Chapter 1140 Great Progress in Railway Engineering
At the same time, while Ye Ying and his men were recruiting people for the Han tribe here at Qiao's, various engineering projects in the south were also progressing rapidly.
With the railway construction team divided into two, each of them was supplemented with a thousand retired soldiers, and a large number of engineering vehicles and machinery were equipped, the efficiency of railway laying has doubled compared to before.
In addition, with the continuous blood production and blood transfusion of the northern industry, a large amount of equipment and construction materials were shipped to the south by ship, which greatly supported the construction of the south and also made the mileage of several lines currently under construction in the south soar.
In just two months, the first section of the 227 kilometers of the Qitai Line Railway, which is backed by the Liuyang River and the Chengqi Line Railway, was completed first.
The railway from Qi'an County to Taigang County was originally divided into four sections by the engineering team. The longest section, which is also the easiest to repair, is the first section, because it is a plain terrain, and there is no need to build a bridge or dig a tunnel. It only needs to use an excavator to level the ground, use a loader to raise the foundation, and then use a roller to roll back and forth several times, and then you can directly put the sleepers on and nail the rails on them. This section of the road is very easy to repair.
Although the second section is the most difficult section of the entire Qitai Line railway project, it can be carried out quickly because of the continuous support from the rear.
Because more rock drills were sent from the rear, the engineering team can dig tunnels day and night. Anyway, even during the day, they look almost the same as at night in the tunnel cave.
A lot of explosives and fuses were also sent from the rear, all of which were sent here in dozens of tons. With this endless high-quality explosives, the difficulty of tunnel excavation is much easier than before.
Now, with the help of rock drills and explosives, the entire engineering team can drill more than ten meters every day. First, the rock drill is used to dig the cracks, then the holes are drilled and blasted, and finally the loader and tractor enter the site to transport all the broken stones away, and then continue to repeat the previous operation.
As for the bumpy tunnel walls, it was done by another group of people in the back.
They got an excavator and replaced the bucket with a basket. A person sat in the basket and could use a handheld pneumatic pick to drill holes in the tunnel wall. The purpose of drilling holes is to hammer in expansion bolts. Although the Han tribe does not have special expansion bolts now, they can use wood and steel bars instead.
After nailing the entire tunnel wall, the pre-tied steel cage can be tied to it with wire, and then the wooden supported formwork can be installed from the bottom, and then concrete can be filled in.
After this layer of reinforced concrete dries, no matter how bumpy the original stone wall is, it will eventually become very flat.
Especially the process of pouring concrete, it was even more difficult. In the past, the Han tribe had water pumps, air pumps, and oil pumps, but there was no pump that could absorb and spray concrete.
In order to solve the problem of the difficulty in pouring the tunnel wall, Luo Chong also specially asked people to develop a new type of concrete pump. It is different from the original various plunger pumps and air pumps. This concrete pump has a larger cavity to accommodate rough concrete full of gravel, sand and cement.
In addition, its pumping principle is also different from the original water pump, air pump and oil pump. The pumping principle of the concrete pump is like the ball that pressurizes the sphygmomanometer. First, a huge window is opened in the pumping chamber, and then a rubber bubble of composite material is sealed and installed at the window.
The outside of the rubber drum is connected to the piston of the steam engine. By using the steam engine to push and pull (extrude) the rubber drum, the purpose of pressurizing and depressurizing the pumping chamber is achieved, and in this way, concrete is absorbed and sprayed.
Of course, in order to improve the durability of the concrete pump, that is, the service life, Luo Chong also specially asked the Comprehensive Research Institute to make a composite rubber drum.
This rubber steam drum has a multi-layer structure. Both sides are made of black rubber, but in fact, the inside is like a sandwich, with several layers of linen made of sisal fiber and iron cloth woven with iron wire.
Such a complex process makes this rubber drum not easy to deform, and it is very difficult to use it manually, but this thing was originally intended to be used with steam engines. In addition, the cost is relatively high, but the high price brings an increase in service life.
A rubber part, which was originally only used for one month, now has a five-fold increase in price, but can be used for two years. How should this account be calculated? That must be a multiple increase in cost performance!
With the assistance of these high-tech, the speed of tunnel excavation is very amazing. The total length of Tunnel No. 1 is more than three kilometers. Now the engineering team is divided into two, and they are drilling from both ends to the middle at the same time. There are three teams in the middle digging vertical shafts there and then expanding to both ends. Although the team in the middle cannot use rock drills, they also have air-powered small pneumatic picks and explosives to use, and the progress is not slow.
In addition to these tunnels, there are several canyon bridges in the second section of the route. These canyon bridges are surrounded by cliffs on both sides and abysses in the middle. In order to save railway mileage, the engineering team finally had to choose this terrain.
However, since it is a carefully selected location, it must be a convenient place for bridge construction.
One of the "super-large" canyon railway bridges, which had a span of more than 120 meters, caused a lot of trouble for the engineering team.
There were cliffs on both sides, and a large canyon several dozen meters deep in the middle. How to build a bridge and how to transport materials were all problems.
Finally, an engineer from the Xingang County Power Research Institute came up with an idea, because he used to go from Xingang County to Hanyang City through Fuma Pass, so he had passed Fuma Pass many times and had some understanding of the place.
There was an urn city in the valley outside Fuma Pass. The walls of the urn city were equipped with more than a dozen crossbows. The range of the crossbows was several hundred meters, and the crossbow arrows were heavy enough that they could fly far even if they were tied with ropes.
So his idea was to get a crossbow, tie a thin hemp rope to the javelin, and shoot it to the other side with the crossbow.
First, use the crossbow to carry the thin hemp rope over, then use the thin hemp rope to tie the thicker rope over, and finally replace the rope with a steel cable. When the steel cables are set up on both sides, the steel cables can be used to lift equipment, personnel, and construction materials in the middle of the canyon.
Everyone thought this was a good idea, but when the matter was reported to You Fu, it was directly refuted by You Fu.
You Fu came to the edge of the cliff and said to several people, "Your idea is good, but do you need a crossbow for a distance of 120 meters? You can just find a longbow to shoot the rope over. If you are given a crossbow, it will take half a month from sending the message to sending the crossbow here."
He scolded several people and directly asked someone to bring a longbow. The longbow is equipped with a heavy arrow. Using the method of projectile, it can be shot at least 300 meters away. Tie a thin hemp rope on it, even if it will increase some resistance, it is enough to fly over the gap of more than 120 meters.
You Fu bent his bow and aimed at the sky across the cliff. With a whoosh, the arrow drew an arc high in the sky and accurately hit the grass on the opposite cliff.
"See? It's such a short distance, but we still need to bring a crossbow?!"
Several engineers were so embarrassed that they couldn't speak.
These people were directly selected into the research institute after graduating from school. They are proficient in calculations and machinery, but sometimes they like to get stuck in a rut. They make things so complicated when they are obviously very simple.
It's like you have to use advanced calculus to prove that '1+1=2'.
PS: Narrow-gauge railways are the kind that can be laid and run at any time, so it is relatively simple to build. Don't criticize the progress of the project
(End of this chapter)
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