Mauritius Railway

[E3109]

Spurred on a little by Rue d'Etropal's Bermuda thread, I thought I'd post on this topic.

A colleague and friend who I regularly relieve on Anglo-Scottish liner leccy jobs is from Mauritius and I must confess I wasn't aware that the island had ever had a railway.

He's recently been over to visit family and his dad knew all about it, we were googling the hell out of it the other week in the mess room.

 

What is even more remarkable, is that it was standard gauge, fairly unusual for an island former colony I expect.

It closed in the 1960s but not before a last gasp at modernisation, a couple of NBL diesels were brought in and amazingly these were tested on BR metals prior to export.

Even more surprising is that one of them ended up in the possession of a US dealer, after closure.

 

Would make a wonderful model, especially if a "what if it stayed open" scenario were introduced.

As it happens, the government are now pressing ahead with a modern tramway network and some of it will use the original formation by the looks.

[E3109]

Link below

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Mauritius

[E3109]

Wow, old RMWeb thread here sheds more light on this.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49374-what-locomotive-is-this/

[009 micro modeller]

There were also some narrow gauge sugar lines there and Kerr Stuart 4415 ran in Mauritius before being repatriated to the Ffestiniog: https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Kerr_Stuart_4415

[EddieB]

There were also some narrow gauge sugar lines there and Kerr Stuart 4415 ran in Mauritius before being repatriated to the Ffestiniog: https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Kerr_Stuart_4415

Topical, in that the Industrial Railway Society has recently published a book on Kerr Stuart diesels.

 

There was an early article on the standard gauge Government railways in "Railway Magazine" (1907).  As this might be hard to access*, a scan is appended below.

Mauritius RM 1907.pdf

 

Unravelling the sugar lines and their locomotives is something of a minefield - there are listings, but are said to incorporate inaccuracies (and don't get me started on locomotives supplied by Alexander Penney).and mis-identification of the sugar companies.  The original editor and publisher of "European Railways" was something of an expert on the island and its railways, having a family connection there.

 

*I understand that current subscribers can now further subscribe to a digital archive - believed now complete - of past issues.

[Liam]

I hope you don’t mind me bringing this thread up. We went on holiday to Mauritius for Christmas and it’s a fantastic island. On one of the days just before Christmas, we hired a driver and car to do a whole day excursion around the island and one of the places we stopped off was a tea plantation. There’s a museum there that explains all about Mauritian tea, and in this museum I was astonished to find a steam locomotive boiler.

 

 

There was a technical drawing next to the locomotive and this said the builder was Bagnall, Stafford. The railway on Mauritius closed in 1962 and then this boiler was purchased by the tea plantation (a company called Bois Cheri) and used IIRC in the tea leaf burning process. 

[009 micro modeller]

11 minutes ago, Liam said:

I hope you don’t mind me bringing this thread up. We went on holiday to Mauritius for Christmas and it’s a fantastic island. On one of the days just before Christmas, we hired a driver and car to do a whole day excursion around the island and one of the places we stopped off was a tea plantation. There’s a museum there that explains all about Mauritian tea, and in this museum I was astonished to find a steam locomotive boiler.

 

 

There was a technical drawing next to the locomotive and this said the builder was Bagnall, Stafford. The railway on Mauritius closed in 1962 and then this boiler was purchased by the tea plantation (a company called Bois Cheri) and used IIRC in the tea leaf burning process. 

Did you see this railway at all?

 

I understand there is also a light rail system now, partly on some of the old railway trackbeds.

[Liam]

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Did you see this railway at all?

 

I understand there is also a light rail system now, partly on some of the old railway trackbeds.

Unfortunately not, but we did see the new tramway. That looks very smart and I was told upon returning home and down at the model railway club for the first time afterwards that the trams in Mauritius are the same design as those on the Midland Metro.

[Gordonwis]

7 hours ago, Liam said:

 That looks very smart and I was told upon returning home and down at the model railway club for the first time afterwards that the trams in Mauritius are the same design as those on the Midland Metro.

 

The Mauritius trams are CAF 'Urbos'. Like all 21st century trams they are a modular design, so not 100% the same as the Midland Metro cars. Edinburgh trams are also Urbos family

[andrewshimmin]

I remember reading in an RM article that Patrick Whitehouse had done a film about Mauritius Railways in the sixties. But I've never been able to trace it or even find other references to it. Does anyone know any more?

[BachelorBoy]

On 27/08/2023 at 14:54, andrewshimmin said:

I remember reading in an RM article that Patrick Whitehouse had done a film about Mauritius Railways in the sixties. But I've never been able to trace it or even find other references to it. Does anyone know any more?

 

You can find it on this DVD, which is about Iberian railways

 

 

https://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/?atk=708

[andrewshimmin]

4 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

You can find it on this DVD, which is about Iberian railways

 

 

https://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/?atk=708

Thank you