SOURCE: Boon Boonzaaier's book - Tracks Across the Veld - Used with kind release to Wikipedia.

The Development Of The South African Railway Network

The First Efforts

It took a few years for the potential of the Great Railway boom, which had started in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to begin to be realised in South Africa.

The Cape of Good Hope, the only part of the sub-continent known to the outside world and civilisation, had only just begun to extend a few tentative tentacles into a hinterland that was fraught with mystery and danger. The secret of the country’s mineral wealth still lay well hidden under the large inland plains where thousands of herds of antelope still roamed freely.

The first reference to the possible construction of a railway line was probably an article that appeared in the South African Commercial Advertiser on 10 October 1838, while the Great Trek was in full swing. This was followed on 25 October 1845 by the Pictorial Times carrying an article on the benefits of a railway to the Cape Colony, but seemingly few people agreed with the concept, and little progress was made at that time. The good burghers of the Cape were simply not yet ready for this new invention.

During this period the Cape Government preferred to spend its financial resources on road building, and, indeed, some magnificent road passes were built during this period. These were needed to open up the interior and to break the isolation caused by the ranges that imprisoned the Cape between mountains and sea.

The earliest recorded use of the railway principle in South Africa (and indeed in southern Africa), was the wooden track railway laid around the Bluff to Cave Rock at the entrance to the Bay of Natal, Durban. The precise date of construction has not been recorded, but it is known to have existed from about 1850 until 1857 or 1858. John Milne, CE, the harbour engineer, surveyed the route and had the line built to transport stone that had been quarried at Cave Rock to the entrance channel of the Bay, where it was used for the construction of a pier on the town side. Its length was described as having been “one hundred yards short of a mile”, and the gauge was about 4 feet. Tree trunks were cut in half to serve as cross-ties, laid flat side down and then cut on the upper side to accommodate the stout timber rails. The rails were bolted down with wooden chocks to prevent them from being forced out of gauge. Four laden wagons represented a full load, which was hauled by a span of 8 oxen.

In October 1845 the Cape of Good Hope Western Railway Company was formed in London with the express purpose of building the first railway line in South Africa. However, this company achieved very little, and the Cape Colony missed out on the opportunity to have the first public railway on African soil. This honour fell to Egypt at the far end of the continent, when the first train ran between Cairo and Alexandria in 1856.

On 21 August 1853 The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company was established, and incorporated in London with a registered capital of £600 000 in 1854. At the second meeting of the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company a proposal was carried to build a railway line in Namaqualand “for the conveyance of copper ore from the newly discovered mines”. However, when it came down to the actual construction, the choice fell instead to a line through the important wine-growing districts of the Cape, linking Cape Town and Wellington.

For the construction of this line, an engineer with some railway building experience was needed, and William George Brounger was sent to the Cape. He had already been involved in building a line in Denmark for the Zeeland Railway, and ultimately he was to become the most famous railway engineer in Southern African railway history.

In the Eastern Cape, John Patterson, a former schoolmaster and founder of the Standard Bank, in 1855, issued a brochure with a map that showed a projected network of hypothetical railways covering Southern Africa. Without any knowledge of his country’s mineral wealth, he produced a map that showed a remarkable resemblance to the network that was to develop during the next century!

The First Lines

The first sod for a railway line between Cape Town and Wellington was turned on 31 March 1859, but the Cape Colony lost the race to run the first public railway service in Southern Africa. This happened in Natal, when Engineer Jacobs made the first trip between Durban and the Point on 26 June 1860. Some 800 passengers on this occasion had the honour of being the first in Southern Africa to travel by train.

As a result of this, it was a rather low-key reception that marked the opening of the train service from Cape Town to Eerste River on 13 February 1862. On 1 May 1862 the service was extended to Stellenbosch, and the entire line was officially opened on 4 November 1863.

In 1861, the Wynberg Railway Company was established, and a new line between Salt River Junction and Wynberg was brought into service on 19 December 1864.

Although the first railway line was opened in Durban in 1860, it was not until 25 January 1867, that a short section of line between Market Square station and Umgeni Quarry was taken into use to transport the stone needed for the construction of the harbour. Regular public transport over this section began on 4 April 1867.

No further progress was made with the construction of railways until the discovery of diamonds in 1867. It was then that a new era dawned in South Africa, and within the next few years mineral lords, politicians and thousands of fortune-hunters would have a profound effect on the way of life of the entire population, in the process changing the boundaries of the individual colonies. Within the next fifty years a unified South Africa would emerge, linked together by the railway lines that were being built during the previous half century.

Cape Gauge

In 1873 the Cape Government took over the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company and established the Cape Government Railways (CGR). The assets of the Wynberg Railway Company were similarly transferred to government ownership in 1876.

Initially, “Stephenson’s gauge”, the British standard of four feet eight-and-a-half inches (1435 mm) was adopted for the first railways in South Africa. The line from the Point to the Market Square in Durban was laid over level, sandy ground, while the line from Cape Town to Wellington similarly did not require any major civil engineering works of any kind. Consequently, there was no reason to depart from the traditional standard gauge, but this changed when it became necessary to traverse the chain of mountains between the coastal plains and the inland plateau. It then became obvious that a railway on a narrower gauge would be less costly to build.

The result was that the Cape government decided to reduce the gauge to three feet six inches, or 1067 mm. By sheer good luck, South Africa was able to settle on a uniform gauge before construction of the regional network commenced, and only the lines from Cape Town to Wellington and Wynberg, as well as from Durban to Umgeni became mixed gauge for a short time. The first section of 3ft 6in gauge track to be opened in South Africa was from Cape Town Docks to a junction with the main line on 11 May 1875. This comparatively narrow gauge subsequently became the standard for main line construction not only in South Africa, but for the majority of Africa’s railways. It came to be known as “Cape Gauge” or, in German, “Kapspur”, although its origins can be traced back to Norway where it was first used for branch line construction in the early 1860s.

Diamond Fever

Brounger’s field engineer, Wells Hood, eventually found a suitable route for the Iron Horse to gallop over the plains of the Great Karoo. After completing the line over the Hex River Pass it was only a matter of time before the ribbons of steel reached Kimberley. The First South African War between England and the Transvaal Republic, and a slump in the diamond industry, slowed progress, but it also gave the Eastern Province a chance to link their railway line with the Cape main line on 31 March 1884. On 28 November 1885 Cape Town and Kimberley were finally linked by rail when De Aar was linked to Kimberley.

While the coming of the railways in the Western Cape was changing the lifestyle of its residents, the Eastern Cape worked to make sure that it was not left behind. The proposals of John Patterson were not forgotten and local merchants and speculators pleaded for a railway line to the interior. On 4 November 1870 the Uitenhage Municipality offered a piece of land to any company that would be the first to construct a railway line between Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage. The first railway line in the Eastern Province was destined to be a line to Graaff-Reinet.

Up north, President TW Burgers also realised the benefits of a railway link with the sea but the South African Republic did not have the money for such a venture. President Burgers went to Europe in 1875 to raise about £300 000 for a railway line. He could only raise £93 833, but still bought railway material for this amount and had it shipped to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). The first Anglo-Boer War intervened and the consignment of rails, girders and equipment was dumped on the beach to rust away.

In an effort to find money, the Transvaal Volksraad imposed a “Railway Line Tax” of 30 shillings per annum on all farms in 1876. For many years to come, and without a single rail being laid, the Railway Tax continued to figure in the Transvaal budget.

Coal deposits found in the Stormberg Mountains in 1859 led to a decision to build a railway line from East London to Queenstown. Work on this line started in 1873, but due to the difficult terrain and several Border Wars, it was to take seven years for the 247 km line to be completed.

In 1875, work began on the railway line from Port Elizabeth to Graaff-Reinet. The main aim of this line was to provide better transport for agricultural products and to encourage the use of Port Elizabeth harbour. This line was opened in 1879, but it would be more than 20 years before it was extended over the Lootsberg to connect with the Midland Line at Middelburg Road (later renamed Rosmead).

Developments in Natal

In Natal, the Government followed the Cape’s example and in 1877 bought out the Natal Railway Company. Likewise, a gauge of three feet, six inches was adopted and the existing broad gauge railway lines re-gauged. The Natal Government Railways (NGR) were constituted in 1875 and on New Year’s Day, 1876, the customary turf-turning ceremony was performed to mark the start of construction of the first section of the Natal main line between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, as well as a branch line to Verulam in the north and Isipingo in the south. Construction of the main line progressed slowly inland, only reaching Pietermaritzburg in 1880. By 1886 the rail head had advanced to Ladysmith and on 7 April 1891 the line was opened to Charlestown, just 4km short of the border with the Transvaal Republic. On 19 November 1891, the branch line to the Orange River Colony Junction was opened from Ladysmith to Van Reenen.

Private Initiative

In 1887 the Cape Central Railways Ltd (CCR) completed a line between Worcester and Roodewal (later named Ashton). Destined to become the longest private railway line in the country (331 km), this line was to be extended, in phases, to Mossel Bay, which it finally reached in 1906. After being privately run for almost 40 years, it achieved government ownership and became part of the SAR network on 1 August 1925.

Gold Fever

Meanwhile, construction of the Cape Eastern Line from East London had pressed on from Queenstown across the Stormberg Range to reach Aliwal North on the southern bank of the Orange River on 2 September 1885. Only a year after the railway line reached Kimberley, the world’s richest gold deposits were discovered on the Witwatersrand, making Johannesburg the next goal of the railway line from Cape Town.

The discovery of gold in 1886 brought a new wave of railway extensions, this time towards the Transvaal borders. However, president Paul Kruger had other ideas and he resolved to delay railway links with the British harbours as long as possible!

For the first time the Transvaal had money available and Paul Kruger started dreaming of independence from British ports. During the next few years, he did his best to obtain their own harbour for the landlocked Transvaal. In spite of all his efforts to extend the Transvaal territory to the west, Kosi Bay, Sodwana Bay and even Beira, he was constantly thwarted by Britain. Even an offer to buy Delagoa Bay was sabotaged, and in the end the only practical solution was to build a railway line to the east coast, accepting that almost a hundred kilometres would run over Portuguese territory.

The Netherlands South African Railway Company (NZASM) was formed on 21 June 1887 to build the Eastern Line. The needs of the mines and mine workers led to the President granting permission to build the Transvaal’s first railway line between Boksburg and Braamfontein. Known as the “Rand Tram”, it started operations on 17 March 1890. Extensions to the east and to the west followed in rapid succession: Springs on 13 October and Roodepoort on 17 November, 1890, while on 10 February 1891, the extension from Roodepoort to Krugersdorp opened for traffic.

When work started on the Eastern Line, Paul Kruger informed the Cape and Natal that their lines could not be extended from the Transvaal borders to the goldfields before it was completed. But the coastal colonies were not going to give up their claims on traffic to the Witwatersrand quite so easily.

The Cape Government offered to build a line from south to north across the Free State, which was too poor to finance a railway line in its own right. In 1890 the first train steamed into Bloemfontein, and on 7 May 1892 the tracks reached Viljoensdrift on the Vaal River.

Although President Kruger attended the opening ceremony of the line between Ladysmith and Charlestown on 7 April 1891, he still refused to allow a connection with the goldfields before the Eastern Line was completed. The Natal Government Railways (NGR) then extended their railway line from Van Reenen to Harrismith in 1892, with the aim of extending this line through the northeastern Free State to Vereeniging. However, this was destined never to be built as circumstances forced President Kruger to change his mind.

When the line through the southern Free State to Bloemfontein was opened, it was realised that it would be much cheaper to connect the East London Line with this line, and so a link was built from Dreunberg outside Burgersdorp to Springfontein. This was opened on 21 May 1892. At the same time, work on the Aliwal North to Bloemfontein line was put on hold, not to be completed until 1924.

All did not go well with the Eastern Line. The difficult terrain led to the costs blowing out massively, and it became necessary to borrow funds to complete the line. To obtain the money, President Kruger had to agree to an extension being built from Charlestown. It was no longer necessary to continue the line from Harrismith to Vereeniging, and the NGR continued their line towards Heidelberg.

The Harbours Connected

On 21 May 1892, Presidents Reitz and Kruger officially opened the line through the Orange Free State, and on 15 September that year the first train from Cape Town steamed into Johannesburg. Cape Town now had a link with the goldfields, although it was not by the shortest route. It was also possible to travel by rail from Port Elizabeth and East London via Rosmead and Noupoort to Johannesburg.

The Eastern Line became operational on 2 January 1896, and the first train left Durban for Johannesburg on 16 December 1895.

If anyone had thought that the completion of the routes from the ports to the goldfields would spell the end of rivalry between the colonies in the south and the republics in the north, they were soon to be proved very wrong.

The Railways and Politics

Paul Kruger now had to attract all possible traffic to the Eastern Line so that he would be able to repay the loans and keep Transvaal independent from the British ports. In 1896 he increased the tariffs sharply on the section between Vereeniging and Johannesburg, and by lowering the tariffs on the Eastern Line it became cheaper to use Delagoa Bay. The CGR responded by taking goods by ox wagon from the Vaal River to Johannesburg, which prompted Kruger to close the drifts or fords. Britain and the South African Republic were now on the brink of war, but Kruger backed down and signed a reasonable working agreement.

However, Paul Kruger still refused to allow the shorter link between Kimberley and Klerksdorp.

As part of Cecil John Rhodes’ dream of British territory stretching from the south of Africa to the north, a “Pioneer Column” was sent to occupy Matabeleland and Mashonaland in 1890. To connect the Trans Limpopo territories (or “Rhodesia” as they were to become known) with the southern African colonies, the railway line was extended northbound from Kimberley. It crossed the Vaal River at Warrenton, and on 4 November 1897 the rail connection between Cape Town and Bulawayo via British Bechuanaland was opened. After this line had been completed, Rhodes continued to dream of “a line stretching from the Cape to Cairo”.

With the main routes completed as the nineteenth century drew to a close, the railway administrations and speculators started to look at connecting outlying areas with the main lines.

Network Extensions

While the Eastern Line was being laid from Komatipoort to Nelspruit and up the Elands River valley, the Selati Railway was being registered in 1892 in Belgium as Compagnie Franco-Belge de Chemin de Fer du Nord de la République Sud Africaine. In 1893 construction started on a rail link from Komatipoort to the new goldfields at Leydsdorp, near the present-day Gravelotte. However, this turned out to be nothing more than a grand money-making scheme based on bribery, corruption and distortion by the Opperman Brothers, barons Eugéne and Robert, and their associates.

In 1897 the tracks of the NZASM (the Transvaal railway) spread westward from Krugersdorp as far as Klerksdorp, while a private company connected Pretoria with Pietersburg in 1899.

In Natal, the North Coast extension from Verulam started life as a private line built by the Natal-Zululand Railway Company Ltd. This line reached the Tugela in 1898, and was leased to the Natal Government in 1907 (it only became part of the SAR in 1947). The continuation north of the Tugela was also built by a private concern, the Zululand Railway Company Ltd. This line was intended as transport for the Hlabisa coalfields, and it opened throughout to Somkele on 17 September 1903. On 31 March 1905 the Natal Government purchased the line for £750 000, and immediately assumed ownership.

After the Cape Central Railway (CCR) had gone bankrupt in 1892, a new company was formed the following year, and the New Cape Central Railway Company (NCCR) extended the line from Ashton to Swellendam in 1899.

The Orange Free State, in charge of their own railways since 1897, built branches off the main line to Winburg (1898) and Heilbron (1899), with these opening less than a year before the outbreak of the second Anglo Boer War.

The Boer War

This Anglo Boer War was the first conflict to really demonstrate the importance of the railways. Indeed, the first shot of the war was fired at an armoured train at Kraaipan in 1899! Unfortunately the important role of the railways also led to major damage as the Boer Forces destroyed bridges and tracks in order to prevent the movement of British Troops. Today, the blockhouses next to the railway lines are a silent reminder of the counter-measures taken to guard the supply routes.

As the tide of war was turning against the Republics, a Canadian, lieut-colonel Sir Percy Girouard, was appointed as Director of Railways of the South African Field Forces. This led to the establishment on 1 June 1900 of the “Imperial Military Railways” (IMR), consisting of the railway networks of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal lines (the NZASM).

A month after the Treaty of Vereeniging had been signed, the lines were handed back to the Civil Government. Girouard remained in control and established the Central South African Railways (CSAR). During his term as Commissioner of Railways in the two new colonies he imported numerous very competent officials and technical staff, mainly from England. These men were to shape the destiny of the railways during the next few years.

Developments After the War

As the Anglo Boer War was continuing in the north, the Cape and Natal Colonies were continuing to expand their railway networks. When peace was finally established, the railway networks continued to grow in all four colonies, causing new problems as each railway administration did everything it could to make maximum use of its network.

Probably the most important line built during this period was a link between Klerksdorp and Fourteen Streams on the Cape Town to Bulawayo Line. When this line was opened on 4 April 1906, it signalled a shorter, more direct route from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Also in 1906, the railway line between Harrismith and Kroonstad was completed, thereby directly connecting the Orange Free State with the port of Durban. Starting at Krugersdorp, a line was constructed westwards through Magaliesburg, Koster and Swartruggens to reach Zeerust in 1907, but the connection with the branch line from Mafeking to Buhrmannsdrif was not to be completed until 1912. This line then gave Johannesburg a direct link to Rhodesia. In 1908 another gap in the rail system was bridged when Bloemfontein was linked to Kimberley.

Another important development during this period was the introduction of dining cars on long-distance trains. The NGR introduced its Corridor Dining Express in 1903, to be closely followed by the CGR.

In the difficult period after the war the Natal and Cape ports needed to be able to handle all the traffic they could attract. However, the Transvaal entered into a contract, called the “Modus Vivendi”, to make maximum use of the port of Lourenço Marques in exchange for mineworkers from Mozambique.

The South African Railways (1910)

The complaints from the coastal ports led to the “Inter-Colonial Tariff Conference” in 1908, which aimed to divide the available traffic equitably amongst the ports.

When delegates to the Conference realised the problem was too difficult to solve, it gave momentum to arguments that most of the problems of Southern Africa could only be solved by a single government. With this impetus, it was to be less than two years until the Union of South Africa came into being on 31 May 1910.

On the same date, the South African Railways was also born, merging the railway administrations of the CGR, NGR and CSAR into one body. The new railway administration inherited an extensive railway system of 12 367km (7 686 miles), of which 972km (604 miles) were privately-owned lines. At the time there were two privately owned narrow gauge railways not connected to the network — the Cape Copper Company’s line from Port Nolloth to O’kiep, and the South Western Railway at Knysna.

Up to this point the network had been built to pioneer standards, and consisted mainly of lightly laid track with a minimum of earthworks. Gradients and curves generally conformed to the shape of the terrain. Underline structures such as bridges and viaducts were of light construction, and a light rail section, with little or no ballast, was used. This development at low cost brought with it (with few exceptions) diminutive locomotives, light rolling stock and a reputation for slow speed.

The very nature of these early lines made it difficult to work the railways economically, especially as the traffic increased. There was, therefore, an urgent need for the new South African Railways to initiate engineering work that avoided the excessively circuitous sections, and to rebuild alignments to follow easier gradients. In the process, hundreds of kilometres of main line railway were radically transformed from the pioneer standards of the early days to permanent ways of distinction. In some instances this was achieved through several feats of reconstruction that have inspired many impressive works of civil engineering.

South Africa has as difficult a terrain for railway construction as anywhere in the world and, although the standard for main line construction was set to a modest three-and-a-half feet, there are instances where the cost of constructing even that narrow gauge was considered too high and the width between the rails was further reduced, generally to two feet. There was one odd one out, the two-and-a-half feet (762mm) gauge Cape Copper Company’s line from Port Nolloth to O’Kiep, the first of the narrow gauge railways. This was developed by private enterprise and predated the introduction of the ‘Cape Gauge’ railways in South Africa. Although the first of the ‘ultra’ narrow gauge railways for conveying both goods and passengers was a private line, the Stanger to Kearsney Light Railway in Natal, the majority of the 13 lines built to a gauge of two-feet (or 610mm) were Government-owned railways from new. Three of them were later to be re-gauged to Cape Gauge.

Sir William Hoy was appointed as the first General Manager of the South African Railways, and one of his first tasks was to inspire a single loyalty amongst the staff who had come from various railway backgrounds. Many came from England and had been trained in the classical Stephenson tradition, while others, like CB Elliot, were among the first of a new race of South African-born railwaymen. In the Orange Free State the railways were run by Afrikaners according to methods introduced by the CGR before 1895. North of the Vaal River almost the entire staff was non-English, mostly Dutch immigrants. Rolling-stock up north was mostly German-built, while the Cape and Natal railways were almost exclusively supplied by British builders.

1910 – 1924

When the First World War broke out the SAR was called on to provide sufficient mobility to allow the South African Armed Forces to capture German South West Africa. The link between the railheads at Prieska and Kalkfontein-Süd, a distance of 490km, was completed in a mere 180 days at the hitherto unheard-of rate of almost 3 kilometres per day. This connection came into service on 25 June 1915. During hostilities, SAR railwaymen were instrumental in repairing and rebuilding the lines blown up by the retreating German soldiers, and they eventually helped to run the system. On 1 April 1922, the railway system of South West Africa, comprising 3 100km of track was added to the open lines mileage of the South African Railways. During the period when South West Africa was governed by South Africa, the SWA System was developed as an integral part of the SAR until it was handed over to the Namibian Administration in 1985.

In the 14 years from 1910 to 1924, a further 5 045km of track was added to the network, a large proportion of which were branch lines built to serve the agricultural sector. However, there were also several major deviations on the Natal main line to meet the increasingly heavy traffic flows.

The difficult section from Mooi River to Estcourt was replaced in 1914 with a new stretch of line that halved the steepness of the original ‘Highlands’ route, but at the same time lengthened the distance between the two towns by 11 kilometres. Next, the section from Pietermaritzburg to Cedara was relocated around Town Hill and brought into operation towards the end of 1916. This was followed in 1919 by the opening of a direct line from Pentrich to Umlaas Road that cut out the detour via Thornville Junction. By far the largest deviation, in terms of magnitude and cost at the time, was the 64 km long stretch of line from Booth Junction to Cato Ridge. To achieve a ruling gradient of 1:66, several major cuttings, some up to 32 metres deep, and embankments, up to 35 metres high, were needed for the track to pass through the hilly terrain, as well as 10 tunnels. Although a restricted service began operating over the line on 14 February 1921, it was not until 28 November that the line was finally handed over to open lines working. Further reconstruction of the Natal main line saw new alignments opened from Cedara to Nottingham Road, and from Ennersdale to Ladysmith in 1924.

The PAKT Era (1924 -1930)

Although no new railway lines were authorised for construction between 1914 and 1922, work continued on those already sanctioned by Parliament. However, the mileage added to open line working dwindled during the latter years of the First World War. Work began again in 1922, when Union Act No.30 gave the green light to a spate of new construction. Thanks to a combined effort at the polls between the National and Labour Parties, the PAKT Government came to power in 1924. One of their election promises was to create jobs, and many branch lines were built to open up land for agriculture and to provide these regions with reliable transport. By the end of 1930, an additional 3 100km of track had been laid, bringing the total length of government-owned railways in South Africa to 18 640 kilometres.

Electrification

In 1925 the first section of main line electrification was opened between Mooi River and Glencoe and this signalled the dawn of a new era of motive power for the SAR. The SAR soon realised the benefits of electric traction for the mountainous sections, but had to wait until sufficient finances were available. The class 1E electrics tamed the toughest mountain sections as the SAR strung the 3 000v direct-current catenary between Mooi River and Masons Mill, Pietermaritzburg (1925–26), from Masons Mill to Durban (1932–36), Daimana (Ladysmith) to Harrismith (1935) and from Glencoe to Volksrust (1937–38)

The first electric suburban service in South Africa started operating on 25 September 1927, running from Cape Town’s Monument station to Sea Point, using 1500-volt d.c overhead power supply. Unfortunately, the service was uneconomical and the railway was closed less than two years later. In June 1928, electric trains started running between Cape Town and Simon’s Town, then from Salt River to Bellville (1933) and from Maitland to Heathfield (1934), but it would be another 25 years before the electrified suburban network on the Cape Peninsula was significantly extended.

Electric traction commenced on the Reef in 1937 when the sections from Germiston to Wattles and Alberton were electrified. In 1938 the suburban lines between Randfontein and Springs, and from Germiston to Pretoria were also draped with catenary. The Rand Mineral Line and other sections were to be electrified in the years that followed.

Cape to Beit Bridge (1929)

In 1929 the ribbons of steel finally spanned the length of South Africa with the completion of the line between Messina and Beit Bridge over the Alfred Beit Memorial Bridge. Another 45 years were to pass before the line was continued to Rutenga to provide a direct link with the railways in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. More recently, another direct link was added when the line to West Nicholson was completed in 1999.

Depression and War (1929 – 1945)

From 1929 onwards, South Africa was affected by the Great Depression, like the rest of the western world. Although the Government tried to create jobs through railway building it lacked the necessary funds and fewer projects than planned could be undertaken. Despite the economic down-turn, a number of railway improvement projects were undertaken, the most significant of which was the realignment and installation of electric traction on the northern section of the Natal main line between Uithoek and Volksrust under the “10 million Pound scheme”. At the same time, track-duplication continued on the new main line between Durban and Cato Ridge, together with the stringing up of the overhead catenary. When the 526 km stretch of line from Durban to Volksrust was electrified on 3 October 1937, it constituted the longest stretch of electrified railway anywhere on the African continent. Improvements to other main lines included the elimination of the notorious Bellvue Bank on the Cape Midlands Line between Sandflats and Alicedale in 1934, and the reconstruction of the Cape Eastern Line from East London to Chiselhurst in 1936. Also in 1936, the electrified relief line from Congella to the Point in Durban was opened and consequently that bit of the original line from Market Square station to the Point became history when its rails were lifted in 1937.

The Pretoria to Rustenburg line was extended to Thabazimbi in 1934 so that the vast iron-ore deposits in the area could be exploited. In 1936, a line was opened from Postmasburg to Lohatlha with a branch to Manganore, a line that was to become one of the more important ore export lines in the country.

1945 – 1960

The Second World War was another watershed in the history of the SAR. While it was called upon for troop movements, most of its staff (more than 14 000 personnel) was on active duty overseas.

The War itself saw major developments to road transport, and road building became a new priority. Suddenly the railways had competition from tarred roads built over the vast distances once ruled by steam engines and railwaymen.

The Second World War also made South Africa an exporting country, and the period after 1946 was marked by phenomenal growth in mineral exports. To run longer and heavier trains the SAR embarked on a major programme of upgrading the main lines to the coast.

By this time the line over Hex River Pass was at maximum capacity, and it was decided to replace the tortuous alignment with an easier graded route embodying four tunnels. Work on this project was begun in 1947, but it was shelved in 1950 in favour of electrification over the pass with longer trains, thus increasing the carrying capacity. The Bellville to Worcester section opened under 3 kV d.c. operation on 8 April 1953, followed by the Worcester to Touws River section on 14 May 1954, while the earlier Cape electric lines energised at 1.5 kV d.c. had all been changed over to the higher voltage by the mid 1950s.

The alignment of the Cape Eastern Line out of East London line was progressively improved, so that by 1950 a completely new line up to Imvani was operational.

In 1950 it was decided to upgrade the Cape Midlands Line from Port Elizabeth to Noupoort as the Natal main line could no longer handle manganese exports. Major reconstruction of the alignment on the Alicedale to Cradock section was completed in 1957. Although much of the original route remained intact between Cradock and Rosmead, a new alignment completed in 1961 provided an easier ascent of the Carlton Heights.

The Orange Free State main line was also realigned in several places when the stretch between Bloemfontein and the Vaal River bridge was doubled during the 1950s. Other major works undertaken were the new bridge over the Orange River, the doubling of the line between De Aar and Kimberley (1960–65), the realignments to the main line between Union and Volksrust (1956–61) and the reconstruction of the line between Brakwal and Van Reenen (1961).

The biggest spending during the 1950s involved the upgrading of the Natal main line, which entailed doubling all single line sections between Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith The improved location featured some of the longest tunnels ever built in South Africa. In 1957, the Hidcote twin tunnels (“up” tunnel 3257 metres and “down” tunnel 4029 metres) became the longest tunnels in the country, only to be overtaken three years later by the 6 km Cedara twin tunnels in 1960.

Delivery of the 2000th steam locomotive (class 24 No.3675 Bartholomew Diaz) was made in 1950. The peak of steam power was reached in 1959, when there were 2755 steam locomotives in service, 401 of which were of the Garratt articulated type.

Many new lines built to serve the mining sector were operated by the SAR on the condition that the mining companies acted as guarantors for any working losses for periods of 10, 15 or up to 30 years from the date of opening. These operating conditions applied to branches such as those opened to the new Free State goldfields (1948), the Witbank Coal Fields (1951), the Sishen Iron Ore Mines (1953) and the extension to Hotazel (1961).

On 1 December 1959, the 180 km section of line from Vryburg to Ramatlhabama came under the control of the SAR, thus ending an alliance dating back to 1889 between the Cape Government Railways and the British South Africa Company founded by Cecil Rhodes.

Following a cabinet decision in 1954 that the Central Government would bridge the shortfall between revenue and operating costs, the SAR Administration embarked on a programme to expand the suburban networks. The aim was to provide rail transport for the vast residential townships that were being established on the Reef, Pretoria, Cape Peninsula and Durban. Some of these commuter lines had their beginnings in the 1930s, but from the late 1950s and through the 1960s new lines were added, while others were extended, doubled and electrified.

Diesel-Electric Traction (1958)

While the main lines were gradually being electrified, a decision was made in 1955 to replace steam with diesel-electric traction on those main lines that did not have the traffic volume to justify electrification, and then to phase out steam locomotives from branch line operation. One batch of the first order of diesel-electric locomotives was sent to South West Africa, while the new form of traction was also put into revenue-earning service in South Africa between Germiston, Volksrust and Kroonstad in August 1958. Concurrent with the introduction of diesel-electric traction to the South West Africa system, the entire network of 600 mm gauge railways in the mandated territory (568 kilometres of line) was broadened to 1065 mm gauge between 1958 and 1960.

The Dawn of the Second Century

In 1960 South Africa celebrated the centenary of its railways and fifty years of service to the country by the SAR. When the Natal Railway Company opened its 3 km line between the Point and the Market Square in Durban on 26 June 1860, few people could have imagined that this short piece of railway and the one then under construction between Cape Town and Wellington would grow to be a system of over 21 600km, part of the largest transport organisation on the African continent.

The Union Carriage and Wagon Co. (Pty) Ltd of Nigel (UCW) was established in 1957 as a local railway rolling stock manufacturer to lessen South Africa’s dependence on overseas suppliers. The company delivered the first locally built electric unit (of the 5E1 type) on 7 January 1963. Since then, 13 000 new locomotives, suburban electric multiple unit coaches, main line passenger coaches and a variety of special wagons have rolled off the production line. The latest contract for rolling stock is the assembly of 92 Electrostar coaches for Gautrain.

Large Scale Electrification

During the 1960s the electrification of more main lines continued steadily

It was estimated that 80,2% of the ton kilometres generated on the rail network was moved by electric traction when the last section of the Cape main line, between De Aar and Kimberley, was electrified under 25kV AC. Incidentally, it was also the De Aar to Kimberley line, “the Steel Kyalami”, that was the last main line to see regular steam-worked trains right into the early 1990s — all steam workings were withdrawn on 6 April 1992 and a final run was made on 11 December 1992.

When new mines were developed at Phalaborwa it was clear that the existing Selati Line would be unable to handle the large quantities of freight. As most of the line ran through the Kruger National Park it was decided to build a completely new line from Kaapmuiden to Matshaye to replace the existing line from Komatipoort. This line was opened in 1971. The 50 km long branch line from Hoedspruit to Phalaborwa was completed in 1963 and opened to electric traction in 1978. Other important lines built up to 1975 were: Fochville to Houtkop (1965), Stoffberg to Roossenekal (1968), and Groveput to Copperton (1974).

The last batch of new steam locomotives for South African Railways was built at the Hunslett Taylor Engineering works in Johannesburg and delivered in 1968. The order consisted of eight NGG16 (Garratt) locomotives for the 610mm gauge Donnybrook to Umzinto line in Natal.

Dr Kobus Loubser (1970 -1983)

Many new developments took place while Dr Kobus Loubser was General Manager and most of the progress was the direct result of his “hands-on” attitude.

The 1970s will also be remembered for the introduction of the two new Blue Trains on 4 September 1972 to replace the original train sets placed in service in 1939/40. The luxury train had only officially been given the name “Blue Train” in 1946. The new Blue Train, which is of all South African construction, was built as two sets, comprising 16 vehicles each, at Union Carriage & Wagon Co. (Pty) Ltd for a daunting cost (at the time) of R4,5 million. Quality costs money: a single journey from Pretoria to Cape Town in top-of-the-range “super luxury accommodation” cost in 1972 the princely sum of R80.85, compared to R37.19 on the old Blue Train.

The old Blue Train underwent a complete overhaul and emerged from Koedoespoort workshops sporting a lime green and white livery. It was renamed “The Drakensberg”. The first set entered service in late 1972, running between Johannesburg and Durban. In 1975, the route of the Drakensberg was extended so that it now ran from Johannesburg to Cape Town via Durban, and return. High maintenance costs and low occupancy rates fairly quickly contributed to the demise of the stately train and it was finally withdrawn from service in March 1985.

Of great significance is the world speed record set on 31 October 1978 by a test train on Cape Gauge. Class 6E1 electric locomotive E1525 was fitted with a bullet nose and a pantograph adapted for high speed, while a few modifications were made to gear ratios. With an ordinary sliding door suburban coach in tow it attained a speed of 245 km/h between Westonaria and Bank — unrivalled on 1 065 mm tracks anywhere in the world to this day.

In July 1979 the first non-stop passenger train service was introduced between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Named “Jacaranda Express”, it had a point-to-point running time of 65 minutes for the 69,4 km run. After nine months in service, the schedule was accelerated to 58 minutes, thus raising the average speed to 73 km/h and lengthening the train from 6 to 8 coaches to increase the capacity to 596 passengers. Tests on higher speeds in 1983 opened the way for the inauguration of a super-fast train between Johannesburg and Pretoria, named the “Metroblitz”, on 16 January 1984. The Metroblitz took 42 minutes to complete the trip between the two centres, with a maximum operating speed of 160 km/h.

It was stated at the time that passenger train speeds of 200km/h on existing track in South Africa were technically feasible. Evidentially, it was not possible, however, to run such a fast train without causing enormous disruption to the many other slower services, and the experiment was abandoned in November 1986. The Metroblitz project cost R14.5 million — a far cry from the R28 billion plus being spent on the Gautrain Rapid Rail Project! The five modified Class 6E1 locomotives were allocated as Class 12E’s to the Blue Train, while the 8 suburban coaches were parked outside Koedoespoort workshops, where they were eventually gutted by vagrants. It was indeed a very expensive test, but the lesson was learnt that the running of such trains could only happen if a dedicated high speed line were to be built.

On 1 April 1976 another milestone in railway development was reached when the 515 km long coal line from Broodsnyersplaas to Richards Bay Harbour was officially opened. The Orex Line, privately built by Iscor and opened in the same year, was taken over by the SAR on 1 April 1977. These two heavy haul lines were destined to become the main money-spinners of the SAR.

In 1973, approximately 6 000 hectares of land was expropriated to build the Sentrarand Marshalling Yards near Bapsfontein. Work on the first of four modules started in 1978. Over 180 kilometres of electrified feeder lines were constructed to connect the yard with adjacent main lines, and so relieve the suburban lines of goods traffic, and to provide a faster goods service. Module No.2 was taken into service on 19 November 1982, consisting of 20 tracks and capable of handling 130 trains in a 24-hour period.

Diesel-electric traction only really came to make its presence felt when it began to seriously displace steam locomotives from main lines in the late 1960s, and from branch lines in the early 1970s.

TRACTION FORCE (1972): 4 110 LOCOMOTIVES Steam locomotives 58% (2 365); Electric units 31% (1 290); Diesel-electric units 11% (455).

The 1973 oil crisis accelerated the spread of railway electrification so that by 1979 the total track distance under wires amounted to 6 893 kilometres. During this period the overhead wires extended on the 3kV DC system from Klerksdorp to Kimberley, Kroonstad to Bloemfontein; Pretoria to Witbank; Welverdiend to Lichtenburg; Broodsnyersplaas to Ermelo and Broodsnyersplaas to Wonderfontein. The SAR’s first 25kV 50 Hz alternating current installation, the Ermelo to Richards Bay Coal Terminal section of the coal line, was commissioned in 1978. In the same year the Sishen to Salkor (Saldanha) mineral line was also energised, but here the advantages of a 50kV AC system made it the most appropriate choice in a sparsely-populated region without convenient electrical transmission systems.

In October 1981, after seventy years under the banner of the South African Railways and Harbours, the transport organisation was restructured in units and divisions as a state business enterprise. Railway, harbour, road transport, aviation and pipeline operations now collectively bore the new name “South African Transport Services” (SATS).

New Lines

In 1984 another major upgrading of the Natal main line was completed when the new Majuba Pass came into service and the old route through the Laingsnek tunnel was abandoned. Ninety-three years after the opening of the first railway line, the new double tracks finally resolved the capacity restrictions caused by the difficult terrain on the slopes of the Drakensberg Range. A 119km north-south rail link from Komatipoort to Mpaka in Swaziland opened the way for an alternative and shorter route for traffic from the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) to Richards Bay in 1986. The completion of the new alignment between De Doorns and Kleinstraat on the Cape main line in 1989 finally eliminated the handicaps of sharp curvature and a 1:40 gradient that had confronted northbound traffic on the Hex River Pass since 1877. The main engineering feature is the 13,3km long single line tunnel with a passing loop midway, the longest railway tunnel in South Africa.

By far the biggest construction project tackled in the 1980s was the upgrading and doubling of the coal line between the Mpumalanga Coalfields and the export terminal at Richards Bay at a cost of R1,5 million per kilometre. To achieve a grade of 1:160 facing loaded trains of 200 wagons, major deviations totalling 130 km were required, which included twinning 13 tunnels, the longest of which measures 2908 metres. The most impressive feature on the Line 1 deviation is the 720-metre long Mhlahlane viaduct between eQwasha and uLoliwe, consisting of 18 arched spans of 35 metres each.

The 75th anniversary of the establishment of the South African Railways in 1985 was marked by the completion of the upgrading of the Natal main line with twin bi-directionally signalled lines all the way from Durban to Gauteng, a project that had been started in 1955. It is one of South Africa’s major rail routes, which then saw 10 express goods trains, four container trains and 30 ordinary goods trains use the line every day, carrying in the order of 32,5 million tons of goods a year. There were 54 passenger trains operating on the route every week which amounted to the carriage of 1,6 million passengers a year.

By 1985 the railway network reached its peak, having taken 125 years to complete the railway map of South Africa. The country should be proud of what had been achieved through the hardships endured by so many thousands of employees and their families.

Spoornet (1990)

On 1 April 1990 South African Transport Services (SATS) was incorporated as a company, TRANSNET Limited, with the state as the sole shareholder. Major divisions of Transnet were: Railways: SPOORNET; Harbours: PORTNET; Road Transport: AUTONET and Pipelines: PETRONET. A new livery was introduced, featuring orange, blue and white.

In the years to follow, the restrictions on road transport were lifted and the railways had to cope with serious competition. As a result of this challenge, no new locomotives were ordered for many years while unprofitable lines were closed. Most of the branch lines fell into this category and communities suffered when the tracks were no longer in use. Only in cases where the Provincial Governments stepped in were branch lines revived or survived, but most of the lines were simply abandoned.

Passenger Services

Rail commuter assets were transferred by Spoornet to the South African Rail Commuter Corporation Ltd (SARCC) and its train service was to be operated under contract by METRORAIL, a division of Spoornet. METRORAIL operates in 5 metropolitan areas covering some 2240 km of electrified single track and 380 stations.

In order to curb extensive losses the passenger services were also seriously curtailed in 1987, with most of the branch lines losing the familiar passenger coaches attached to scheduled goods trains. Also most services on the main lines were cut back as well, leaving hundreds of coaches stored in yards all over the country. In time most of these were to be vandalised beyond repair.

A brief resurgence of long distance passenger trains in 1994 saw services re-badged under the name of Main Line Passenger Services (MPLS) and the introduction of new services across South Africa’s borders to Bulawayo, Harare and Maputo.

THE FOLLOWING PASSENGER TRAINS SURVIVED

ALGOA (Johannesburg – PE)
AMATOLA (Johannesburg – East London)
BOSVELDER (Johannesburg – Messina)
BULAWAYO (Johannesburg – Bulawayo)
DIAMOND EXPRESS (Pta-Kimberley-Bloemfontein)
KOMATI (Johannesburg - Komatipoort)
HOEDSPRUIT (Johannesburg – Hoedspruit)
LIMPOPO (Johannesburg – Harare)
SUIDERKRUIS (Kaapstad – George – PE)
TRANS KAROO (Pretoria – Cape Town)
TRANS ORANJE (Durban – Kaapstad)
TRANS NATAL (Johannesburg – Durban)
TRANS LUBOMBO (Durban – Maputo) 1998

The cross-border passenger services faltered in less than five years. Likewise, the long established passenger service from De Aar to Windhoek “Suidwester/Southwester” was to be discontinued in 1994. The Trans-Lebombo ran since 1998 but it was discontinued in 2000.

During 1996–98, both Blue Train sets were completely refurbished “to a level of luxury never before seen in motion” at Transwerk’s Koedoespoort workshop at a cost of R70 million. The first set was officially launched on 26 September 1997, while the second set re-entered revenue service on 5 October 1998. On 11 March 2003 six coaches of one of the Blue Train sets was damaged by fire in Pretoria and was withdrawn from service. Both train sets were back in traffic by late 2004, but disaster struck once again on 26 October 2005 when a Blue Train set was severely damaged in a head-on collision with a Shosholoza Meyl (former MPLS) train at Deelfontein.

During 2003 mainline passenger services began to be marketed under the name “Shosholoza Meyl”. Coaches were gradually painted in a new colour scheme of yellow, turquoise and purple. Thirteen services survived to cater for long distance passenger travel, covering 6400 route kilometres.

The Blue Train continued its reign with mainly foreign tourists aboard, while in 2006 “The Premier Classe” was introduced as a separate train offering semi-luxury accommodation, fine dining and personal service aimed mainly at middle class local travellers on the Johannesburg-Cape Town route.

Plans were made to separate long distance passenger transport in order to get a subsidy from the government on 3rd class services. The Department of Transport was appointed to inherit Shosholoza Meyl from Transnet. In preparation, passenger trains were separated into “Sitter Trains” (the former 3rd Class) and “Tourist Trains”, consisting only of sleeper coaches. While sitter trains operated over all seven routes, the tourist trains offered only four routes:

Johannesburg – Cape Town – Johannesburg
Johannesburg – Port Elizabeth – Johannesburg
Johannesburg – Durban – Johannesburg
Cape Town – Durban – Cape Town.

In 2008 the Blue Train sets and four locomotives were sold to Orient Express.

Transnet Freight Services

Mineral and container traffic became the mainstay of Spoornet operations, and under the reign of Ms Maria Ramos it was decided to get rid of most of the unprofitable parts of Transnet, with Spoornet becoming a “freight only” organisation. A new classification of lines were made in 2004.

CLASSIFICATION OF RAILWAY LINES (2004):

Heavy Haul lines (1 609 km): Coallink and Orex
Main lines (6 994 km): +5 million tonnes per annum
Secondary lines (7 905 km): 0,2 – 5 million tonnes
Non-viable lines (1 136 km): Less than ,02 million tonnes
No Service lines (2 252 km) Mainly closed branch lines.

In 2007 it was announced that in future Spoornet will operate as Transnet Freight Services.

The Gautrain

The construction of the Gautrain High Speed Rail Link has once again seen the return of the 1 435mm (standard) gauge to South Africa. Work on the 80km of railway line linking Johannesburg’s Park Station with Hatfield (Pretoria) and the OR Tambo International Airport was started in late 2006, and the first section, from the airport to Sandton, was opened in June 2010 in time for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup. The scale of the civil engineering work completed was breathtaking. 15km of the railway is located under ground through the maze of mineshafts and tunnels deep under the city of Johannesburg. 10,5km is elevated on viaducts, and 50km of surface earthworks. A total of 6 million cubic metres of soil was needed to be removed. Trains stop at 10 stations along the route, three of which will be underground making the Gautrain the first subway in Africa. Three stations are located on viaducts and the remainder are at street level. Electrostar coaches operated in 4-coach sets, each accommodating 450 passengers, form the mainstay of the rapid rail service.

The completion of the Gautrain has marked an historicic moment in rail transportation in South Africa, and in Africa, as the first subway and the first High Speed rail line on the continent. The Gautrain has reduced the travel time between Johannesburg and Pretoria by half and has massively improved the efficiency of the transportation system in Gauteng Province.

Conclusion

During a period of almost 150 years the railways evolved to provide comfortable and safe travel, as well as to transport the economic wealth of South Africa. It is true to say that no other organisation played a more important role in opening up South Africa, connecting outlying towns and districts with major markets, creating jobs in times of unemployment or bringing prosperity to small communities. The railways even realised the importance of overseas tourists in 1920, long before a Department of Tourism was established by the Government in 1963. In no small way the development of South Africa as an economic giant in Africa was brought about by the excellent transport system provided by the South African Railways.

By the end of the 20th century South Africa has undergone a lot of changes, not least in the transport department. To fight off stiff competition from road haulers, Spoornet had to reposition itself in the market and in future heavy goods trains will rule the rails while passenger traffic will scarcely have a role, except in the urban areas.