Cape Government Railways
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The Cape Government Railways ( CGR ) were the first state railway company in today's South Africa and one of the predecessor railways of the later South African Railways .
history
The CGR was formed in 1874 when the Cape Colony government took over four private railways in and around Cape Town . A year earlier, Parliament had decided that the Cape Gauge (1067 mm) should become the standard - the railways built up to that point in what is now South Africa had gauges of 1435 or 762 mm.
Following the diamond discoveries in Kimberley , the rail link between this town and Cape Town was a high priority - it was completed in 1885. At the same time, further routes from the port cities of Port Elizabeth and East London were built inland.
The gold discoveries in the Witwatersrand gave the impetus to continue building the railway through the Orange Free State to the border of the Transvaal province , which at that time was independent as the South African Republic and also operated its own railway company, the Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM). The route through the Orange Free State was taken over in 1897 by the Orange Free State Government Railways (OVGS).
In the south of the Cape Province, the CGR built two 610 mm narrow gauge lines, the Hopefield Railway and the Avontuur Railway , in the early 20th century .
After the founding of the South African Union in 1910, the CGR merged with the Natal Government Railways (NGR) and the Central South African Railways (CSAR), which emerged from the NZASM, the Pretoria Pietersburg Railway (PPR) and the OVGS after the Boer War , whereby the South African Railways (SAR) emerged.
literature
- Leith Paxton, David Bourne: Locomotives of the South African Railways . C. Strui (Pty) Ltd., ISBN 0-86977-211-2