The Beijing-Zhang Railway is the first self-built railway in China, which was built in 1905 and completed in 1909, and the entire construction cycle did not exceed the end of the Qing Dynasty, so when China was still in the Qing Dynasty, it already had its own railway. Speaking of the chief engineer of the Beijing-Zhang Railway, I believe that everyone must be very familiar with him, he is the famous Zhan Tianyou, known as the "father of the railway" in China.
Compared with the modern railway, which often lasts thousands of kilometers, the length of the Beijing-Zhangjiang Railway is much shorter, and it runs from Beijing's Fengtai District to Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, with a total length of only 200 kilometers.
In terms of the technical conditions at that time, the 200-kilometer railway was very difficult to repair, and the Beijing-Zhang Railway encountered a difficult problem when it was built, even the world's most famous railway expert at that time did not dare to pat his chest and say that it would be solved, but Zhan Tianyou did it.
The total length of the 200-kilometer railway, in that era without heavy machinery, almost all had to rely on manpower to complete the construction, and its engineering volume and difficulty can be imagined. However, the real problem in the construction of the Beijing-Zhang Railway is not in the amount of engineering, but in a huge height gap.
The distance between Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province is not a flat river, but is filled with continuous mountain ranges, especially the only way for the Beijing-Zhang railway from the south mouth to the north to the Qinglong Bridge, which has a very large height difference.
According to the international standards of the time, for every meter of height difference of the railway, it must be matched by a 100-meter ramp. However, if according to this standard, the distance from the south entrance to the north to the Qinglong Bridge is not enough, so there is no way to build this railway according to the technology of the time, even if it is difficult to find well-known experts from Western powers.
Just when the construction of the Beijing-Zhang Railway was at a loss, Chief Engineer Zhan Tianyou had a big brain and thought of using a "herringbone" line to extend the distance, so that the train could move safely and smoothly along the steep slope.
The "herringbone" railway was a completely new design at that time, and there was no international precedent, so whether it could be successful or not, except for Zhan Tianyou himself, no one else was absolutely sure. However, Zhan Tianyou, as the chief engineer, still felt that this plan was feasible after careful calculation, not only that, it was the most economical route and the most economical construction cost compared to other potential solutions.
The basic principle of the "herringbone" railway is to use the two locomotives in front of and behind the train, when the train is uphill at the south entrance, the locomotive in front is responsible for pulling, and the locomotive at the rear is responsible for pushing, so that the power uphill is completely sufficient.
After the train passes through the fork of the "herringbone" line, the direction of the train is reversed, the front of the train that was originally responsible for pulling is replaced by the responsibility of pushing, and the front of the train, which was originally at the rear of the train, reaches the front of the train and is responsible for pulling the train forward.
Such an ingenious design was painstakingly thought out by Zhan Tianyou, who compared no less than seven or eight lines before finally finalizing this plan. In fact, according to Zhan Tianyou's assumption at that time, this "herringbone" railway should be longer than the existing one, but unfortunately, although the Qing government's funding at that time reached 6.93 million taels of silver, it was still seriously insufficient for this extremely difficult railway, so in the end it could only return to the Guangou section.
Even so, at the time, it seemed like a very bold and forward-thinking design. After the opening of the Beijing-Zhang Railway, not only the whole country rejoiced, but even the professionals of the British and American powers also cast admiring glances at Zhan Tianyou, who were even more surprised and admired by Zhan Tianyou's bold and ingenious design plan.
On December 30, 2019, the Beijing-Zhang high-speed railway was opened to traffic, and with the opening of this "sister line" of the Beijing-Zhang railway, the original Beijing-Zhang railway also successfully completed the tasks entrusted by history, and after a hundred years of operation, it finally retired gloriously.
The opening of the two railways is exactly one hundred years apart, and this hundred years is a hundred years of drastic changes in China. Whether it is the Beijing-Zhang Railway a hundred years ago or the Beijing-Zhang high-speed railway today, they represent the most advanced railway technology in the world at that time, and they are also large-scale infrastructure projects that we Chinese are proud of.
Since the construction of the Beijing-Zhang high-speed railway, the original Beijing-Zhang railway has stopped operating, and the entire section of the line, especially the famous herringbone railway, has been listed as an "immovable cultural relic" and protected, and the terminus of the herringbone railway, Qinglongqiao Station, has become a national key cultural relics protection unit.
Nowadays, except for a few tourist trains, Qinglongqiao Station no longer receives any trains, but this ancient and beautiful old station will always stand in the lofty mountains and mountains, and show the great wisdom of Zhan Tianyou, the "father of China's railways", and the railway feelings that have lasted for a long time Chinese.