Thomson Junction
Coordinates: 18 ° 20 ′ S , 26 ° 27 ′ E
Thomson Junction is a train station in the province of Matabeleland North in Zimbabwe on the Bulawayo – Victoria Falls – Livingstone / Zambia railway . Here is a marshalling yard as well as the transfer station to the coal railway of Hwange Colliery (formerly: Wankie Colliery), which opens up the largest coal area in Zimbabwe. The coal railway uses its own locomotives to bring the coal trains out of the area, which the state railway NRZ then takes over and delivers to customers throughout the country, especially to power plants.
In the 1990s, all train services were still provided by Garratt steam locomotives . The locomotives were supplied with water and coal in the local depot. Maintenance work and repairs were also carried out if necessary. For heavy trains heading south from Zambia via Victoria Falls, a locomotive was changed from the Garratts of the 15 series to the particularly powerful 20 series , as the route to Dete has very winding, difficult incline ramps.
The station name can be traced back to AR Thomson Esq. who was General Manager of the Wankie Colliery for many years.
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Thomson Junction station sign
Victoria Falls freight train at Thomson Junction station
