Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

#306 - The locomotive route dispute and capital

In Ren Zhong's plan, there was naturally no place for steam locomotives.

Steam locomotives, which were basically extinct in the main world, had limited prospects in terms of technology. After all, the upper limit of steam locomotives was too low. Even on the railways of the Bright Sword world, almost all the locomotives running were steam locomotives emitting white steam and black smoke.

According to statistics, there were 4,069 locomotives that could run nationwide, with as many as 198 models, making it a veritable World Locomotive Museum!

Such a vast array of locomotive models was a nightmare for maintenance and operation.

Therefore, according to Ren Zhong's plan, a new diesel locomotive would be developed to gradually replace these outdated steam locomotives.

Unexpectedly, due to the excessively rapid development of railways, the diesel locomotive plan, which was originally planned to be completed in three years, could not keep up with the pace of railway development. After railways were built in many places, they still had to wait for the arrangement of locomotives!

Under this condition, the idea of developing steam locomotives to first solve the problem of availability was put forward by some experts.

From their point of view, this idea was logically very reasonable. Now the railway mileage has increased so much and so fast, and the import of locomotives is not easy to increase anymore, then it is logical to develop a steam locomotive by ourselves. Moreover, we already have the technical accumulation of manufacturing the new-type locomotives for the Beijing-Fengtian Railway and the "Dragon" locomotive in China.

Then, select one from the world's main steam locomotives for rapid replication, and directly use their technology to achieve production in China. Then, basically, a batch can be produced in less than a year. This can completely develop synchronously with the railway!

Now everything is waiting to be rebuilt, and various constructions are in full swing. As the main force of bulk transportation, railway transport capacity is quite tight. If there are more locomotives, there will be more transport capacity, and there is no need to wait three years to use new locomotives.

Ren Zhong picked up a pile of newspapers brought by Staff Officer Ye, glanced through these articles, and his face became a little dignified.

"What are these people thinking? Whether it's development or introduction, the investment in a locomotive is not a small amount. Do they have the strength to do this?" Ren Zhong hadn't paid much attention to this issue before. In his opinion, private capital should not participate randomly in this technology-intensive and capital-intensive project.

Although there are currently no prohibitive policies issued regarding what projects private capital can research, the access of important equipment in special industries such as railways is presided over by the Dawn Research Institute.

Why is there suddenly such enthusiasm for railway locomotive projects? The production capacity of so many industries across the country has not yet been met. Isn't it better to invest in those projects that are quick to take effect and require less investment?

"Old Brother Ren, to be honest, we really didn't expect this matter. The newspaper and public opinion feel like the situation has suddenly turned upside down. Several very powerful families in China have jointly raised tens of millions of silver dollars, claiming that they hope to enter this industry." Staff Officer Ye shook his head, indicating that he really didn't understand what these people were thinking.

"I was caught by someone as a mouthpiece to be a lobbyist. Their efforts are quite strong. They have already lobbied our leaders above, and some leaders are quite tempted. After all, they said they are willing to invest their own funds in research, and even selected the locomotive models for replication, which are the Flying Scotsman and the Big Boy steam locomotives, claiming that they can solve the imitation work of these two steam locomotives without spending a penny of the country's money, as long as they can get the railway network access license or the railway operation license."

Staff Officer Ye continued, "I don't know anything about this, but some people below are working on this matter, and there are many voices of public opinion in the newspapers, so it's not good to pretend not to see it. We all know your foresight and vision, Old Brother Ren, and we are unswervingly promoting your plan, but the current problem is indeed something. Old Brother Ren, see if you have anything to teach me."

Tens of millions of silver dollars? As soon as Ren Zhong heard this, he felt that something was wrong. This matter didn't seem so simple.

Ren Zhong picked up the brief introduction of the two locomotives brought by Staff Officer Ye.

One of them is called the Flying Scotsman. The initial design of this locomotive started in 1922 and was manufactured by the Doncaster Railway Works, and officially rolled off the production line on February 24 of the following year. The car is an A1-class locomotive, with a total length of 21.6 meters, a height of 4.0 meters, and a weight of 97 tons. It runs on a standard track of 1435mm. After multiple technical iterations, in 1934, the Flying Scotsman ran out of 100mph (approximately 160km/h, the speed of a quasi-high-speed railway) in a special trial run. This was the first locomotive in John Bull's history to reach this speed. At that time, it was also an extremely leading model in the world.

Now the best locomotive in China is this one. If it can be successfully replicated, the railway can indeed be regarded as obtaining a relatively ideal steam locomotive for passenger trains. At least in the 60 to 80 kilometers per hour speed range, this steam locomotive is still very suitable.

As for the second one, it also has a big background. It was designed successfully in 1941 and produced by ALCO. It is a "4000" series 4-8-8-4 wheel Mallet articulated bogie steam locomotive used by the Union Pacific Railroad. The "Big Boy" has a power of 6000 horsepower, a train weight of 3600 tons, and a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour, but the economical running speed is 60 kilometers per hour.

For heavy-duty train traction locomotives, this steam locomotive seems to be enough at this stage. Compared with the current strange locomotive locomotives, this is already a very good locomotive locomotive. These private capitals seem to have chosen a good start.

It can be seen that these private people have also put their minds into it. The two models selected are practical and not too complicated in steam locomotives. One is for passenger transport and the other is for freight. The things are arranged clearly.

But Ren Zhong always felt that things were not that simple.

"This is a big deal. For the development of the railway, our current decision should look at 20 to 30 years later. In principle, we should still be cautious," Ren Zhong said after a moment of silence after reading, "We need to have a plan and access for investment in this field. If all fields are opened up, it is easy to cause industry loss of control. Railways are related to the national economy and the people's livelihood. They should benefit the common people and other industries. Pricing needs to be very cautious. Making money itself is very difficult. Frankly speaking, private capital is not suitable for entering this field."

"I know that capital seeks profit, and they all want to rush in when they see opportunities to make money, but we do not advocate that technology-intensive and capital-intensive fields such as railways come in to stir up trouble."

"A steam locomotive will cost nearly 2 million (silver dollars equivalent), and buying patents and building a locomotive factory will cost far more than 10 million."

"What's more, they also want to carry out railway operations, which requires even greater investment.

The cost of railway construction is high. Now the government presides over the construction. In the case of almost free land, mobilizing the people to participate in the construction for free, only paying the material costs and the people's food money, and using allocated low-priced track steel, the current cost exceeds 60,000 yuan (silver dollars equivalent) per kilometer. If the land cost and labor cost are included, it will be at least 100,000 yuan per kilometer. If private capital wants to participate in railway operations, even a 200-kilometer branch line will require more than 20 million capital. We do not have a perfect private stock system now. Under the premise that a company has not proven that it can be profitable, it is not allowed to issue stocks for fundraising. How can these capitals be able to operate?"

Ren Zhong continued, "I suspect that international capital has probably been active in these private capitals."

Staff Officer Ye's eyes narrowed, "Are they going to take the comprador model?"

"I'm afraid that's the case." Ren Zhong nodded and said, "Perhaps these two steam locomotive companies want to open up our domestic market. After all, if we build 5,000 kilometers of railways, according to the current ratio of railway mileage to railway locomotive locomotives, that is a scale of 1,000 units. In addition to the elimination of the early backward locomotives, at least a quarter of the old and faulty locomotives will be eliminated in these five years, which is about 1,000 units."

"According to the current price of 2 million for a steam locomotive, this is an 8 billion market! I think what they are looking at is this. What's more, there is also the later technical service market. The overall scale is no less than the purchase of locomotives. With a market space of hundreds of billions, money is tempting!"

"So that's how it is. I just said, why did this matter suddenly become so publicized, with all kinds of experts analyzing it in various newspapers? It seems that they are concerned about national construction, but in fact, it's all business behind it?" Staff Officer Ye felt a little chilled when he heard this.

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"That's how capital is." Ren Zhong didn't have too many feelings about this. He knew very well what capital was like, and continued.

"But reasoning will always be ignored. How about this, we will provide them with a window. The railway will open up the replacement of existing old steam locomotives. If they can obtain benefits through the replacement method, then let them develop steam locomotives.

"Will this work?" Staff Officer Ye was still a little hesitant. After all, Ren Zhong peeled away the layers, and the things hidden behind the private capital were revealed.

"Of course, this time we can give capital a good lesson." Ren Zhong's eyes bypassed Staff Officer Ye and looked into the distance, saying leisurely.

If capital is disobedient, then give it a good beating!

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