The Railway Conquest of the World

by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

While these disputes and continual bickerings were at their height further complication was provoked. The German military authorities, finding the subjugation of the Hereros a far heavier task than they had anticipated, wished to penetrate into the heart of the country so as to strike a supreme blow upon the enemy’s stronghold. They had their own line extending from Swakopmund to Windhuk, but owing to its heavy grades and light construction it had broken down completely under the strain of the heavy military traffic. The authorities strove to alleviate this situation by utilising bullock-carts to transport troops and commissariat up-country, but this alternative failed lamentably. This service was so slow, and the absence of water by the wayside was felt to a serious degree. In their extremity the German Government appealed to the engineers of the Otavi line. They besought them to spare no effort to drive the railway forward speedily, first to Ouguati, 109¾ miles from the coast, and then to Omaruru, 145 miles beyond the former point. As an inducement the builders were offered a heavy premium.

The engineers agreed to meet official demands, and to expedite the constructional work a further army of 750 Italians and 500 Ovambo coolies was sent to reinforce the forces on the grade. To tempt the Italian workmen to strive their utmost they offered a fixed minimum wage as an incentive. However, it was not long before trouble arose once more. The new arrivals fraternised with their compatriots already on the scene, and learned how the engineers had been forced to pay higher and higher wages by recourse to strikes. The Italians came to the conclusion that concerted action would be highly successful because several weeks would elapse before their places could be taken by other imported labour, while they regarded the Ovambo coolies, who proved industrious workmen, with supreme contempt. Every conceivable obstacle was thrown in the way of the engineers. Work was stopped upon the slightest provocation, and apparent grievances were aired with monotonous frequency.

When at last they were placated and the workmen did settle down to their tasks they proceeded in a lackadaisical manner, and the day’s work was only a quarter of what might have been accomplished. Under ordinary circumstances each Italian could have coped with 10 cubic yards of earthwork per day, but they handled only about 2¾ cubic yards! This rendered them distinctly inferior to the Ovambos, who, though not comparable with the Europeans from the physical point of view, plodded along steadily, and handled on the average from 3½ to 4 cubic yards per day. The Italians had no complaint concerning their scale of payment, for they received from 5s. to 10s.—$1.25 to $2.00—per day, while the coolies, who did twice the work, received but 2s. 6d. or 60 cents a day, together with food and housing accommodation.

One day matters reached a climax. The white workmen struck in a body, and declined to move a hand unless they received another increase in wages. The engineers, who had been groaning under the extortionate demands of the blackmailing Italians for several weeks past, now took a firm stand. They declined point-blank to entertain the proposal. Moreover, they commenced to take the law into their own hands and to adopt stern measures. Several of the leading recalcitrants were straightway dismissed for breach of contract. This situation lasted for eight weeks, and at times the outlook became extremely threatening, for the Italians chafed under the unexpected opposition they had encountered. Suddenly the dispute collapsed and the Italians sullenly returned to their work.

Coupled with this distressing condition of affairs at the railhead, the engineers experienced grave difficulties at Swakopmund. They could not get the constructional and other material unloaded from their ships. This harbour is notoriously a bad one, and being congested with military traffic, method and order had given way to complete chaos. Weeks elapsed before an incoming ship could discharge its cargo for the railway, and then the engineers only secured their requirements by building a special mole because the anchorage was silting up with sand.

In the spring of 1905 matters took a more hopeful turn. The sullen Italians were spurred on by the granting of premiums, and under this inducement more rapid progress was effected. The white workmen were forced to their tasks by the appearance of severe competition. Many of the Hereros grew tired of fighting and surrendered to the authorities. When asked if they would be content to work upon the railway they accepted the offer with alacrity, and the Italians saw that they were in serious danger of being displaced entirely. The fair treatment that was meted out to the natives who had surrendered became noised far and wide through the country, with the result that large numbers of Hereros, who had grasped the hopelessness of their opposition, made their way to the railhead and threw down their arms and offered to take up the pick and shovel. It was a curious sight, for here were large numbers of the natives, against whom war was being waged, voluntarily assisting in the advance of the very force that was being driven forward to bring about the complete subjugation of their race. Curious to relate, moreover, the engineers found that their former implacable foes, when properly treated, developed into splendid conscientious workmen, and far easier to control than the much-vaunted white labour.

After leaving the coast the railway makes practically a continuous and steady climb to a maximum height of some 5,218 feet in the course of its 360 miles. Notwithstanding this extreme difference in altitude, it was found possible to keep the banks easy, the sharpest gradient being 1 in 50. The country traversed is most inhospitable, the first 145 miles being through a wild desert, and wide stretches of scrub-covered country broken with kopjes. Extensive bridging was found necessary to carry the track across gullies and rivulets, there being in all 110 of these structures. They are built throughout of steel, the deckplate girder type being the most generally favoured, and the most important work of this class has a length of 333 feet, built up in five spans. The curves were kept as easy as possible, the standard radius being about 500 feet. Here and there, however, owing to the cramped conditions of the route open to the track, it was found requisite to reduce the radius to some 270 feet in order to avoid heavy and expensive cutting through rocks and hills.

Some idea of the extent to which the engineers were delayed by their repeated differences with the Italian workmen may be gathered from the fact that although 23 months were occupied in carrying the rails from Swakopmund to Omaruru, a matter of 145 miles, the second section, from the latter point to Tsumeb, the present terminus, a matter of 215 miles, required but another year. When the railway was rushed onwards from Omaruru, although the country to be crossed was somewhat easier from the physical point of view, and lent itself to more rapid construction, acceleration was attributable in the main to the ample supply of labour available and absence of trouble with the workmen engaged.

Another grave difficulty against which the builders had to struggle was water. In fact, it might be said that the scarcity of this commodity was more perplexing than those governing the labour, strikes notwithstanding. It was not merely securing sufficient supplies for the workmen’s needs, but also for constructional purposes, such as for the locomotive boilers, mixing of concrete for masonry, and so forth. On the first section every pint of drinking water had to be brought up from the base on the coast to the railhead, and as this advanced the difficulties concerned with its transportation increased. In some instances bullock-carts were the only vehicles that could be pressed into service for its conveyance over 30 or 40 miles. Throughout the first 85 miles from Swakopmund to Usakos not a drop could be drawn from the earth. Innumerable borings in search of the liquid were made alongside the line as it progressed, but they were rewarded with no material success. Occasionally small quantities were found, but it was too brackish and quite unfit for drinking purposes. When Usakos was gained the situation was eased somewhat by a local discovery, but the water had to be softened before it could be used by the engines, and accordingly a plant for treating the water in this manner had to be brought up country and erected. This, however, was useless for domestic purposes, and when the line was pushed on from Omaruru, special water trains had to be run for the convenience of the workmen. Huge tanks were laden on the cars and were carried from the coast to the railhead, the journey occupying several hours. The trouble and expense involved in connection with this vital requisite influenced the cost and time occupied in building the line very unfavourably, so much so indeed, that the preliminary estimates of the cost were exceeded very markedly.

This question has not been solved satisfactorily yet, and it will remain to puzzle the administration of the line until some conveniently-situated subterranean water supply is tapped on the barren veldt. The load of every train has to be increased by a special tank-tender coupled behind the engine containing 2,200 gallons of water, which represents so much unremunerative load.