it will be remembered forever. Now there may still be many people who don't understand, is it so exaggerated? I think this is a blind worship of Chairman Mao. Wrong! Our reverence for Chairman Mao back then was heartfelt and very sincere. In our hearts, Chairman Mao will never set like the sun.

After Chairman Mao's several reviews, the momentum of the large series of students across the country became louder and louder. With your student ID, you can travel for free and arrange room and board to all parts of the country. After the National Day, I saw Red Guards, teachers and students from various colleges and universities all over the country living together, going south and north, going east and west, and going to all parts of the country in tandem. I was moved again and decided to go to Shanghai.

This is the second time in my life to take a train. Although the mood was relaxed and there was no burden, this time I was not as lucky as the first time.

With the boarding card to Shanghai tandem issued by the reception station, I entered the Beijing railway station and found the special train sent to Beijing to Shanghai University tandem students. As far as the eye can see, the crowd is churning on the platform. The door of each carriage was chaotic, and the students who were eager to get on the train huddled together, scrambling, and no one gave in, desperately squeezing into the carriage. The conductor was pushed aside, and no one listened to how he shouted. Seeing this situation, I did not hesitate to join the crowded crowd at the door of the carriage. But squeezed a few times, just couldn't squeeze it, and finally was squeezed out again, panting and staying aside, seeing more and more people, no longer able to squeeze in, this bus can't go, there is no singing.

In a hurry, I suddenly heard a classmate from outside the country say to me; "Can't squeeze in front of the door, we are from the window, you push me up first, I'll go up and then pull you up, okay?"

"Okay! Come on. Without hesitation, I turned around and ran towards the window of the carriage.

There are several windows of the carriage, and someone is already drilling in. Seeing that there was no one at a window, the classmate didn't say a word, grabbed the window border with both hands, and began to climb up desperately, and I quickly pushed up as much as possible against his ass. Very smoothly, he climbed into the carriage with a roll, turned around, and lay on the small table at the window, two hands tightly grasped my hands outside the window, pulled up hard, along the edge of the window, and pulled me into the carriage with a drag.

The carriage was already crowded with people, and some people were desperately squeezed up. Not only was each seat tightly squeezed, but even the carriage aisle was one by one, standing close to the body, and some people had even sat on the small table at the window. The classmate said that there was no place in the carriage at all, so he squeezed to the side of the carriage to take a look. At the junction of the two carriages, there have long been people, sitting underground, standing against the carriage, and even the toilet door is full of people. The two of us squeezed to the door of the small boiler room at the door of the car, and the classmate stood at the door and said to me, hurry up and occupy a seat first, and in a moment it will be full of people, and the two of us quickly stand at the door of the small pot room with one left and one right.

The train departed. In the carriage with human heads, there is no water leakage, and wherever you can stand, people are full. We were glad to be standing at the door of the boiler room of the carriage, and we could still lean against the carriage to catch our breath when we were tired, and the students standing in the carriage aisle were not so lucky.

What does it look like outside the window? It's not clear at all. I only felt that the sky was getting darker, and soon it was night. The noise in the carriage gradually subsided. Some climbed into the compartment luggage rack to rest, others simply got under the seats and lay on the floor to sleep. On all the seat backs, there are people lying on their stomachs, standing and dozing. Fortunately, they are all classmates who go out in tandem, understand each other, know each other, no one stops, no one quarrels, let them do what they want. The conductor can't get out of the small room, and even if he does, he can't walk in the sea of people, and he can't manage it, so he just turns a blind eye.

The two of us stood at the door of the boiler room, never moving, surrounded by people and unable to move. Fortunately, soon after the train was moving, the boiler could not be burned, and it was discontinued, leaving room for a little loose activity. Late at night, the train rhythmically "dudang... Dudang" can't help but make people not drowsy. I can only lean against the carriage for a while, close my eyes and recuperate. After a while, he squatted down hard, his head in his arms, and squinted for a while. Later, it was found that sitting on the coal-burning movable cover in the boiler room was a little better than standing all the time, and we both took turns enjoying the stumble seat. In this way, I spent nearly forty difficult hours on the train from Beijing to Shanghai. Because the feet are standing most of the time in the cinders and sewage that cannot be discharged on the floor of the boiler room, the buttocks sit on the iron cover for a long time, before getting out of the car, the legs are numb, the buttocks are painful, painful, and when touched, it is sitting on the iron cover plate, pressing several deeply recessed meat troughs that appear. And a pair of old sneakers on the foot has long been soaked and turned black. I took off my shoes and found that the surface of my feet was swollen and white. Fortunately, I was young at that time, how did I spend the long journey from Beijing to Shanghai? What kind of suffering have you suffered? What sins have been suffered? Completely ignoring, like all the students in the tandem, it doesn't matter at all.

After the tandem in Shanghai. After taking the return train to Zhengzhou, after the completion of the Zhengzhou tandem, I got off from Zhengzhou to Xi'an to go in tandem, and finally returned home via Xi'an.

This trip, from west to east, from east to south, from south to north, lasted more than a month, all the way by train, covering more than 4,600 kilometers.

When I participated in the National Student Congress, I really plunged into the Cultural Revolution with a simple and pure mentality. Whether in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou or Xi'an, every time I arrive, I rush to various colleges and universities early in the morning to read all kinds of large-character newspapers, copy large and small posters with important content, or huddle in the crowd to listen to various debates, and only drag my tired body back to the accommodation after dark. What tourist attractions there are in the local area, where the places of interest are, I don't know, I don't ask, let alone get involved. With ten yuan on his body before leaving, he only bought a pair of blue tennis shoes made in Shanghai and the most popular among students at that time, used to play football after returning to school, a bottle of pure blue ink from Shanghai that could not be bought in most places at that time, for studying, and the rest was a diary full of several diaries with big-character newspapers from all over the world. After returning to the school, I learned that after a few of us secretly went to Beijing in tandem, someone on the campus immediately posted a big-character poster, asking the "preparatory committee" of the school to send someone to arrest a few of our classmates from Beijing. As soon as we returned to school, we were immediately punished by the school's "preparatory committee". Let us immediately report to the school on the farm on Zhongliang Mountain, while working, while reflecting, waiting for processing.

There were unforeseen storms in the sky, and the political situation in those years changed, and the change in the direction of the wind made it impossible for anyone to predict. The second day of farm labor. The voice of Beijing was heard on the radio; All school preparatory committees shall be dissolved, and no organization shall obstruct the student tandem. After hearing the broadcast, we couldn't help but cheer loudly, did not do anything, did not stop, hurriedly packed our bags, and immediately went down the mountain.

Only by participating in the big tandem and integrating into the national student tandem torrent with the heat outside did I deeply understand Chairman Mao; "Weather the storm and see the world." "To be tested in strong winds and waves." The moral of . Seeing how big the sky is, how vast the earth is, and how wonderful the outside world is, we used to really "sit in the well and watch the sky", knowing too little things, and learning too little knowledge in school. At the same time, with this tandem, the courage is also bigger, and the heart is a little wild, if you want to stay at school instead of it, you might as well go out and take a look.

The next day, my classmate Huang Zhenxiang and I went together, and the two of them started another big tandem trip.

Got on the train again, faced with the scene of the still crowded train and the heat wave, with the last tandem experience, it seemed much calmer.

From Longhai Railway to Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, outside the window, the loess high slope, Qinling Mountain Range, and Daba Mountain pass one after another, and the weather has changed from cool to refreshing and comfortable.

When I arrived in Changsha, I visited Yuelu Mountain, Orange Island Tou, Aiwan Hall, and the First Normal School, where Chairman Mao had studied and carried out activities, and then arrived at Shaoshanchong, Chairman Mao's former residence that he had longed for for a long time.

Surrounded by green mountains and clear water, Shaoshan Chong is hidden in pines and bamboos. Chairman Mao's former residence is located in a quaint farmhouse in a narrow valley surrounded by water and mountains. It sits south facing north, with a civil structure, in a concave shape. The student procession, which looked like a long snake formation, lined up in a circle in the valley, and the two of us slowly moved forward with the line. With reverence, after visiting the former residence, take a commemorative photo by the pond in front of the door.

Where to go next? At this time, the large series of teachers and students across the country has set off a climax. Train after train, almost all overloaded with teachers and students running in all directions, it is not easy to squeeze any train. At that time, there was a little nine-nine in my heart. When I was in school, I watched two movies "Yangcheng Dark Whistle" and "Female Diving Team", and I was too impressed, and I was full of many hopes for the strong southern style and turbulent sea that appeared in the film, and now I have the opportunity. We both decided to take the train to Guangzhou.

Changsha Railway Station is a world of people. Each train is surrounded by a crowded tandem of teachers and students. Looking at this formation, there is no choice. Without a moment's hesitation, he boarded the upcoming train to Guiyang.

The train left the land of the Xiangjiang River and headed south, entering the territory of Guizhou. Outside the car window, plateaus, mountains, hills and basins intertwined terrain and landforms, heavy mountains, stretching mountains, mountains, layers, pieces, small pieces, small rice fields in the sun glow silver light, like a mirror reflected into the air. Farmers dressed in ethnic minority costumes work in rice paddies. Looking out the window, this is not exactly what the teacher in geography class said in Guizhou: "There are no three sunny days in the sky, and no three feet flat on the ground." "Landform features. In my mind, I couldn't help but think of Chairman Mao's long march of "humming on horseback" on a mountain. Looking back in shock, three feet three feet from the sky. Mountains, the inverted sea overturns the rivers and rolls the huge waves. Galloping, ten thousand horses are still fighting. Mountain, piercing the blue sky is not broken. The sky is falling, and the pillar is in the middle. "Sixteen Character Order Three Poems". The poems are so majestic and earth-shaking, they can't help but make people think about it after reading it, sigh a lot, and fill their hearts with passion.

Guiyang is not a big city and there are not many universities, but the atmosphere of the Cultural Revolution is no less than in other places. A few days later, I was ready to go straight to Guangzhou. Entering the train station, who knows that there are crowds, and the square, waiting room, and even the platform are full of tandem students preparing to get on the train. From time to time, I heard the "boom, boom" sound of the train, and it was a train of military supplies to aid Vietnam in resisting the United States rushing past the railway and stepping up to transport them forward. I also heard that due to the serious overload of the train, many carriage springs were crushed, and they went to the workshop for maintenance and replaced the springs, which affected the normal operation of the train.

Seeing this situation, waiting here, I can't go out for a few days. Without doing anything, the two of us bought a few packs of biscuits and walked directly to the maintenance workshop of the maintenance car along the railway. Taking advantage of the unpreparedness, he quietly climbed into the carriage. I found that there were several students in the car. We each had a bench, lay down and slept, and after a while, I only felt that the carriage began to move, and the train left the workshop and went straight to the station. After arriving at the station, I learned that the train was not heading south to Guangzhou, but north to Beijing. At this time, there was little room for it, and I felt that I just had to leave Guiyang anyway. Otherwise, it will be difficult to get on the bus when you get out of the car.

The train traveled along the Beijing-Guangzhou line, passing through Wuhan, we temporarily decided to get off the train, the tandem activity in Wuhan had just begun, the central government announced that the national teacher-student tandem was completely stopped, and we both reluctantly returned to school.

This time, the train took a large series from west to middle, from middle to south, and from south to north, which lasted more than a month and covered more than 3,100 kilometers. Along the west and southwest of the motherland, a large circle was made along the railway line. In addition to not arriving in Guangzhou, it can be regarded as leaving a little regret, looking at the land of Xiangqiang, crossing the Yangtze River and Xiangjiang River, crossing the lofty mountains and mountains, and alpine valleys. Picturesque, with a panoramic view, narrow eyes, suddenly cheerful, and the biggest benefit is to truly fulfill the dream of taking the train.

Long march procession on foot

Story 4 Walking the railway

The wave of teachers and students riding in large series of cars across the country has just receded, and the large series of walking has risen rapidly across the country overnight, and various long marching teams have sprung up like mushrooms, and teams have continued everywhere in urban and rural areas across the country, especially on the avenues and paths leading to Yan'an, Jinggangshan, Shaoshan and other revolutionary holy places, red flags are displayed and lively.

Not to be outdone, after hearing this, Wu Wei, Wu Qi, Li Pengfei, Zhang Tianjian, Lu Wenying, Xie Dongqin and 12 male and female classmates in the class quickly formed a walking long march team and decided on a long march plan for the long march from Tianshui, first to Chengdu, and finally to the former residence of Chairman Shaoshan Mao in Hunan Province.

One day in late October 1966, our walking Long March team sang a song adapted from Chairman Mao's Seven Laws "Long March," and with the passion of "The Red Army is not afraid of expeditionary difficulties, thousands of rivers and mountains are only waiting for leisure," we set out from the school and marched toward Chengdu in the direction of Huixian County in Longnan with the passion of "The Red Army is not afraid of expeditionary difficulties, and thousands of rivers and mountains are only waiting for leisure."

Five days later, we arrived at the county seat of Huixian and stayed at the reception station of the party school of the county party committee on the south hill of the county seat. Located in Huixian in the Yangtze River Basin, the mountains and waters are beautiful, the climate is mild, and it is green everywhere. In Huixian, we sent our luggage home, bringing only a few changes of clothes and simple daily necessities, and our whole body was light. Comrades in the station told us that there are two routes to choose from from Huixian to Sichuan. One is to the east, walk to Yuguan Station of the Baocheng Railway, and go south along the railway line. The other is from the south, walk directly to Baishuijiang Station and go south along the Baocheng Railway Line. The first one follows the national highway, which is flat but long. The second is along a small road, with lofty mountains and mountains along the way, which is particularly difficult, but the distance is much shorter, and it is said to be the road that Du Fu walked into the river in the past. Without hesitation, everyone unanimously decided that since it was a long march on foot, they had to choose the most difficult and dangerous road, and everyone decided to choose the second route.

The next morning, the first destination, Baishuijiang Railway Station, began. Walking out of the county to the south, just over a small hill, I stepped on a small road to the rugged Baishui River. The trail winds from mountain to hill, and the further you go, you can clearly feel that the altitude is significantly lowering. Standing on the mountain, overlooking the distance, against the background of the blue sky, the mountains are continuous, the peaks of the mountains are sharp, straight into the clouds, and the white clouds float around the mountains, like a flock of sheep running on the green grassland. Into the mountains, canyons, roadsides, cliffs, wildflowers, the fragrant fragrance wafts with the wind, refreshing the heart. The flowing water that escapes from the cliff falls into the babbling stream like a string of pearls, and the ticking sound is like the sound played by one beautiful piano song after another, which makes the secluded canyon show a different charm.

Walking in the canyon dozens of miles long, I didn't see a single household, not a single figure, only the constant sound of running water, the incessant chirping of birds and the sound of our footsteps in the green trees in the mountains and winding paths, the sound of talking, and the sound of banter, broke the silence here. Out of the noisy city, dissolved into nature, the air is so fresh, the scenery is so beautiful, the fields are so magnificent, we chast, chasing the scenery, sighing how good it would be to live in this environment in the future.

A joke, who would have thought that it would really become a reality after a few years. In October 1968, as one of the first batch of young people who went to the countryside, I joined the team and settled in Huixian. Two years later. He also walked into this alpine valley that he had walked on foot in the past, and worked as a worker in the Xiaohe Iron Factory in the Tianshui area in the middle of the mountains, for twelve years. Except for the transformation of the trail into an easy road, nothing has changed here. Fate and I really played a big joke.

Out of the mountain valley, the altitude suddenly decreased, and the road ahead became narrower and narrower, and it became more and more difficult to walk. In the blink of an eye, I entered another canyon, and I saw a river down the canyon from west to south. The river is not too big, clear to the bottom, the locals say don't look at the river is not big now, every summer and autumn, heavy rain, the river bursts, rocks all over the river, rushing down the cliff, straight into the Jialing River. On the right side of the cliff, a path that was carved out many years ago leads down the river to the Baishui River. Legend has it that this was the only way to enter the river back then. Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "The Difficulty of the Road to Shu"; "Green mud He Panpan, a hundred steps and nine folds of rocks. He leaned back and sighed with his hand. The Qingniling mentioned in Li Bai's poem describes the place called Qingshiling nearby. It was used as a shortcut to enter the river, "the flight of the yellow crane is not yet passable, and the ape wants to climb to help." Zhao Zhuan, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in "Crossing the Green Muddy Ridge": "Old Du Xiu praised Shu for difficulties, and I heard that the sky was dangerous and different mountains. Qingni Ridge on Qingyun Road, seven times in the past 20 years. "Talk about a few words, you can see that the road is difficult and difficult.

We walked hard along the path on the stone cliff, and although the road was renovated many times, the path became a big road, but the road surface was still potholed. Walking on the uneven stone slag road, the soles of the feet feel painful. Nearly thirty miles of road, I don't know how long it will take to walk out of the canyon.

Suddenly, the front suddenly lit up, a railway bridge flew over the river in the distance, and in front of it was the Baishuijiang Railway Station.

Everyone was in good spirits and quickened their pace to the front. In front of you, a large river is mighty and rushing, the river is crystal clear, revealing green, and the trees on both sides are verdant, really green mountains and green water, like entering the realm of painting. It is in stark contrast to the yellow and muddy Wei River we see, and the bare loess slopes on both sides. This is the Jialing River, which originates in Qinling, passes through Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, and finally meets the Yangtze River at Chaotianmen in Chongqing, and rushes to the sea.

Standing by the river, looking around the left and right, I only saw a railway bridge tens of meters high in the distance, like a rainbow flying frame on the river. There is no bridge leading to the opposite bank, there is only one boat parked on the shore by the river, and there are no stilters. Looking at the river, we were struggling, overwhelmed, we couldn't cross the river without a bridge, there were boats and we didn't dare to get on it, we were in a dilemma, several fellow villagers carrying baskets on their backs came to the riverside, saw our appearance and asked; "Are you going to cross the river?" We say; "Yes, but I don't know where the bridge is?" They said: "There are no bridges for dozens of miles around here, and the ferry is crossed by boat. Looking at the empty ship we asked; How do you get through if no one rows? The fellow replied with a smile; Don't worry, you follow us to the boat, grasp a steel cable above your head with both hands, move forward slowly, and the boat will row to the opposite bank. They explained; Rest assured, it is the dry season, the river is not large and shallow, and there is no boatman to ferry. The common people on both sides of the strait have always crossed the river in this way. "We got on the boat with half a doubt, followed their example, and grabbed the steel cable tightly with both hands, and sure enough, the boat slowly moved along the steel cable to the opposite bank. The boat was very stable, and when we reached the river, we couldn't help but put a free hand into the river, the river was refreshing and cool, and the pebbles at the bottom of the river were clear and visible. A classmate loudly recited two poems from Li Bai's "Looking at Tianmen Mountain": "The green mountains on both sides of the strait are opposite, and the lonely sails come from the edge of the sun." It caused everyone to laugh.

After an eight-day trek from the school, I walked more than 200 kilometers to the Baishui River and entered Shaanxi from Gansu. When I asked about the Baishuijiang River, I knew that the railway was still 495 kilometers away from Chengdu.

Starting from the Baishui River, our long march on foot mainly follows the railway line in the direction of Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Going south along the Baocheng railway line, we have a relatively in-depth understanding of this railway.

Baocheng Railway located in Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan provinces. From Baoji Station to the south across the Wei River, after a 2.7-kilometer exhibition line climb of 680 meters, through the Qinling Tunnel to Qinling Station, along the Jialing River south, through the Dabashan District, continue to the southwest, through Jianmen Mountain into the Sichuan Basin, through Mianyang, Deyang to Chengdu. Its construction can be described as twists and turns, through vicissitudes.

In 1913, during the Beiyang government, it was planned to build the Tongcheng Railway (Datong, Shanxi - Chengdu, Sichuan), and many surveys were carried out for this purpose, but due to the changing situation and various conditions, it was shelved and finally started.

From 1936 to 1948, during the Nanjing National Government, it organized forces to preliminarily select a construction plan from Tianshui in Gansu to Chengdu in Sichuan after years of investigation, but repeated demonstrations and repeated demonstrations did not start.

From 1950 to 1953, after the founding of New China, a team was immediately organized to conduct on-the-spot surveys of the two sections from Tianshui in Gansu to Lioyang in Shaanxi and from Baoji to Lioyang in Shaanxi Province.

In January 1954, the construction of the Shaanxi and Sichuan sections of the Baocheng Railway began at the same time.

On July 13, 1956, the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan of Baocheng Railway were officially connected, and a railway connection ceremony was held in the Gansu section.

On January 1, 1958, the entire line of Baocheng Railway was officially opened to traffic. The whole line was officially put into operation by steam locomotive traction, and the electrification project was carried out in June of the same year. In 1967, the final renovation of the remaining electrification was completed, and the entire line was completed, becoming the first electrified railway on the mainland.

Railway workers along the line told us that the Baocheng Railway passes through what is historically known as the "Shu Road that is difficult to go up to the sky", running between the Qinling and Jialing rivers. The mountains on both sides of the bank are steep, the rivers are turbulent, and the people are sparsely populated, and the construction of the project is very difficult. The construction has penetrated hundreds of mountains and filled hundreds of deep valleys, and there are 60 million cubic meters of earthwork alone, which can circle the earth and the equator more than one and a half times according to the height of one meter. The most spectacular section of the Baocheng Railway is the first line of the Qinling Great Tunnel. The railway, which is only 6 kilometers away in a straight line, has to rise to 680 meters, and the direct ascent height is 110 meters. For this reason, the railway line has repeatedly detoured in the Qinling Mountains, climbing rapidly with a large slope of 33‰, and coiling a total of 27 kilometers in a straight line distance of 6 kilometers. When going uphill, the train needs three electric locomotives to pull forward and push back before it can drive to Qinling Station. When you brake all the way downhill, the wheels roll, the rail wheels rub, and the fire is quite spectacular. After more than 2,360 meters of Qinling Tunnel, through the Qinling cliff mouth, into the Jialing River basin, and crossed the Jialing River 14 times. There are 304 tunnels with a total length of 84 kilometers, the longest of which is 4,245 meters. There are 1,001 large, medium and small bridges with a total length of 28 kilometers, and the total extension of bridges and tunnels accounts for 17% of the length of the line. In the history of railway construction in the world, it can also be called a miracle.

Walking along the railway, neither fast nor slow. On the railway, one sleeper at a time, the step is too small, you have to be patient to take a small step, a small step, the speed is too slow. Step by step two sleepers, the step must be large, walk forward quickly, and feel very difficult after a long time. When walking, you also have to concentrate, as soon as you hear the sound of the train whistle in the distance, and the track vibrates slightly, you must quickly get away from the railway to hide. Fortunately, the railway workers who constantly patrolled the road along the way, saw us on the railway, beckoned us from time to time to come down and take the path, and when the train was coming, they took us to safety.

The deepest feeling is through the tunnel. I can't remember how many tunnels have been passed, ranging from thousands of meters long to tens of meters short. When crossing a short tunnel, carefully hear that there is no movement on both sides of the railway, and quickly pass. If the tunnel is too long, it is not so simple. These tunnels are guarded by railway workers who guard the tunnels, and there are PLA soldiers guarding the entrance to the ultra-long tunnels. In general. They discouraged us from entering the tunnel and walking around the side path. There are several tunnels where there are no paths around the tunnel entrances and can only be passed through the tunnels. The PLA soldiers gathered us in a safe area at the mouth of the tunnel, gathered several groups of long marches on foot, and after the railway workers confirmed that no trains had passed, they were escorted by all armed soldiers. According to them, the situation in this area was complicated, and on the eve of liberation, a division of the Kuomintang troops was dispersed nearby, living in a scattered and complicated composition. After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, it was discovered that there were Red Guards who were deliberately pushed to the railway and killed by trains. Therefore, according to the order of the superiors, the safety of students passing through the tunnel is strictly protected. In addition, although there is an evasion hole every few tens of meters in the tunnel, when the train passes through the tunnel, it will produce a huge impact force, which is very unsafe, and with the guidance of PLA soldiers, accidents can be avoided.

Entering the tunnel, a warrior in front of him, armed with a submachine gun to lead the way, and at the end of the team there was another soldier guarding the gun. We walked in the middle, and under the weak light of a flashlight, everyone walked very carefully. Except for the sound of our footsteps, no one spoke, only the rhythmic "ticking, ticking" dripping sound in the tunnel, the further you walked inside, the darker it became, and everyone's mood couldn't help but become nervous, but seeing the figures of PLA soldiers before and after, they relaxed a lot.

On the long march, there are two most memorable places along the Baocheng Railway. One is Yangping Pass, and the other is Jianmen Pass.

Yangping Pass leans on the mountains in the south, borders the river in the north, enters the river in the south, strangles Shaanxi and Gansu in the north and enters the river, as far back as the Three Kingdoms period, it was a military town, which can be attacked and defended, and the geographical location is very dangerous. Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan Mountain six times, and four times he went out of Yangping Pass, along the Chen Cang Ancient Road to carry out the Northern Expedition. The Jialing River divides the old street of Yangpingguan Town from the railway station, and the Jialingjiang Bridge, which is tens of meters long, tightly ties them together like a streamer. The railway station is an important railway traffic artery station on the Baocheng Railway. Walking along the railway, you can see a mountain on the side of the Jialing River, according to legend, during the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Zilong once trained troops to defend the town on the mountain of Pingguan in Guyang, and later generations called this mountain Zilong Mountain. Climb Zilong Mountain and look at the mountain on the opposite side of the river, like the crown of a rooster standing high, which is particularly eye-catching on a verdant hillside.

Jianmen Pass is located in the middle of Dajian Mountain. It is a canyon pass. Two cliffs are cliffs, and the peaks are leaning on the sky like swords, straight into the sky. The stone walls on both sides are like knives and axes, and the cliffs form a natural barrier, and the terrain is extremely precipitous. During the Shu Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang built a guanlou at the two cliffs of this cliff as a military fortress, guarding this throat into the river, forming a place where soldiers must compete in history. Li Bai's "Shu Dao Difficulty" Chinese book; "The Sword Pavilion is mighty and Cui Wei, one husband is the pass, and ten thousand fu are not open." It also made the sword gate famous all over the world.

Along the rugged winding mountain path on the cliff, while climbing, while watching, the plank road still remaining on the cliff, like a heavenly road hanging high in the air, is terrifying, it is impossible to imagine how the ancients carved it out and how to walk safely. We worked hard to climb the Sword Gate. Standing on the pass, there are many cliffs and strange peaks in front of you, and the battle scene of the Shu and Han fighting and Jinge Iron Horse during the Three Kingdoms period can't help but come to mind. At the pass, I saw the inscription of Mr. Guo Moruo when he visited this place: "The sword gate is in danger, like a smooth road." Qin Zhan has no trace, and the Han bricks and soil want to melt. The peaks are black, the gravel is red, the chairman is strong, and the people are heroic. "There are several shops on both sides of the pass, for passers-by to rest their feet, drink tea, and also hang." Zhang Fei Beef", "Jiange Dog Meat" signature snack bar. In front of a snack bar of "Jianmen Tofu", the owner warmly introduced us to Jianmen tofu, which is unique. The raw material is local soybeans, which are pushed with stone grinding and crutched during processing, and there is less okara after grinding, and the amount of tofu pointed out is more and lubricating. Looking at this colorful, fragrant, and very cheap Jianmen tofu, we who were already hungry, hungry and hungry, counting the first time on the long march to pay out of our own pockets, after entering the store, gobbling up a delicious meal, sure enough, delicious, really feast. After many years, I went to Jianmen Pavilion twice to look for the flavor of Jianmen tofu back then, and when I moved to the border, Jianmen tofu was still there, and I don't know how much the variety had increased, but the Jianmen tofu with that flavor back then could not be found again.

Starting from Mianyang and continuing southward, as the topography changes, the mountains and peaks slowly fade away behind us. Under the feet are hills, small hills, and finally into the plain, which is the Sichuan Basin.

The Sichuan Basin is one of the four major basins in China, with the southernmost latitude and the lowest altitude, fertile land, mild climate and abundant rainfall, with Chengdu as the center, also known as the "Chengdu Plain". The "country of abundance", the land of fertility, is indeed worthy of its name. Living on the high slopes of loess, walking into the flat, green plain, is a completely different feeling.

After walking for nearly 20 days, we reached Mianyang City on the edge of the Sichuan Basin. From Mianyang to Deyang, it is about 100 miles, and we plan to arrive in one day.

Early the next morning, I woke up early and set off after a hurried breakfast. I started walking on the railway line, and I was inconvenient and tiring. Soon, another fellow of the Long March on foot told us that there was a path that could bypass the railway and go directly to Deyang. After hearing this, everyone's spirits were lifted and their pace was quickened.

Although it is late autumn in October, there is not a trace of chill in the sky, and the fresh air emanating from the atmosphere blends with the humid air in the basin, which is intoxicating. In the fields, one crop, one crop after another, all kinds of crops that cannot be called are different colors, colorful, vibrant, and full of life. The ponds and rice paddies that you see from time to time are like strings of pearls embedded in the vast earth, shining silvery in the sun. What is particularly conspicuous is that according to the terrain, the farmhouses scattered on the small hills and plains, by the mountains and waters, scattered, the penetrating wooden frame of the building, or the suspended mountain roof with a short front slope, a long back slope, and many corridors, the shape is empty and light, the color is clear and elegant, and the stone, brick, wood, bamboo and other materials are used just right. Around the farmhouse, bamboo forests, green trees, flowers, chickens, ducks, geese in flocks singing, compared with the northern mountains, farmhouses, unique, refreshing, particularly comfortable.

This day was the biggest test and challenge since our long march, and all students had never traveled such a long way. At the beginning, everyone was full of confidence, walking, talking, watching, and talking. By the afternoon, they began to feel tired, so everyone held on, gritted their teeth, and continued to move forward. From time to time on the road, agricultural vehicles passed by, and enthusiastic farmers repeatedly invited us to get on the bus, let us rest and give us a ride, everyone refused the kindness, gritted their teeth, and made up their minds to go to the end. Around 10pm. We finally stumbled to Deyang, grabbed two steamed buns at the reception station, gobbled them up, and fell directly on the floor.

Starting from Tianshui, after a full month, the journey is more than 610 kilometers, of which nearly 400 kilometers are along the railway line. Finally reached the first destination, Chengdu.

On the day of entering Chengdu, all the exhaustion in everyone's body had long been swept away, replaced by pride and pride in their hearts. We raised red flags, held our heads high, and lined up into the city. In our opinion, this part of the trip, with a firm will, declined countless warm invitations from well-meaning drivers in the middle of the journey, in order to "not reach the Great Wall is not a good man." Spirit, step by step, finally completed the set plan goals.

Arrived in Chengdu. The reception station arranged for us to stay in Du Fu Caotang Park in Chengdu.

Du Fu Caotang in Chengdu was the residence of Du Fuliu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, when he lived in Chengdu, in the winter of the second year of Tang Suzong's Qian Yuan (759), Du Fu took his family and mouth from Longyou to Sichuan to avoid the "Anshi Rebellion". With the help of friends, he built huts to live on the banks of Huanhua River in the western suburbs of Chengdu. Du Fu lived here for nearly 4 years before leaving Chengdu, and Caotang soon fell. In order to commemorate Du Fu, the grass hall was restored at the original site. Later, after the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it was repaired and expanded, and gradually evolved into a unique "mixed" Chinese classical garden architecture integrating the pattern of the memorial ancestral hall and the poet's former residence, and the garden was simple and elegant, quiet and beautiful, becoming a famous cultural holy place. In 1952, on the basis of a relatively complete preservation of the pattern of the reconstruction during the Jiajing period of the Qing Dynasty, Du Fu Caotang was officially opened to the public as "Du Fu Caotang Park" after comprehensive renovation.

In the quiet, quaint and natural grass hall full of flowers, green bamboo, green shade, forests and grass, standing in front of the thatched hut where Du Fu lived in the past, looking at the celebrities and masters of all dynasties and generations hanging in the grass hall at that time, as well as the contemporary Zhu De, Dong Biwu, Chen Yi, Kang Sheng, Jiang Qing, Guo Moruo and other people mentioned the yinglian and plaques. History has turned over 1,300 years, when Du Fu entered the river to avoid the "Anshi Rebellion" and seek a more peaceful place to live. After leaving Qinzhou (present-day Tianshui, Gansu) in the second year of the Qian Yuan Dynasty (759 AD) and heading to Tonggu (Cheng County, Gansu), he trekked from Tonggu to Chengdu on December 1, a three-month journey before and after. History has turned the page for 1200 years. We depart from the same location. It was as if he had re-stepped on Du Fu's footsteps in Shu, crossing the Qinling Mountains, walking through the gorge, crossing the Jialing River, sleeping in the wind, trekking through the Shu Road, and finally miraculously meeting in Chengdu in almost the same month's time. The difference is that we young people back then were "just a teenager, flourishing, bookish, and scolding." In order to "hit the water in the middle of the current, and stop the flying boat with the waves." ”

History, competition is such an amazing coincidence, and it is so different.

Soon, the central authorities announced that the national tandem of teachers and students was completely over. Our long march also ended in Chengdu.

The wheel of history rolls forward, the unforgettable journey more than half a century ago, and the train and railway formed an inseparable bond, it records the development of history, the progress of society, and will leave a deep memory in my mind forever, that memory is so profound, as if it can never be erased or removed.

March 26, 2022 Mobilization

First draft on May 7, 2022

October 6, 2022