Société des Chemins de Fer Vicinaux du Mayumbe

Boma – Tshela
The train in Boma
Route, 1913
Route length:	140 km
Gauge :	First 610 mm, later 600 mm
Legend Boma Port (Tramway de Boma) 7 m 0 Boma 14 m (Tramway de Boma) 8th Bangu 31 m 15th Lusanga 90 m 22nd Lovo 101 m 30th Luki 150 m 39 Lemba 165 m 44 Tshisundi 57 Temvo 271 m 62 Vertex 303 m 68 Amount 169 m 80 Lukula 101 m 90 Kiniati 130 m 99 Kangu 170 m 102 Kangu Mission 175 m 108 Kibenza 214 m 114 Loango 240 m 127 Luvu 170 m 137 Banga 150 m 140 Tshela 144 m

Share over 500 francs in the Société des Chemins de fer Vicinaux du Mayumbe on September 21, 1898

The Société des Chemins de fer vicinaux du Mayumbe operated a 140 km long narrow-gauge railway network with a gauge of initially 610 mm (2 feet ) and later 600 mm along the Mayumbe Railway from Boma to Tshela in the Congo .

history

Boma train station

Local travelers on the Chemin de fer du Mayumbe

The Société des Chemins de fer vicinaux du Mayumbe (CVM) was founded on July 30, 1898 to build and operate a narrow-gauge railway network with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet ) in the province of Central Congo in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo . It was originally planned to extend this to the Republic of the Congo .

On January 1, 1936, the CVM was integrated into the Office des Transports Coloniaux (OTRACO). In 1974 the Office National des Transports (ONATRA) took over the company. The line was dismantled in 1984 under Mobutu Sese Seko together with local industry.

Route

The route ran from Boma via Lukula to Tshela (140 km) with the following sections:

• Boma (Plateau) - Bangu (8 km), opened May 7, 1899
• Bangu - Kisundi (35 km), opened January 1, 1900
• Kisundi - Lukula (35 km), opened on December 31, 1901
• Lukula - Tshela (60 km), opened on December 31, 1912, extension opened by the State

In 1932, the section from Boma to Lukula was 600 mm gauge umgespurt , the section of Lukula to Tshela in 1938th

Locomotives

Garrat locomotive of the Chemins de fer du Mayumbe

Steam locomotive at the Red Cross building

• No. 1–8, type 020T, supplied by Saint Léonard in Liège in 1898-9
• No. 1A-4A, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1911 by Saint Leonard in Liège
• No. 1B-2B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1919 by Saint Leonard in Liège
• No. 3B-6B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1921 by Saint Leonard in Liège
• No. 7B-11B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1924 by Saint Leonard in Liège
• No. 1C-4C, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1926 by Saint Leonard in Liège
• No. 1E, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1927 by Saint Leonard in Liège

At the end of 1946 the railway company had 19 Garratt locomotives, each with an operating weight of 27.5 tons, and 226 rail cars.

Traffic volume

The volume of traffic in the early 1950s was as follows:

year	Freight transport
1952	146,277 t
1953	176,438 t
1954	157,933 t
1955	163,103 t
1956	155,258 t

Web links

• Ferdinand Lebbe: Au fil du rail , XXV. - L'histoire des chemins de fer au Congo , 1950 (French)
• Chemin de fer de Boma à Tshela (French, with many photos)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chemin de fer de Boma à Tshela ( fr ) February 23, 2009.
2. ↑ BCK - KDL - Le site des chemins de fer du Katanga . Archived from the original on unknown.
3. ↑ Closed "owing to its lack of profitability" (Inter Rail No. 2/1997).
4. ^ AE Durrant, AA Jorgensen, CP Lewis: Steam in Africa . Hamlyn, London 1981.
5. ^ Société Anonyme de Saint-Léonard: Locomotives . 1903.
6. ^ Garratt locomotives from other builders . Archived from the original on March 13, 2012.
7. ^ Société des Chemins de Fer Vicinaux du Mayumbe SCARL
8. ↑ Jean Herreweghe: Les Congolâtres: La Société des Chemins de Fer du Kivu (CEFAKI) (French)

Coordinates: 5 ° 51 ′ 31.9 ″  S , 13 ° 3 ′ 8 ″  E