Shire Highlands Railway Company
The Shire Highlands Railway Company Ltd was a private railway company in the Shire Highlands of Nyasaland during the colonial era , founded in 1895 to build a railway from Blantyre to the highest navigable point on the Shire River . After problems with routing and funding, a narrow-gauge railway with the South African gauge of 1,067 mm (3 feet 6 inches ) was built between 1903 and 1907 and extended to a total of 182 km (113 miles) to Nsanje in 1908 when the water level in the Shire River sank .
When the navigability of the Shire River because of the falling water level continued to decline, wore the Shire Highlands Railway Company in 1912 to build the 98 km (61 miles) of largely in Mozambique located central African Railways (Central African Railway) of the British South Africa Company to the Zambezi River in . Although this route, which was completed in 1914, was owned by the separately managed Central Africa Railway Company Ltd , the Shire Highlands Railway Company operated all services on this route and was a partner in its shares. In 1935, the Shire Highlands Railway's rail company and shares it held in Central Africa Railway Company Ltd were transferred to the newly formed Nyasaland Railways Ltd.
Foundation of the railway company
In the late 19th century, the inland Nyasaland Protectorate had no railroads and the only way to get to the nearest ports on the Indian Ocean, some 320 km (200 miles) away, was via the Zambezi and the Shire River. but the water level was too low for large ships. The main settlements of the Protectorate and its economically important regions were far from the ports of the Shire River. Transporting overhead loads to and from these regions has been inefficient and costly. From 1896 to 1934, the water level in decreased Nijassa Lake (now Lake Malawi and the Shire River, so the main port of the river downstream after) Chiromo be laid had with 100-ton steam ships from the ill-equipped coast port of Chinde to was achieved.
The difficulties and costs of river transport led to the idea of a rail link to the Indian Ocean, and as early as 1895, Harry Johnston, the Commissioner and Consul General of the Protectorate, proposed a railway line from his capital Blantyre to Quelimane in Mozambique.
However, most of this proposed route ran through Portuguese territory and Quelimane was only suitable for small ships with a draft of less than 5 meters until the river was dredged in 1958. That same year, Eugene Sharrer proposed building a railway from Blantyre to Chiromo, and in December 1895 he published a brochure about the Shire Highlands Railway Company Ltd, the company he was about to set up.
For Nyasaland, a short rail link to the Shire River ports was the best option to avoid having to carry loads manually. Because the ratio of transport costs to the expected value of exports was high, a longer line directly to the Indian Ocean, through areas where little local freight was expected, was too expensive to be profitable.
Although Johnston accepted the Blantyre – Chiromo route and urged the Foreign Office to finance this railway, it refused to finance it. In 1901, however, it categorically approved the construction of a railroad by the Shire Highlands Railway Company Ltd from Blantyre to the Lower Shire, granting the company 361,600 acres of land adjacent to the railroad without fees. Since Sharrer had already acquired much of the land over which the proposed railroad would run, disputes arose over the routing, particularly with the African Lakes Corporation . Because of this, there were delays in raising capital and loans for the construction and the start of construction was postponed to early 1903.
The line opened from Blantyre to Chiromo in 1907, but a further drop in water levels in the Shire River meant the line had to be extended to Port Herald , 113 miles from Blantyre, in 1908 .
Sharrer became a director of Shire Highlands Railway Company Ltd and retained that post when he left the Protectorate in 1902. He was also the director of the Central Africa Railway Company Ltd, which was not built until after his departure.
As the water level at the Shire River Level continued to drop, it was difficult and often impossible to reach Port Herald by steamboat, so a river port was established in Zambezi. The British South Africa Company already had a concession to build a railroad on Portuguese territory. In 1912, the Nyasaland government approved the Shire Highlands Railway Company Ltd. agreed that she would buy back the land she had previously sold to the company for £ 180,000 and the company would pay that amount in the form of shares to the British South Africa Company in exchange for part of the cost of building the Central African Railway for shares in Central African Railway Ltd.
The 98 km (61 miles) stretch from Port Herald to Chindio on the north bank of the Zambezi was completed in 1914. From there the river steamers went to Chinde, from where the ocean-going ships left for Beira . Although the port of Beira was reached via this route, the transport from Blantyre took two to three weeks, required three reloads and was exposed to the risk of water damage. The Central African Railway was expensive to build but poorly executed and soon required extensive repairs. The Nyasaland government agreed to financially support the maintenance of the route for ten years, paying an average of £ 20,000 per year until 1924.
In 1922 the Trans-Zambezia Railway Company completed a railway line from Beira to Murracca on the Zambezi opposite Chindio, approved by the Portuguese government , so that there was an almost continuous railway line from Blantyre to Beira, with the exception of the short river crossing with a ferry. In 1927 the British government commissioned a report on the construction of a Zambezi bridge. When the Dona Ana Bridge was completed in 1935, a new company, Nyasaland Railways Ltd, was formed to run the Shire Highlands Railway and the share capital of Central Africa Railway Company Ltd. to take over. Nyasaland Railways Ltd was responsible for these railways until 1953 when they were transferred to the Federal Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland .
In addition to the high construction and maintenance costs, operation was also costly because expensive coal had to be imported as fuel. The domestic traffic offered only relatively low tonnages and imports and exports were seasonal. Because of this, the rail company charged up to three times higher rates than the Rhodesian or East African rates for general freight. The British Treasury and the Nyasaland government provided subsidies, but transport costs remained comparatively high.
Locomotives
In the beginning, in 1904, two two-axle saddle tank steam locomotives with a 0-4-0 wheel arrangement with internal cylinders were manufactured by WG Bagnall Ltd. acquired from Stafford for the construction of the railway line. These were 'A' class locomotives, 'Thistle', No. 1 and 'Shamrock', No. 2. They were later used for many years mainly for shunting and construction work. 'Thistle' is now a memorial at Limbe Railway Station and 'Shamrock' is on display at the Chichiri Museum in Blantyre.
Two locomotives of the 'B' class had a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement with external cylinders and internal drive. They were manufactured in 1904 by Kitson & Co. Ltd. built in Leeds and acquired that same year. 'Rhodes', no. 5 and 'Milner', no. 6, were mainline locomotives especially for the mail trains between the Zambezi and Blantyre. 'Milner' was also used on the Trans-Zambezia Railway from July 1923 to 1934 and on the route from the Dona Ana Bridge to Tete until 1944 . 'Rhodes' was in main service until 1951. A 'C' class locomotive was also briefly used on the railroad.
The 'D' class type 4-8-0 with bogie tender were in 1917 by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Peckett in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1930 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow delivered. The Shire Highlands and Central Africa Railways operated numbers 8 to 12 and 19 to 24, and the Trans-Zambezia line took over numbers 13 to 15, which pulled trains on all parts of the system. Typical tensile loads from the border to Sankulani on the steep coast were 450 tons, and uphill from Sankulani to Limbe 180 tons.
Individual evidence
- ^ E. Mandala: Feeding and Fleecing the Native: How the Nyasaland Transport System Distorted a New Food Market, 1890s-1920s. In: The Journal of Southern African Studies, 2006, Volume 32, No. 3, p. 512.
- ^ GL Gamlen: Transport on the River Shire, Nyasaland. In: The Geographical Journal, 1935, Volume 86, No. 5, p. 451.
- ^ L. Vail: The Making of an Imperial Slum: Nyasaland and Its Railways, 1895-1935. In: Journal of African History, 1975, Volume 16, No. 1, p. 91.
- ↑ Portos e Caminos de Moçambique .
- ^ ADH Leishman: The Steam Era in Malawi. In: The Society of Malawi Journal, 1974, Volume 27, No. 1, p. 46.
- ^ ML Faye, JW McArthur, JD Sachs and T. Snow: The Challenges Facing Landlocked Developing Countries'. In: Journal of Human Development, 2004, Volume 5, No. 1, pp. 41-42 and 47.
- ^ ADH Leishman: The Steam Era in Malawi. In: The Society of Malawi Journal, 1974, Volume 27, No. 1, p. 47.
- ^ S. Tenney and NK Humphreys: Historical Dictionary of the International Monetary Fund. 2011, p. 457
- ↑ RD Bell: Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the Financial Position and Further Development of Nyasaland. 1938, pp. 283-4
- ^ JG Pike: Malawi: A Political and Economic History. 1969, p. 208.
- ↑ RD Bell: Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the Financial Position and Further Development of Nyasaland. 1938, pp. 285-286.
- ^ F. F Hammond: Report on the Nyasaland railways and proposed Zambesi Bridge. 1929, pp. 33-34 and 37.
- ^ ADH Leishman: The Steam Era in Malawi. In: The Society of Malawi Journal, 1974, Volume 27, No. 1, pp. 47-48.
- ↑ RD Bell: Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the Financial Position and Further Development of Nyasaland. 1938, pp. 278-279.
- ^ ADH Leishman: The Steam Era in Malawi, The Society of Malawi Journal, 1974, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 48-49