Under the Southern cross in South America . Mount Meiggs is about two thousandfeet above the bore, which makes it fall but a little short of thesnow-line in this latitude—some twelve degrees south of the Equator. The ascent of the Andes on the Oroya, properly speaking, doesnot begin until the valley of the Rimac is crossed and the pantinglocomotive strikes the lower foothills of the Cordilleras. Onward,there is a steady climb until the culmination at the Galera Tunnel,beyond which the descent begins on the other side of the mountainsdown the valley of the Jauja to Oroya. This descent is thirty
Under the Southern cross in South America . Mount Meiggs is about two thousandfeet above the bore, which makes it fall but a little short of thesnow-line in this latitude—some twelve degrees south of the Equator. The ascent of the Andes on the Oroya, properly speaking, doesnot begin until the valley of the Rimac is crossed and the pantinglocomotive strikes the lower foothills of the Cordilleras. Onward,there is a steady climb until the culmination at the Galera Tunnel,beyond which the descent begins on the other side of the mountainsdown the valley of the Jauja to Oroya. This descent is thirty-twomiles and the fall thirty-five hundred feet. In many places the grade of the road is four per cent., or over210 feet to the mile. The track is the standard gauge of four feeteight and one-half inches. The rails weigh seventy pounds to theyard; the rail-braces are also very heavy, especially at the curvesand the V-shaped angles. The ties are of California redwood, threethousand of them to the mile. All the bridges, and there are many,. 135 ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 137 are constructed of steel. The locomotives and cars are of NorthAmerican manufacture, but they are by no means typical of thelatest and best productions of the States, though the cars are com-fortable enough and the locomotives very well adapted to the de-mands of such a road. It cannot be expected that the latter wouldvery well compare with the snorting monsters of steam and steelwhich whizz across the North American continent with lightningrapidity, almost annihilating time and space. They are more likethe antiquated, wheezy, asthmatic mechanisms we formerly had onthe L lines in New York City before electricity was installed asa motive power. However, as intimated, they answer very well thepurpose in view. The modern monster engines would not be suit-able for climbing the mountains or going around the curves andVs and Ss which make the ascent of the Oroya Railroadpossible. There are seven switchbacks and six
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu3192402042, bookyear1914
