Railway History

Below is the second part of an article compiled by NZASM expert Robert de Jong in the late 1980s (the Nederlansche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM) was a Dutch company responsible for the construction and administration of many early Transvaal railway lines). The first piece looked at the structures and buildings of the Rand Tram while this one looks at the Southern Line. Very little NZASM architecture has survived on these lines due to rapid economic growth in the region over the decades.

When work on the construction of the Rand Tram started in 1889, it was already deemed highly probably that at no distant date the harbours of the Cape Colony and Natal would be connected with the Transvaal railways in order to reach the Witwatersrand. The Transvaal Government recognised the importance of the different lines being worked by the same company (NZASM), with the object to protect the Delagoa Bay Line against isolation and the loss of its privileged status.

In June 1890 the Volksraad sanctioned the construction of a railway line from Pretoria to the Vaal River, where it would join a railway which was projected through the Orange Free State to the harbours of the Cape Colony.

The Southern Line (Pretoria-Vaal River) consisted of three sections: the Rand Tram cut the line in two halves at Elandsfontein, and the third part was made up by the section Elandsfontein-Johannesburg, which would be doubled and thus no longer form part of the Rand Tram system.

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Robert De Jong is one of the foremost experts on the Nederlansche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM), a Dutch company responsible for the construction and administration of many early Transvaal railway lines. The following article, which looks at various structures associated with the Rand Tram, appeared in a number of publications in the late 1980s. In the introduction (not published below) De Jong expressed hope that the article would stimulate an interest in railway architecture which 'has been, like mining architecture, up to now a relatively neglected field of research in South Africa.'. Two and a half decades later we share these sentiments.

The Uitlander population on the Witwatersrand got their railway before the Government was able to run any train to Delagoa Bay. In the end this line, started as a humble transport arrangement for coal to the 'diggings', was to carry the heaviest rail traffic in the ZAR. The Rand Tram proved to be the first and one of the most successful exercises of railway construction in the Transvaal. And had not the abortive Jameson Raid influenced events during the years 1896-1899, the central station, Park Station at Johannesburg, would have boasted one of the finest railway buildings in all of South Africa.

North-eastern view of the covered platform of Park Station 1897 (NZASM 100)...

The catchphrase “Cape to Cairo” was first coined in 1874, by Edwin Arnold (editor of the Daily Telegraph) and was taken up by Cecil John Rhodes as a call for the “Civilisation” of Darkest Africa. To Rhodes civilisation meant the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the vast interior of the African continent. He was a controversial figure in his day and remains so today.

The instrument to achieve his goal was the laying down of a pioneer railway as quickly as possible; how far it would reach into the interior? This was a question that was only answered after his death, in 1902, at the age of 48 years 9 months.

Rhodes' Grave in the Matoba Hills

Rhodes had become a mining magnate by consolidating the diamond diggings of Kimberley. In 1888 he bought out his main rival, Barney Barnato, for the sum of £4 million, forming De Beers Consolidated Diamond Mines. He thereafter became the founder of the mining house Goldfields, on the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand.

With the wealth he accrued, he dreamed of becoming an empire builder and schemed to paint the map of Africa red (the colour accorded to the British Empire) for his Queen and country.

Kimberley, as part of Griqualand West, was annexed by the Cape Colony...

Peter Ball continues his epic History of Southern African Railways series with this superb piece on the line from Mossel Bay to Oudsthoorn. He sets the historical context, highlights the incredibly difficult terrain for railway building and concludes that it is remarkable that the line was built at all.

The Outeniqua Mountains run parallel to the coast in the region we now call the Garden Route, they separate the coastal strip from the valley of the Olifants River, which is better known as the Klein Karroo. The mountains were a natural barrier to those who wished to venture inland beyond the coastal shelf and the native people of the Cape, the Khoikhoi, were the first to discover ways over them, by following animal tracks.

Terrain Map (Google Maps)

When the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) established a victualing station at Cape Town (in 1652) for its ships sailing to and from the Spice Islands it never intended to colonise the region, however it did send out expeditions for the purpose of trade with the Khoikhoi. One such expedition took place in 1689 and was led by Ensign Isaq Schrijver who was sent eastwards over the Hottentot-Holland Mountains, along a track which would become the old Cape Wagon Road.

His journey took him and his column of men through the Overberg and further onto a...

Thousands of people in South Africa and abroad dream of the day when the famous Outeniqua Choo Tjoe will run again. In the article below Peter Ball sketches the history and potential future of this world in one branch line.

The town of Knysna was founded in 1804 by an Englishman called George Rex, although the surrounding area had already been settled by the Dutch in 1770 for the purpose of farming and wood cutting. Rex saw great commercial potential in the indigenous forests and became the driving force behind Knysna becoming a port for the export of timber, even though the channel between the “Heads” became notorious for shipwrecks. In truth the land links were so poor that shipping was the only economic alternative no matter the risks involved.

George Rex Grave (The Garden Route by David Steele)

The Heads (The Garden Route by David Steele)

By 1870 a Norwegian family settled in Knysna by the name of Thesen and they became the owners of a business in logging, sawmilling, ship building...

Peter Ball returns with this fantastic article on narrow gauge railways in South Africa. He believes that the line from Port Elizabeth towards the Langkloof, which can be reopened in stages, is the most viable preservation project in the country and argues that we should look to the Welsh experience over the last sixty years for inspiration.

The story of narrow gauge railways began in Wales when, in 1836, the FESTINIOG RAILWAY was to build a line with a gauge of 1’-11½” (597 mm), for the purpose of carrying slate from the quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog down to the sea at Portmadoc, a distance of 13 miles (21 km). When operations commenced a horse did the work of pulling the empty wagons back up the hill, while on the downhill journey gravity alone did the job with the horse getting a free ride! In 1863 steam engines were introduced as demand for slate (roofing) increased. The line became famous for its “Double Fairlie” locomotives that had two boilers and a central cab supported by two steam bogies (cylinders, wheels and motion), which were ideal for negotiating the tight curves and powerful enough to climb the steep gradients. The Slate traffic went into terminal decline soon after the Second World War and the line closed in 1946. Grass, bushes and even trees grew up and around the abandoned track, however this was not the end of the line by any means as by the mid 1950’s a group of railway enthusiasts took control...

The series on the History of Southern African Railways continues with this piece on the mighty Garratt engines that conquered the geography of the sub-continent. The article is a must read for any railway enthusiast!

The Highveld plateau of southern Africa which rises sharply from the narrow coastal plains means that most of the sub-continent is higher than 1000 metres (3 280 feet) above sea level. This topography hampered the exploration and development of the hinterland as the escarpment proved to be a barrier to those who lived along the coast. Passes would in due course be made allowing hunters, missionaries and above all farmers, to make their way up to the top of the plateau. A generation after the Great Trek (of 1838) diamonds were discovered (1869), where Kimberley stands today and that was the impetus to be built a railway towards the interior (from 1874 to 1885). Those railway builders would face the same difficulties in finding a way up the escarpment as had the Trek Boers.

The routes taken, by South Africa’s railways (refer to “Ox Wagon to Iron Horse), from the coast were dictated by the inland plateau and it was impossible to avoid the steep gradients which had to be surmounted. The difficult terrain encountered meant that not only were the gradients severe but also “S” curves and horse shoe bends were many. Moreover the permanent way was lightly laid as it was not financially possible to build to the standards of Britain. Paradoxically...

In the previous installment of the History of Southern African Railways series Peter Ball explored the politics and economics of the Benguela Railway. In this edition he heads east and unpacks the complexities of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.

On the 14th July 1976 the Chinese officially handed over the TAN-ZAM Railway to the Governments of Tanzania and Zambia. It had taken just five years to build and its commissioning would change the pattern of economic dependencies in the region.

Officially known as the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) the 1 860 km (1 156 miles) long rail link between the Copperbelt and the port of Dar es Salaam, has long been dubbed the “Uhuru” or Freedom Railway, a reference to the fact that it was built to lessen Zambia’s heavy economic reliance on Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa.

Tazara Railway on the right

If we go back fifty five years, to 1960, the political map of Africa was totally different to what it is today and large parts of the continent were still under the colonial rule of the European powers of Britain, Belgium, France and Portugal. Independence movements were however agitating just as they had in Asia fifteen years before, at the ending of the Second World War.

At the beginning of the 1960’s Zambia was still called Northern Rhodesia and with Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland formed the...

In this article Peter Ball jumps across a few borders and looks at some of the history and politics of the Benguela Railway which runs for over 1300km across Angola.

On the 13th August 2014 the Benguela Railway, in Angola, was reopened throughout, between the port of Lobito and the town of Luau, near the border with the DRC, after a seven year long rehabilitation by the Chinese, reportedly at a cost US$ 2 billion. The line was reopened in stages, from the coast eastwards, starting with the Lobito to Huambo section, which had its train service restored in 2011. China has rebuilt the line under a trade agreement which exchanges infrastructure for oil (from Angola’s Cabinda oil fields). The rebuilding was undertaken by the management and construction team, the “China Railway 20 Bureau Group (CR20)”, with all the rails (50 kg/m), equipment, locomotives and carriages as well as the skilled labour force being sourced from China. The reinstated railway follows the same route as the original line conceived one hundred and twelve years ago, from the Atlantic coast to the interior of central Africa.

Map of Benguela Railway (and Tazara Railway in the East)

The devastating Angolan civil war, which lasted for 27 years, from 1976 to 2002, forced the closure of the entire railway line, except for the 34 km (21 mile) stretch between the coastal towns of Lobito and...

This installment of the History of Southern African Railways series looks at the demise of the branch line network and will be relevant to many in the heritage community. Over the last few decades many lines have been closed and the heritage assets associated with them have fallen into disrepair. We certainly hope that Transnet's strategy to revitalise the branch line network will go some way towards turning this situation around.

The original mandate conferred on South African Railways (SAR) in 1910 placed a great onus on the Railway’s administrators. It said that the railways, ports and harbours should be run on business principles. However, it went on to say that due regard was to be paid to the provision of cheap transport for agricultural and industrial development.

The railways, as of 1910, had a total route mileage of 7000 and the trunk lines were considered to have reached to their fullest extent. Thus further development (and expenditure) would be in the upgrading of the existing system and the construction of branch lines to serve the country districts. The latter will be the focus of this article.

By definition a branch line is a secondary line which branches off a trunk line, that enables rail traffic (either passenger or produce) to be carried onward from the country districts to the major centres (ports or markets).

The typical branch line in South Africa was a Cape Gauge, lightly laid single track (45lb/yard rail) and with its accompanying telegraph line was a vital link between...