The Railway Conquest of the World

by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

While this part of the work was under way the colonisation of Mashonaland had proceeded, and had progressed so favourably that the railway’s advance became an urgent necessity, especially as the Matabele under Lobengula were giving signs of trouble, and it was essential that the latter should be subdued. So in 1896 the dull, grey snake resumed its tortuous crawl to the north. Further trouble was experienced at this juncture, and retarded operations to a material degree. The deadly rinderpest broke out, and swept off the settlers’ cattle like flies. Transport was paralysed, and the engineers were called upon to perform a superhuman task to pour supplies and material forward. As animals were unavailable, traction engines had to be brought up-country to ply between the point where the locomotive stopped and the construction camps strung out ahead.

However, Rhodes decided that the rails must reach Buluwayo before the end of 1897. Seeing that 492 miles divided the railhead from the latter point, this was no mean order; but Messrs. Pauling & Co., the contractors, promised that his wishes should be fulfilled. Large forces of natives were whipped up, and by superhuman effort the apparently impossible was achieved, the 492 miles of metals being laid in 500 working days.

As might be supposed from the low cost of the line (£4,500 or $22,500, per mile), the engineering work was not of an elaborate character. Rapidity of construction, combined with low cost, were the two governing considerations that had to be borne in mind, for the sooner railway transportation was provided, the earlier settlement would take place. The terms governing construction demanded that the line should be of such a character as “would be capable of effectually conveying traffic at a speed of twelve miles an hour on completion, and that grades and curves were not to be sharper and heavier than generally prevailed upon a line of this gauge.” Ballasting was only to be used on such portions of the line as was necessary to ensure the safe running of the trains during the rainy season.

In laying the road very little regard was paid to formation, and wherever the surface of the ground was even it was followed, the steel sleepers being packed with the minimum of ballast to give a moderately smooth running top. The shallower streams and rivers were not bridged, but the railway was carried across over a ford. If the water rose above the track a few inches, a thrilling spectacle was offered when a train crossed. It would creep carefully down the bank and crash full tilt into the water, sending up a column of spray which entirely obliterated the front of the engine from view. Later, the line was overhauled and brought into conformity with modern requirements, bridges of steel being introduced to span all obstructions of this character. Timber was impossible, owing to the ravages of white ants, though creosoted wood was found to offer a substitute for the metal for a short period, and was adopted sparingly.

Buluwayo lies at an altitude of 4,400 feet, and from this point the line falls steadily until it gains the Gwaai River, 1,200 feet lower. Crossing this waterway, the line makes a straight cut across the flat, sandy and wooded country for 71 miles as the crow flies, to enter the Wankie coalfield.

In this district the surface run could not be continued, and consequently heavy cuttings and embankments had to be carried out over a distance of 59 miles.

Beyond the Wankie coal territory, and 282 miles north of Buluwayo, the line ran up against the first serious physical difficulty, but one of such proportions as to make amends on the part of Nature for the easiness of the grading hitherto. This was the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi River, and the location of the line compelled a crossing of this magnificent waterway just below the cataract, where the water, after tumbling over the ledge, is forced through a deep, narrow gorge 400 feet in depth.

The situation demanded the consummation of some monumental piece of work. The Niagara gorge had been bridged, but the task of spanning that chasm was mere child’s play in comparison with that confronting the engineers below the Victoria Falls. The cliffs are sheer practically, for the canyon through which the water rushes for some 20 miles is but a fissure in the earth’s crust.

The surveys, which were carried out with great difficulty, showed that the break would have to be bridged in a single span about 500 feet in length from brink to brink, with the rails over 420 feet above low water. For purposes of comparison, it may be mentioned that, although the structure of the same type thrown across the Niagara gorge to carry the Grand Trunk railway from Canadian to American soil has a main span 50 feet wider, while the bridge itself is almost twice as long, the rails are laid only a little more than half the height above the water—226, as compared with 420 feet.

One early difficulty was the establishment of communication with the opposite bank, to avoid a long detour of about ten miles in order to cross the river. First, in order to bring the camps perched on each cliff closer together, a telephone wire was thrown across the ravine. This frail connection was completed in an ingenious manner. A thin string was tied to the stick of a rocket which was fired across the gorge. The opposite party secured the stick and end of the stout twine, and by its means hauled across a thicker length of string, which in turn was followed by one still stouter, with which the telephone wire was hauled across. In this way the opposite camps were brought as closely into touch with one another as if they were side by side on the same bank. Previously, attempts had been made to fly a string across by means of a kite, but the upward rush of eddying air from the vortex of the water caused the kite to become the sport of the wind and to play sorry pranks, without gaining the opposite bank. The complete success of the rocket caused a similar cycle of operations to be repeated, only in this case, instead of hauling a telephone wire across the gorge, a marked wire was handled, the idea being to measure accurately the width of the gap, a spring balance being introduced at one end to compute the extent of the “sag” of the wire for the purposes of calculations.