In front of us, Adana-Konya-Afyon-Kütahya-Eskişehir-Ankara railway provides great convenience for transportation and replenishment works. This is a big fortune for us. But we also have serious problems.
The number of locomotives is insufficient, we only have 18 locomotives working. We need 23 more locomotives, but of course we have no chance of obtaining them. It takes a long time to repair the broken ones because there are no spare parts. No coal, we use wood. Finding wood is tricky. The wagons are old. Most of the machinists and dispatchers are Greek or Armenian. They only work at gunpoint or for a lot of money. One day, we entrusted our railways to foreigners without thinking about what this heedlessness might cost, and they did not raise a single Turk. These are vital lessons that should never be forgotten! Now, the course opened by the General Manager of the Railways, Colonel Behiç Bey, is trying to train Turkish machinists and officials in haste. In short, transporting troops by rail is also problematic. – Those Crazy Turks, p. 161-163
Be the first to comment