The title of this photograph indicates that this building houses the Nankou Transport Machinery Company, located on the Jing-Zhang (or Beijing-Zhangjiakou) railroad line. Standing in front of the building is a group of workers. At the front and center of the image is a tall structure used for loading and unloading freight. The photograph is from Jing-Zhang lu gong cuo ying (Photographs of the Jing-Zhang Railway construction), an album issued in 1909 to mark the opening of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (formerly known as the Imperial Peking-Kalgan Railway), the first railroad in China designed, built, and financed by the Chinese, without foreign involvement. The photographs in the album were taken between 1905 and 1909 by the Tongsheng Photo Studio of Shanghai. The construction had three phases: the first line, from Fengtai to Nankou, was completed in September 1906. The second line, from Nankou to Kangzhuang, was completed in September 1908. The third part of the railroad, from Kangzhuang to Zhangjiakou, was finished in September 1909. The total length of the line, from Fengtai in Beijing to Zhangjiakou, was about 200 kilometers. The two-volume album depicts scenes along the railroad, including its main sections, railway stations, factory buildings, locomotives, bridges, and tunnels and culverts, as well as scenes of laborers at work during the construction and of the festivities celebrating the opening of the railway. Views and scenic spots at various stops along the line are clearly depicted, and provide a complete and systematic overview of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway at the time. Presented here is volume one.
The title of this photograph indicates that this building houses the Nankou Transport Machinery Company, located on the Jing-Zhang (or Beijing-Zhangjiakou) railroad line. Standing in front of the building is a group of workers. At the front and center of the image is a tall structure used for loading and unloading freight. The photograph is from Jing-Zhang lu gong cuo ying (Photographs of the Jing-Zhang Railway construction), an album issued in 1909 to mark the opening of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (formerly known as the Imperial Peking-Kalgan Railway), the first railroad in China designed, built, and financed by the Chinese, without foreign involvement. The photographs in the album were taken between 1905 and 1909 by the Tongsheng Photo Studio of Shanghai. The construction had three phases: the first line, from Fengtai to Nankou, was completed in September 1906. The second line, from Nankou to Kangzhuang, was completed in September 1908. The third part of the railroad, from Kangzhuang to Zhangjiakou, was finished in September 1909. The total length of the line, from Fengtai in Beijing to Zhangjiakou, was about 200 kilometers. The two-volume album depicts scenes along the railroad, including its main sections, railway stations, factory buildings, locomotives, bridges, and tunnels and culverts, as well as scenes of laborers at work during the construction and of the festivities celebrating the opening of the railway. Views and scenic spots at various stops along the line are clearly depicted, and provide a complete and systematic overview of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway at the time. Presented here is volume one.