In describing the works of the Serra, I have omitted to allude to the double rails which are laid near approaches to the stationary engines, so that the trains can pass each other, which, of course, they are constantly doing, one up and the other down, on the several lifts. I was at a loss also to understand how they could work their goods traffic to a large extent with the amount of trains running. I now find the latter applies only to the passengers, and that produce is dealt with separately, collected at the top of the Serra, and sent down during the day, three waggon loads at a time, the waggons being collected together at the foot of the Serra, and taken on to the station at Santos as convenient. These arrangements necessitate a large amount of rolling stock and extra shed accommodation, which I believe is about to be supplied. Another feature in the works of the Serra is the loose kind of material they have had to go through instead of granite rock, which they expected, the former being apt to crumble away from the effects of rain, although latterly the road has stood very well in this respect. Some of the embankments crossing the gorges of the mountains are almost perpendicular, and involved a heavy amount of labour and expense. It is quite frightful to look down them. Of course the traffic of the Serra can only be worked from sunrise to sunset, but a large amount of produce can be brought down during that time.
I have now to record a trip over the remaining portion of the line to Jundiahy, the terminus. An announcement had been issued that traffic would be resumed over the whole line on the 2nd March, but a continuance of wet weather caused further and serious impediment, so I availed of the kindness of the officials, who were making a survey of the state of the works, to go to Jundiahy in the best manner circumstances would permit. We started about 8 a.m., on Tuesday, the 23rd March, in a carriage attached to the engine, having, amongst others, Mr. Aubertin, superintendent; Mr. Fox, engineer-in-chief; the fiscal, or Government engineer; the Postmaster-General, Captain Burton, and other persons, with some luggage belonging to them, and some small stores for the use of the line.
My impression was that I had seen the heaviest works on the line, but this was a great mistake, as I soon found out. The first few miles were not of much interest, but afterwards, as we approached the mountain scenery, the view became very fine—the bold outline of the Jaraguay, a mountain where gold mines exist, but long since ceased working—deep gorges began to open out, and huge hanging forests towered above us, in their wildest and most primitive form. At the first station I got on the engine with Mr. Fox, and certainly it is difficult to imagine a country less adapted to a railway—making it against nature, as some one significantly observed. It is a succession of deep cuttings, high embankments, curves, and heavy gradients the whole distance, at times with an incline of 1 in 45, and only occasionally what may be termed a bit of straight road. It is really wonderful how people could be found to make such a railway in this country. Scarcely a human habitation to be seen along the whole distance, except the rough mud huts for persons connected with it; and about three stations between San Paulo and Jundiahy. The stations themselves are barely sufficient for the station master to live in, though probably adequate under present circumstances. At one of them (Belem) a small quantity of cotton was stored, having gone there direct, but no means of forwarding it on at present.
The ordinary mule road to Jundiahy crosses and runs parallel to the railway for some distance, and a wretched state it appeared to be in—deep mud holes and quagmires, through which the poor mules have to struggle.
I must now refer to some of our difficulties, resulting from the state in which we found the road. The first actual gap occurs some seventeen or eighteen miles from San Paulo, where the river current has carried away a large culvert, the rails and iron bowls (sleepers) attached to them hanging suspended for some twenty feet. They were at work rebuilding another culvert. We had to leave the carriage, cross the stream, and, walking some little distance, to get to another engine, which with a ballast truck was waiting there. On we went again, at times having to pull up or go slowly over slippery places, until we passed the tunnel, with water dripping from the roof. On the other side of the tunnel occurs the most serious stoppage, the whole side of a huge hill having apparently moved forward, the advanced portion of it blocking up the road. Some under current has raised the rails several feet in places, notwithstanding the immense piles of timber that have been driven in to prevent encroachment. The conclusion is that a mass of quicksands, swollen by the heavy rains, has forced its way under the hill side and under the bed of the railway. The labour here will be very great, by having to remove the falling mass, and the uncertainty is when the movement may subside. The “mountain in labour” has brought forth no “ridiculus mus” in this case. After walking past this obstruction, we again mounted on the ballast truck, and went along until we came to a place where the river had quite overflowed the rails, and the engine had to force its way through two or three feet of water, of course at a very slow and cautious pace; here they are raising the road so as to escape, if possible, future inundations. Once through this last impediment, we rattled along over a good hard bit of road at a good pace to Jundiahy, the end of our adventurous journey. The station is a little distance from the town, which stands on a hill, and after partaking of some solid refreshments, which we fortunately found ready at the Railway Hotel, in half an hour we were again on a ballast truck going through the same process of changing from one truck to another, walking over slippery ground, until we finally again joined the carriage on the opposite side of the broken culvert, before arriving at which a thunder storm came on, accompanied by torrents of rain, and most of us were thoroughly wet through. The storm continued nearly to San Paulo, but it is amongst the gorges of the mountains it comes down most furiously.
It is not my intention to comment further on the errors that have been made in the construction of this railway. No doubt obstacles had to be met at every step; nor can shareholders be supposed to know much about engineering details of this kind. They subscribe their money on the faith of a Government guarantee, believing in the estimates, and that of course the line will, under any circumstances, pay its working expenses. The late Mr. Brunel used to repudiate the existence of engineering difficulties. It was a mere question of money; but I think had he surveyed the intended line of the San Paulo Railway he would have said both these points were involved, the result being that the original estimates are greatly exceeded, and the works still require a considerable outlay before they can be permanently relied on. The thing certainly appears incredible, if it were not the fact, that to work a line consisting almost entirely of short curves and heavy gradients, the directors should have sent out rigid locomotives suited to a first-class English railway, without even bogie frames attached, causing great wear and tear to both engines and rails. I quite believe that with suitable locomotives the line may be safely and properly worked, and it seems exactly a case in point for such engines as Fairlie's. The question as to maintenance of way must always be a very important one; whether in such a mountainous country, subject at seasons to heavy rains and flooded rivers, and with a treacherous soil, the nature of the works is such as can be relied on, for unless this is the case, as the public journals of San Paulo justly observe, the real utility of the railway is destroyed. Coffee growers and cotton planters have been looking to it as a sure and certain means of getting their produce down to Santos, and unless this can be depended on they will have to resort to the old, cumbrous, and expensive mode of carrying it upwards of one hundred miles on the backs of mules as heretofore. It is a momentous question for this province whether or not they can depend on railway conveyance, which I think may fairly be looked for when the line becomes consolidated, but both shareholders and the Government must be prepared to make sacrifices of no common