Cape Government Railways
The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the
History
Private railways
The first railways at the Cape were privately owned. The
Formation of CGR
The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley that started in 1871, gave impetus to the development of railways in South Africa. Shortly afterwards, in 1872, the Cape Colony attained
The announced expansion was to see the construction of a network over ten times more extensive than the total length of railway that existed in the whole of southern Africa at the time.
Cape Gauge
The first few rudimentary lines at Cape Town were built at dimensions close to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Although it was first meant just to ease construction of railways through mountainous terrain, this gauge later went on to become the standard for all railways in southern and central Africa.[10][11][12]
Expansion
The government's 1872 plan was for lines to strike northwards, from the three ports of
The Cape Western Line was charted by the Prime Minister himself (allegedly with only a map, pen and ruler).
The Cape Midland Line was begun in 1872, when the Cape Government took over the rudimentary and incomplete line of the
The Cape Eastern Line was built partially to serve the frontier, and its network of military forts. The port of
By 1885 the separate sections were connected and the Cape Western line reached Kimberley, marking the end of an epic which had begun in 1872, with the network completed faithfully according to the original 1872 plans.[17] From an initial total of 92 kilometres in 1872, the Cape was now criss-crossed with over 2,000 kilometres of railway.[18][19] In 1885 the company owned 231 locomotives, 399 coaches and 3503 goods wagons.[20]
Considerable development and economic growth followed the construction of the railway system, and the news of the Cape's immense railway programme inspired similar moves in neighbouring states, such as the project of the
In 1886 gold was discovered in the South African Republic (the Transvaal), setting off the Witwatersrand Gold Rush. The Cape government and the government of the Orange Free State (OFS) reached an agreement, by which the Cape Government Railways would build and operate a railway line, through the OFS, to the rapidly growing city of Johannesburg. This line reached Bloemfontein (the capital of the OFS) in 1890, and the first trains operated from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 1892. In 1897 the OFS government took over control of its portion of the line.
Formation of SAR
The Cape railway network played a significant role in supporting and supplying the British forces during the
Impact
According to a 2017 study, "Built largely to support the early mining industry, the Cape Colony’s railway substantially reduced the cost of transport to the interior and account for 22–25 percent of the increase in the Colony’s labor productivity from 1873 to 1905... traffic data for 1905 suggest that the railway contributed to the expansion of the mining areas and to the growth of the Western Cape district on the basis of domestic demand."[21]
See also
- Cape Gauge
- Rail transport in South Africa
Citations
- ^ The Royal Commonwealth Society, 1898, "Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute". The Institute, Northumberland Avenue, London, W.C. p. 26.
- ^ Burman 1984, p. 50.
- ^ "Cape Colony – british, south, dutch, africa, european, population and country". gluedideas.com.
- ^ SABC, 14 August 1954, John Bond. "John Molteno: Founder of the South African Railways", p. 3.
- ^ Davenport, D.E. A Railway Sketch of South Africa. 1882. Cape Town
- ^ "Full text of "Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute"". archive.org. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "Postojnska Jama in Slovenia, the Suedbahn and the visit of John Charles Molteno: Their influence on the Development of Railways in South Africa". zrc-sazu.si.
- ^ "Report of the Select Committee appointed by the House of Assembly on 20 May 1873 on the Question as to what Gauge should be adopted on the Line of Railway from Wellington to Worcester". Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope. 1873.
- ^ "Cape Gauge – From Ox-wagon to Iron Horse | The Heritage Portal". theheritageportal.co.za. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Bond J.: They were South Africans. London: Oxford University Press. 1956. Chapter 19, The Makers of Railways: John Molteno. p.170.
- ISBN 1482861682. p.146.
- ISBN 1482803976
- ^ Royal Colonial Society: Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute. Northumberland Avenue, London. 1898. p.26. "The Railway System of South Africa".
- ^ Burman 1984, pp. 52–63.
- ^ Burman 1984, pp. 64–78.
- ^ Burman 1984, pp. 79–90.
- ^ F. Statham: Blacks, Boers, & British: A Three-cornered Problem. MacMillan & Co. 1881. p.42.
- ^ Burman 1984, pp. 95–96.
- ^ kim (20 September 2016). "Aloes Railway station". South African History Online. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 1885. p. 256.
- hdl:2445/119919.
Further reading
- Kleingeld, Christo (2003). A South African Railway History Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 14 December 2009.
- Paxton, Leith, and David Bourne (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways. C. Struik (Pty) Ltd., ISBN 0-86977-211-2
- Burman, Jose (1984), Early Railways at the Cape, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, ISBN 0-7981-1760-5