East African railways miscellany

[Mikkel]

Recent posts suggest that some other RMwebbers have an interest in East African railways, so I thought I’d start a thread.  There is a another thread here by @rogerfarnworth but that is linked to his excellent blog (recommended), and I wouldn't want to hijack that.  

 

I’ll kick off with a first batch of photos from a recent visit to the Nairobi Railway Museum.

 

The museum is currently not easy to find, as recent construction of the elevated Expressway has disrupted the area. But once you’re in, it’s a peaceful place.

 

 

 
Resting in the shade with old friends, above left is East African Railways 29 Class 2-8-2 No. 2921 "Masai of Kenya”, an oil-burner built at North British works in Glasgow in 1955. The EAR had 31 locos of this class, which I understand were based on the Nigerian Railways “River” class.

 

 

 
Here is EAR No. 5505 of the “55” class.  Built by Beyer, Peacock & Co in Manchester for the War Department during WW2. It was a class of 11 locos with interesting colonial histories. No. 5505 first went to Burma, then Tanganyika, then Kenya.

 

 

 
No. 5055 again, but a throwback to 1985 with a couple of unruly youngsters. Yours truly at the handrails and my brother Nicholas in the cab. The loco hasn’t moved an inch since then, but the plates have gone - I wonder where.

 

Back in 2023. Luckily you are still allowed to climb the engines. No doubt there are different views on that, but in this case I think it makes good sense. This is Kenya-Uganda Railway ED1 class 2-6-2T No. 327, the class was built at Vulcan from 1926-1930.

 

 

 
Above is Tanganyika Railways 4-8-0 No. 301 of the “TR” Class. A Beyer Peacock engine,  it was built in 1923 and later became EAR “23” Class No. 2302. It’s claim to fame is that it featured in the Out of Africa film, although apparently pushed by a diesel loco disguised as a van! There are several clips of the loco in action in the video below.

 

 

 

 

A colonial gaze on Africa it may be, but they certainly are lovely scenes.

 

These 4-wheel coaches also feature in the film. For me they are among the stars of the museum’s collection, though I have yet to work out where and when they were built.

 

 

 
The First Class Uganda Railways coach would be an interesting challenge for a modeller. I wonder if anyone has had a go?

 

 

Others have taken an interest in these coaches over the years!

 

The Third class 4-wheeler is certainly deliciously vintage.

 

 

Guard’s compartment in the Third Class coach.

 

I'll leave it there for now. More to come, but would be nice to also see other members' EAR related photos.

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Mikkel

[Vecchio]

Nice photos! And I did like this film. Saw Out of Africa several times. Also because Klaus Maria Brandauer is one of my favourite actors...  And with Merryl Streep and Robert Redford nothing can go wrong...

[Grovenor]

Here are a couple of pics taken in Nairobi in 1970. I'll look out some more later.

Loco 5910 "Mount Hanang" arriving in Nairobi with a freight from Mombasa.

http://www.norgrove.me.uk/glimages/G5910-1.jpg

http://www.norgrove.me.uk/glimages/G5910-2.jpg

Edited June 17, 2023 by Grovenor

[Not Jeremy]

Great idea for a thread. I was lucky enough to spend summer of 1972 in Kenya with my sister.

 

We stayed with our uncle and aunt in Nakuru up the Rift Valley, luckily Uncle Geoffrey was an enthusiast and I went around Nakuru, Nairobi and Voi sheds.

 

The railway was truly fabulous, semaphores and a great maroon livery with brass cut out numbers on the steam engines. I loved the "tribal" class, 29/30/31 and the 59 Garrretts going through Tsavo were something else. Stopping off at Voi on the way to Mombasa I photographed one of those really lovely 23 class on a ballast working.

 

We saw lots of other things too, loads of game, Thompsons Falls, the white sand of Malindi beach, Jomo Kenyatta and soldier ants.

 

Geoffrey sadly went some years ago, but I have a letter from him to CIE and its reply, dictated by none other than OVB himself!

 

All of it never to be forgotten, I'll dig some pictures out, they are on an older computer and as slides.

[Mikkel]

 

13 hours ago, Grovenor said:

Here are a couple of pics taken in Nairobi in 1970. I'll look out some more later.

Loco 5910 "Mount Hanang" arriving in Nairobi with a freight from Mombasa.

http://www.norgrove.me.uk/glimages/G5910-1.jpg

http://www.norgrove.me.uk/glimages/G5910-2.jpg

 

Thanks for sharing those. Apart from the locos, the structures are interesting. These old postcards show the original main station at Nairobi , built 1899:  

 

 

 

The "tower" feature is a variant of a design that could also be seen at larger GWR stations at the time - e.g. Winchester, Truro, Ross-on-Wye, Ealing Broadway, and the current Kidderminster:

 

(my photo)

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Mikkel

[Johann Marsbar]

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

 

Thanks for sharing those. Apart from the locos, the structures are interesting. These old postcards show the original main station at Nairobi , built 1899:  

 

 

 

The "tower" feature is a variant of a design that could also be seen at larger GWR stations at the time - e.g. Winchester, Truro, Ross-on-Wye, Ealing Broadway, and the current Kidderminster:

 

(my photo)

 

 

That "tower" design even made it to Argentina....

 

[Grovenor]

Here is the EAR HQ in Nairobi, just across the road from the station.

 

My visit was a road trip up from Zambia via Dodoma, through to Nairobi and onto the rift valley before returning via the coast at Mombasa then Dar es Salaam. First contact with EAR was at Dodoma. A small town then and the station and shed just across the road from the hotel.

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Grovenor

[Grovenor]

At Dodoma 1102 was shunting whilst 2504, 2508 and 2919 were getting attention on shed.

 

[Mark Saunders]

There are a number of drawings in the Charles Roberts collection held by the NRM in York!

[Mikkel]

Thanks Mark, I assume you mean of EAR stock? I wonder if any of it has been published, I'm on the lookout for a good book about the stock of the region.

 

 

On 18/06/2023 at 18:09, Grovenor said:

Here is the EAR HQ in Nairobi, just across the road from the station.

 

 

It really is an imposing structure. Tells you something about the importance and authority of railways at the time and in the colonies. Sir Herbert Baker was the architect, also responsible for Government House in Nairobi, and active in South Africa and India it seems.

 

There's a brief description of the buidling's details here:   http://buildesign.co.ke/kenya-railways-headquarters-building/.

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by Mikkel
Pesky line breaks

[Grovenor]

From Dodoma we continued North, first to Arusha where we caught loco 2460.

 

[Grovenor]

Then to Moshi where we found a passenger rake stabled and loco 1301 on shunt duty. From Moshi we crossed the border to Kenya, heading for Voi for the Tsavo Park then to Nairobi.

 

[BachelorBoy]

I think it's sad that so few railway enthusiasts in the UK show no interest in the amazing feats of UK railway builders abroad

 

Shap and Beattock are molehills compared to the gradient profile of Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond. 

 

From the British Overseas Railways Historical Trust website.  http://borht.org.uk/

 

[Re6/6]

On 17/06/2023 at 21:14, Vecchio said:

Nice photos! And I did like this film. Saw Out of Africa several times. Also because Klaus Maria Brandauer is one of my favourite actors...  And with Merryl Streep and Robert Redford nothing can go wrong...

.....and John Barry's wonderful opening music.

[Mikkel]

6 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

I think it's sad that so few railway enthusiasts in the UK show no interest in the amazing feats of UK railway builders abroad

 

Shap and Beattock are molehills compared to the gradient profile of Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond. 

 

From the British Overseas Railways Historical Trust website.  http://borht.org.uk/

 

 

 

An interesting profile map, I like the comparison with Euston-Glasgow.

 

The map below is in the Nairobi museum, and quite convenient as it shows the completion dates of the main sections of the EAR lines (apologies for the reflections, the staff allowed me to take photos but it's all behind glass).

 

 

You can see how the "lunatic line" from Mombasa through Nairobi to Kisumu on Lake Victoria was the pioneering section in today's Kenya. That line tends to get most of the attention in (British) historical accounts, but the German equivalent - from Dar Es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika - that followed later must have been quite a task too. After that there was a  break (WW1) and then the lines starting growing again.

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Mikkel
To clarify

[rogerfarnworth]

Mikkel, excellent thread which benefits form some great photos from you and some good contributions from others. Are you aware that Uganda Railways has recently opened a Railway Museum in Jinja?

[Not Jeremy]

I have found a few images, they are not very good and I ought to rescan the original slides, but as that isn't imminent I will post some here - apologies for the quality.

 

As I recall, Geoffrey and I would walk down to the line every evening to watch what we called the "5 o'clock goods", this was about a mile south of Nakuru station across the road from the school where he taught.

 

This train frequently included a withdrawn Garrett that was being returned to Nairobi, as diesels were increasingly coming in to use. They were certainly hauling all of the passenger trains I saw, in their smart green and yellow livery.

 

One evening we drove down to Gilgil, the next station south of Nakuru to see the evening freight, and I took this picture, no Garrett on this one. I think that might be Uncle Geoffrey's Cortina estate at the right edge of the picture(!)

 

 

I think this might be another of these evening freights, photographed at Nakuru, or it might be somewhere else. Nearly a great picture, if only there had been a decent photographer present!

 

 

It was a fantastic landscape and the skies and light were amazing. I am sure they still are.

 

Simon

[Grovenor]

To finish off my 1970 trip. After spending time with the animals in Tsavo we passed through Nairobi. In addition to the 59 class Garrett already posted here are some carriages and 1101, 4612 and 8503 on shunting duty.

[Grovenor]

And finally at Naivasha in the rift valley. Diesel 9043 on route, 2911, at the station.

[Not Jeremy]

Great pictures Keith, thank you for sharing them.

 

Two years later, we went on a two week holiday in Kilifi, up the coast from Mombasa, travelling down through Tsavo and stopping at Voi where the Arusha line diverged.

 

I took some shots inside the shed there, here is one of them.

 

 

Either on the way down or possibly on the way back up, we also stopped at Bachuma, just south of Voi, where I photographed the tablet exchange on a Mombasa bound freight running through hauled by one of the fabulous 59 Garretts.

 

 

 

And it wasn't a 23 I saw on a ballast train, it was a Class 24 - not the Sulzer version(!!)

 

 

I think that apart from anything else (like the passage of fifty years) the new standard gauge line has made a big difference to the metre gauge line through Tsavo.

 

I will find my other photographs and slides and get them properly scanned.

 

 

[Mikkel]

Lovely photos. 

 

16 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

I think that apart from anything else (like the passage of fifty years) the new standard gauge line has made a big difference to the metre gauge line through Tsavo.

 

It certainly has. The Nairobi museum has a section with photos of the construction of the new SGR (standard gauge railway) as it is popularly known.

 

 

 

 

There has been a lot of debate of the impact of the new line on wildlife - not just in Tsavo but also in Nairobi National Park, where the new line diverted from the old one and cut through part of the park for the first time. In consequence the line was raised in Nairobi National Park so that wildlife can pass under it. Here's a photo I took last year:

 

 

 

 

On 21/06/2023 at 22:19, rogerfarnworth said:

Mikkel, excellent thread which benefits form some great photos from you and some good contributions from others. Are you aware that Uganda Railways has recently opened a Railway Museum in Jinja?

 

Thanks Roger, I have learnt a lot from your blog. I didn't know about the museum in Jinja, must put that on the list!

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Mikkel

[Mikkel]

Here’s another batch of photos from the railway museum in Nairobi.

 

 
Starting off with a relatively modern loco, this is No. 3123 of the oil-burning EAR 31 class 2-8-4, of which 46 were built by Vulcan in 1955. 

 

 

 

 

The class were a lighter version of the 30 class (one of which is apparently still operational, as seen in this delightful photo: https://www.facebook.com/AfricaTrainTravels/photos/a.197916444103670/1074889246406381/)

 

 

 

 

The 31 class had hollow-spoked SCOA-P wheels. If Wikipedia is to be believed such wheels were developed in Australia in the 1940s “in response to Victorian Railways experiencing fatigue problems with conventional spoked wheels”. Did any British locos feature them?

 

 

 

The museum has some interesting goods stock. Sadly, information about EAR goods seems hard to come by. I’m still looking.

 

 

 

 

These look like standard vans. Not sure about the livery though, may just be for preservation purposes.

 

 

 

 

Open goods wagon. I found it interesting that no timber wagons are in evidence. At the time there was plenty of forest in the country. Perhaps the wagon stock was built elsewhere?

 

 

 

 

Livestock wagon. Incidentally, in 2022 Kenya Railways re-introduced livestock transport by rail. I'm not optimistic though, competition with trucks is stiff here.

 

 

 

 

Here's a first class coach built by Metro-Cammell in 1953.

 

 

 

 

Saltley says hello! Metro-Cammell seem to have been satisfied with this stock, using it in the ad below. Very 1950s!

 

 

Source: East African Railways - EAR passenger train (Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage Works, Saltley) by Historical Railway Images, on Flickr

 

 

 

Above is the interior of the Metro-Cammell coaches. I’m trying to find out when they were retired. They ring a bell from my childhood days in the early 1980s, but not sure.

 

 

 

 

Ahem! The museum seems to have housed a street art project. Perhaps a little disrespectful to the old coaches, but I can see why the museum is trying to link up with modern culture: Most of the stuff in this museum is spiritually very, very remote from the daily lives of 99% of Nairobi’s population. 

 

 

 

Most of the time the museum is very quiet – which is unfortunate for the till, but pleasant for those of us who like a good rest in the shade.

 

I’ll end there for now, more later.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Mikkel

[Mikkel]

The new SG line in Kenya has run into trouble, and this time it's not lions:

 

"China's Belt and Road Initiative: Kenya and a railway to nowhere"

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67101736

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Mikkel

[kitpw]

Everywhere I've ever been in the world, 'the chairman' has got there first with his indestructable garden seating and coffee tables, always the same pattern. There they are, under the tree...  Nice blog by the way, the aluminium Metro-Cammel coaches are wonderful things.

 

 

[Mikkel]

Yes those chairs are everywhere. Not exactly stylish, but it's a funny thing: My wife has a bad back and she says these are the best for her to sit in!