Then A Line Of Coolies Moves Along,
Placing Sleepers At Regular Intervals; Another
Gang Drops The Rails In Their Places; Yet Another
Brings Along The Keys, Fishplates, Bolts And Nuts
While Following These Are The Men Who Actually
Fix The Rails On The Sleepers And Link Up From
One To Another.
Finally, the packing gang finishes
the work by filling in earth and ballast under and
around the steel sleepers to give them the
necessary grip and rigidity.
Some days we were able
to lay only a few yards, while on other days we
might do over a mile; all depended on the
nature of the country we had to cover. On one
occasion we succeeded in breaking the record
for a day's platelaying, and were gratified at
receiving a telegram of congratulation from the
Railway Committee at the Foreign Office.
I made it my custom to take a walk each
morning for some distance ahead of rails along
the centre-line of the railway, in order to spy out
the land and to form a rough estimate of the
material that would be required in the way of
sleepers, girders for temporary bridges, etc. It
was necessary to do this in order to avoid undue
delay taking place owing to shortage of material
of any kind. About ten days after my arrival at
Machakos Road I walked in this way for five or
six miles ahead of the last-laid rail. It was
rather unusual for me to go so far, and, as it
happened, I was alone on this occasion, Mahina
having been left behind in camp.
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