Cape to Cairo Railway - From the Cape
The first efforts to raise the capital necessary for railway construction in South Africa began in London in the late 1840's. Settlers in the colonies were strongly opposed to railways because of concerns about the effects on the livelihood of transport riders and horse breeders as well as a fear of heavy taxes. Their opposition failed to stop the efforts of the overscas financiers. Anti-railway conferences were held in the Transvaal as late as 1887.
Cecil Rhodes had always been a firm believer in the efficacy of the railroad as an agent of civilisation, and one of his earliest efforts in the Cape Parliament was to procure the extension of the Cape Government railway to Kimberley. This line really formed the first link in the great "Cape to Cairo" railway scheme which was to become so famous in after-years. Having carried his point, in the teeth of considerable opposition, he paused for a while, but he resolutely declined to accept the dictum of the Afrikander Bond that Kimberley should remain for all time the terminus of this railway, and that any future extension northwards should be by way of the railway from the Cape to Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.
There was one benefit accruing from the empire-builder's dream — he gave the engineers of South Africa elbow-room in which to display their ability within certain limits. It might be said that he inaugurated a new railway-construction policy so far as South Africa was concerned. The railway-builders had an extensive territory to cover, and they appeared to cherish the belief that the best means by which this conquest could be achieved was upon the most expensive lines possible. Thus, for instance, the railway network in Natal, the Transvaal and Orange Free State cost about £15,000, or $75,000, per mile, and those of Cape Colony about £10,000, or $50,000, per mile—sums out of all proportion to the railway needs of the time, and which served to commit the countries to a heavy capital outlay and interest charges. When Cecil Rhodes outlined his project he set himself to a limit of about £5,000, or $25,000, per mile.
Such a line was a pioneer road in the fullest sense of the word, but it would suffice to meet the demands of the country for many years to come, and could be improved as circumstances demanded. The time will come, doubtless, when a standard-gauge road from the waters of the Mediterranean to the southern end of the continent will become imperative, but a few decades will have to pass before the line of 3 feet 6 inches gauge becomes inadequate.
The Cape to Cairo is remarkable in many respects: in fact, it might be described as a string of record-breaking feats in railway engineering. In the first place it was the first trans-continental road ever to be driven longitudinally through a continent—the coast to coast lines in other parts of the world cut across the continent from east to west. When completed it will be the longest continuous trunk iron road ever built. In its length are comprised both the highest and longest bridges in Africa, in its realisation the highest speed in track-laying has been recorded, and it has been driven steadily forward under conditions such as never have attended the realisation of any comparative project—war, plague and famine.
When the scheme was commenced the railways of the southern colony had penetrated 647 miles up-country from Cape Town to the diamond mines at Kimberley. Consequently, Diamondopolis was selected as the starting-point for the northward advance, through the hinterland now known as Rhodesia. The first rail out of Kimberley was laid in 1889, and by October, 1894, it had gained Mafeking, 223 miles beyond.
While this part of the work was under way the colonisation of Mashonaland had proceeded, and had progressed so favourably that the railway's advance became an urgent necessity, especially as the Matabele under Lobengula were giving signs of trouble, and it was essential that the latter should be subdued. So in 1896 the dull, grey snake resumed its tortuous crawl to the north. Further trouble was experienced at this juncture, and retarded operations to a material degree. The deadly rinderpest broke out, and swept off the settlers' cattle like flies. Transport was paralysed, and the engineers were called upon to perform a superhuman task to pour supplies and material forward. As animals were unavailable, traction engines had to be brought up-country to ply between the point where the locomotive stopped and the construction camps strung out ahead.
However, Rhodes decided that the rails must reach Buluwayo before the end of 1897. Seeing that 492 miles divided the railhead from the latter point, this was no mean order; but Messrs. Pauling & Co., the contractors, promised that his wishes should be fulfilled. Large forces of natives were whipped up, and by superhuman effort the apparently impossible was achieved, the 492 miles of metals being laid in 500 working days.
As might be supposed from the low cost of the line (£4,500 or $22,500, per mile), the engineering work was not of an elaborate character. Rapidity of construction, combined with low cost, were the two governing considerations that had to be borne in mind, for the sooner railway transportation was provided, the earlier settlement would take place. The terms governing construction demanded that the line should be of such a character as "would be capable of effectually conveying traffic at a speed of twelve miles an hour on completion, and that grades and curves were not to be sharper and heavier than generally prevailed upon a line of this gauge." Ballasting was only to be used on such portions of the line as was necessary to ensure the safe running of the trains during the rainy season.
In laying the road very little regard was paid to formation, and wherever the surface of the ground was even it was followed, the steel sleepers being packed with the minimum of ballast to give a moderately smooth running top. The shallower streams and rivers were not bridged, but the railway was carried across over a ford. If the water rose above the track a few inches, a thrilling spectacle was offered when a train crossed. It would creep carefully down the bank and crash full tilt into the water, sending up a column of spray which entirely obliterated the front of the engine from view. Later, the line was overhauled and brought into conformity with modern requirements, bridges of steel being introduced to span all obstructions of this character. Timber was impossible, owing to the ravages of white ants, though creosoted wood was found to offer a substitute for the metal for a short period, and was adopted sparingly.
The Zambesi Railway Bridge at the Victoria Falls was the highest — 420 feet — in the world, and it was built in the shortest time recorded for such a work—viz., nineteen months. The total length of the bridge is 650 feet, of which the central span accounts for 500 feet between the pin centres on the two banks, the balance being made up of the two short spans. The great centre span rises in a graceful parabolic arch to the centre, the spring of which starts from the bases of the main booms. The vertical rise to the crown is 90 feet. So carefully had the whole thing been thought out that the two ends of the bridge, which was built from both sides on the gorge simultaneously, met so exactly that there was not a difference between them of even an eighth of an inch. The actual erection of the bridge commenced on October, 1904, and the girders were joined on April 1, 1905.
No other bridge of its size and capacity had ever been built so cheaply. The bridge was designed by Sir Charles Metcalfe, consulting engineer in Africa of the Rhodesia Railways, Limited, and Mr. G.A. Hobson, M.Inst. C.E., of the firm of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, the same company's consulting engineers in London. The work of construction was under the immediate charge of Mr. G.C. Imbault, who had with him a staff of English bridge-builders, which never exceeded twenty-five men and about one hundred native laborers. This gentleman practically superintended the construction of the bridge.
The Southern Line was a good many miles beyond Kalomo, and well on the way to Rhodesia Broken Hill, the next great stage to the terminus. By the time the Victoria bridge was able to permit trains to pass from bank to bank, the end of steel had been hurried towards Kalomo, the capital of North-Western Rhodesia, 1,733 miles from Cape Town. Rhodes preferred the water route by Lake Tanganyika. Sir Charles preferred the railway line by the side, but whether Germany would permit of the latter was doubtful.
When Broken Hill was gained, 2,013 miles from Cape Town, construction was brought to a stop. The mastermind had passed away some time before, and the colleague who had assisted Rhodes when other financial magnates turned a deaf ear to the project, had also joined the great majority. By the time Broken Hill was gained, £8,000,000 (or $40,000,000) had been sunk in the enterprise. For months the stack of 2000 tons of steel for the resumption northwards remained untouched, through lack of funds, though Mr. Alfred Beit had left £1,500,000 (or $7,500,000) towards the continuation of the work. Then the mineral wealth around Katanga in the Congo Free State, which was under exploitation, demanded transportation to the coast. Accordingly, the line was pushed on to the border of the adjacent country.
As prime minister of the British Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes had annexed and lent his name to Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia [now Zambia and Zimbabwe]. As early as 1890 he had looked to claim territory farther north for the Cape to Cairo railroad. Intent on pushing north toward Egypt, he ignored Leopold's borders in the Congo and sent his agents into Katanga to negotiate with village chiefs. Rhodes died in 1902 without having acquired Katanga or his Cape-to-Cairo railroad, but his deputy Sir Robert Williams managed to find his way inside Katanga. King Leopold partnered with Williams's company Tanganyika Concessons Ltd, granting them a stake in mineral rights in exchange for helping finance a railroad to the mines (this merger would later become Union Miniere). The line, after leaving Lake Kivu, had to pass through Belgian territory, and as this location was inevitable unless it were decided to swing somewhat to the east to pass through German East Africa, an easier route was offered through the Congo. The railway was taken from Broken Hill to Elizabethville.
This railway tapped the rich copper districts of Katanga, and by 1918 all traffic to and from that country went as far as Bulawayo, thence to the Portuguese port of Beira on the East Coast. It is evident that the southern stretch of the Cape to Cairo railway has reached its present useful limit; not only does Katanga produce find its way out to the nearest point on the East Coast, Beira, but when the Benguela railway was finished a much quicker and cheaper route will be available for Katanga direct to Lobito Bay on the Atlantic Ocean, and the Cape to Cairo line would then be little used by this district.
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