The first railway to be built and survive in China was the Kaiping (開平) colliery tramway located at Tangshan in Hebei province. However, this was not the very first railway in China. An earlier attempt to introduce railways had been made in 1876 when the short Shanghai to Wusong 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge line known as the "Woosung Road Company""The Woosung 'Road' – China's First Railway" in: Hong Kong Railway Society Newsletter, September 9, 1998 (retrieved 01.01.2001) was built but then pulled up within less than two years because of Chinese government opposition.Peter Crush: "Woosung Road – the story of China’s First Railway”, Hong Kong, 1999.
History Cantonese merchant Tong King-sing (唐景星 a.k.a. Tang Ting-shu 唐廷樞) was a Hong Kong Government interpreter who later became Jardine Matheson & Company’s head comprador at Shanghai. In 1878 Tong, who was then Director-General of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company, commenced coal mining operations in the Kaiping district with the backing of the powerful Viceroy of Zhili Li Hongzhang.Ellesworth Carlson: “The Kaiping Mines 1877-1912”, Harvard Univ. Press, 1957. .Linda Pomerantz-Zhang: “Wu Tingfang (1842-1922) Reform and Modernization in Modern Chinese History", Hong Kong University Press, 1992.
The first shaft was sunk at Tongshan in 1879 by the new Chinese Engineering and Mining Company (CEMC)The Chinese name of this company was the English equivalent of “Kaiping Mining Bureau” () but Tong Kong Sing decided on the official English name of “Chinese Engineering and Mining Company”. (ref: Carlson: "The Kaiping mines") under the direction of English mining engineer Robert Reginald Burnett, MICE.Burnett died on August 19, 1883, after contracting Typhoid fever after he was reassigned to a Yangtze River copper and iron mining project in 1882. Claude William Kinder was appointed to take his place as Chief Engineer at Tongshan (ref: ICE Minutes of Proceedings vol 75 1883, Obituary of Robert Reginald Burnett) To transport coal from the mine to ships on the river at Beitang entailed carrying it a distance of nearly 30 miles; Tong King Sing attempted to gain permission to build a railway for this purpose, but was not able .Claude William Kinder: “Railways and Collieries of North China” in: Minutes of Proceedings, Institution of Civil Engineers vol. ciii 1890/91 Paper No.2474
The Lutai Canal Initially a canal was constructed from Lutai on the river to Hsukochuang the furthest point that the canal could physically extend. The CEMC's Managing Director, Tong, eventually received permission for the last seven miles to the Tongshan colliery to be covered by a mule-pulled “tramway”, and English civil engineer Claude William KinderKinder is also remembered in the Beidaihe seaside resort, and credited with building the first beach front cottage after discovering the area’s potential as a summer resort. (ref: Embassy of the People's Republic of China, India website: http://www.chinaembassy.org.in/eng/lxzd/bjzn/t173005.htm (retrieved 02.01.2009). There is also a new mining museum in Tangshan where Kinder is acknowledged as a respected pioneering engineer. was employed for its construction, which was completed in 1881.
Kinder insisted on building the tramway to the international Standard gauge of , to make sure the tramway could be turned into a full railway. He also set about constructing a steam locomotive using the boiler and other parts from a portable steam winding engine borrowed from the colliery. After word had leaked out about its construction, the engine had to be concealed for several weeks until Viceroy Li Hung Chang gave word for the construction to continue. The result of Kinder's efforts came to fruition on 9 June 1881 when the home-made 2-4-0 tank engine christened “Rocket of China” entered service on the tramway.Percy Horace Kent: “Railway Enterprise in China”, London, 1907The significance of this famous English name “Rocket” for a steam locomotive was not fully understood by the local Chinese mine workers who soon referred to this little fire breathing, smoke and steam puffing “monster” as the “Dragon” (龍號 s:龙号). In deference to Chinese preferences for this name, Kinder had a pair of brass dragons made to adorn the locomotive sides next to the English name plates. (refs: P.H. Kent:”Railway Enterprise in China” and “China in Decay”, Alex Krausse, London 1900)
The first imported locomotives
The introduction of “Rocket” was highly successful and in June 1882 two 0-6-0 tank locomotives were ordered from Robert Stephenson & Co., Newcastle. They arrived in October and were given running numbers 2 and 3.According to the Stephenson archives, the works numbers of these engines (ordered through the company’s London agent, James Whittall), were 2397 & 2398, and Kinder describes them as having coupled 42”wheels and 10½”x 18” cylinders.C.W.Kinder private papers "Notes on Imperial Chinese Railways 1863-1900" from Hong Kong Railway Society's P.A.Crush Chinese Railway Collection These were the first two standard gauge locomotives imported into China. While some sources claim that an 0-4-0 engine numbered “0” now preserved in the Beijing Locomotive Museum was the first engine imported into China,“A Picture Album of Steam Locomotives in China 1876-2001” published by China Railway Publishing House 2001 this is unlikely to be accurate.It is the view of many Chinese railway history researchers that this locomotive is more likely the remains of an 1887 Black, Hawthorn & Co construction locomotive weighing 8 tons (Works No. 869). This information is derived from works records and June 25, 1888 edition of the “Celestial Times” (published in Shanghai), which refers to a report that such an engine had been landed at Tianjin on 14 June 1888 and that this engine was for extension work of the “Northern Railway”. The timing of the arrival of this engine in 1888 also coincides with the placing of advertisements by Black, Hawthorn in “The London and China Express” in January 1888 suggesting that this locomotive manufacturer was at that time engaged in some limited commercial activity in China. (ref: ICE-Kinder2474, P.H.Kent and Robert Stephenson & Co. archives:- extract from the “Engine Order Book” for two engines, Works Nos 2397 and 2398. Order received 9 June 1882.)
The first extension to Lutai While the Kaiping mine railway maintained operations, the Imperial Court's opposition to railway development in China prevented any further development for several years. But because the canal would become covered with ice during the winter months, the mining company succeeded in 1886 in gaining permission to extend the tramway all the way to Lutai. The extension was carried out by a newly formed Kaiping Railway Company (Kaiping Tiehlu Gongsi 開平鐵路公司 s:开平铁路公司), separately funded from the mining company, chaired by the Tientsin Taotai (Tianjin daotai 天津 道台) Chou Fu (Zhou Fu 周馥). The managing director was Wu Tingfang, who had studied law in England and was also interpreter and secretary to Li Hung Chang.
Assisted by the young American-educated student engineer (a Yung Wing mission student), Kwang King Yang (Kuang Jingyang 鄺景揚 s: 邝景扬 ) also known as K.Y. Kwong and Kuang Sunmou, Kinder supervised the building of the extension which was completed in April 1887. Imported German Krupp rails were used, as well as a ten-wheeled 2-6-2 saddle-tank locomotive from the Grant Locomotive Works of New Jersey (No.4), and forty 10-ton coal wagons.
Second extension to Dagu and Tianjin Soon afterward, Viceroy Li pressed for a further extension to Beitang and TakuThe railway station was actually located on the opposite side of the river at Tanggu for military purposes. Kinder was called upon to survey the route. Li had to overcome opposition in the Imperial Court but gained sanction for the line to be extended 50 miles to Tianjin. Kinder, as Chief Engineer of the now newly named China Railway Company, was then permitted to secure the services of several more foreign engineers which included Resident Engineers A.W.H. Bellingham and W. Watson. The whole project was completed within fourteen months, with limited train services commencing in August 1888.“China’s First Railway - The Imperial Railways of North China 1880-1911” by A.L. Rosembaum, (unpublished Yale thesis 1972)> This period of railway development was not smooth sailing, and there was continued opposition to the railway on a number of fronts. At various times there were organized riots against the railway and in one instance thousands of dollars' worth of damage was done to mining equipment at the Tongshan colliery when a violent feud erupted between Cantonese and northern Chinese workers.Extracts from the personal diary of William Bulmer, 1881-1884 (who was employed by CE&MC at Tangshan as a boiler maker) from “ P. A. Crush Chinese Railway Collection”, Hong Kong Railway Society Another severe blow was China's first-recorded serious train accident on 25 March 1889 when there was a head-on collision between two trains at Chung Liang Cheng (Junliangcheng 軍糧城 s: 军粮城). English train driver, M. Jarvis, had waited a long time in the station passing loop and impatiently entered the next section of single track before the arrival of an oncoming train. As a result of the collision, four carriages caught fire and several injured people were burned alive. Driver Dawson survived but the offending driver, Jarvis, one fireman and seven passengers died in the crash, while more died several days later from their burns and injuries. It was alleged by junior staff that Jarvis had been drinking heavily before the crash.“The Chinese Times” March 30th 1889 edition, published in ShanghaiThe locomotives at this time were driven by mainly English drivers and a few local Chinese, all under the charge of Locomotive Superintendent G.D. Churchwood. The Traffic Department was headed by Manager R.W. Lemmon with two English Head-Guards with a staff of local officers.The hapless junior Chinese stationmaster, who had attempted to restrain the errant British driver, was partially blamed for this crash and disciplined. In an obvious case of racialist bias, the English press in Shanghai blamed the railway company “for making unjustified economies” and “failing to employ enough foreign guards and supervisors”. They overlooked the obvious i.e. had all the drivers then been Chinese and not foreign drivers, the chances of enforcing discipline on the driver would have been that much easier.(refs: “Chronicle & Directory for China, Corea, Japan, The Philippines etc.” years: 1880-1890 & The Celestial Times) Further troubles came weeks later, in April 1888, when a newly completed steel bridge across the Pei Ho river (today's Haihe 海河) in the heart of Tientsin, connecting with the foreign settlements, caused unrest with local boatmen fearful that the railway would harm their interests. Li ordered the destruction of the bridge by dynamite, causing the company a loss of £8000 and many months work.Chinese Times, April 6th & 20 May 11th & 18th 1889
Towards Beijing and Shanhaiguan
Shortly after the completion of the Tientsin section pressure was exerted for permission to build extensions westwards to Beijing and northeastwards towards the Great Wall. Imperial Court opposition prevented the western extension but the northern extension was sanctioned and reached Guye in late 1890, Lanchou in 1892 and Shanhaiguan in 1893,Institution of Civil Engineers vol. clx 1905 Paper No.3509 : “Railway Construction in North China” by Edward Hulme Rigby BSc and William Orr Leitch AMICE during which period the line was transferred to the control of a newly formed Imperial Chinese Railway Administration.)