Rail to the Rescue - Part 3
James Beatty arrived on 19th January, from Constantinople where he had met a sympathetic but apologetic Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. He had arranged a temporary work force of 800 Croatians for the railway, but at the last moment they had refused to go to the Crimea. Since Beatty hadn't been expecting anything, this was not too much of a disappointment, but now that he had met with Campbell and approved his survey, he was anxious to make a start, and desperate to obtain manpower - the first shipload of navvies might not arrive for three weeks.
The following day the two men rode over the ground of the the proposed railway track. Beatty congratulated Campbell on having done the best job possible, and felt familiarised to the extent of being able to cope with any questions the Board of Officers might throw at him the next day.
If James held any illusions that the enthusiasm of the government and the Prime Minister for his project would carry any ripples to the Crimea, he was quickly disillusioned the following morning. Far from dominating proceedings, he found that they were third on the agenda. The senior officer on the Board was Lt Col Anthony Sterling, as we know a hardened cynic at the best of times, and severely sceptical about the value of a railway. Why was Beatty's first demand for 500 men plus pack animals? he demanded. And to build a flat surface on which to lay rails. If he Sterling had such manpowere available he would already have built a mettalled road up to the Col. It seemed to him that Beatty was only going to provide wagons pulled by horses - no locomotives were scheduled, and he doubted the strength of a traction engine to pull wagons up Frenchman's Hill. Nonetheless the Board gave the project and the proposed route their blessing in principle, so long as the railway people would vacate Ordnance Quay as soon as they had their own adjoining quay up and running.
The next day January 21st, Beatty visited Commissary General Filder, who made no bones of the fact that he saw the whole project, especially the navvies, as potential trouble for him. All he asked of them was that they got their ration returns in accurately and on time, and that they kept out of his way -they could deal with his department through his Chief Writer. There was
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