Netherlands–South African Railway Company
Overview | |
---|---|
Main region(s) | Southern Africa |
Stations called at | From Pretoria - Lourenço Marques to Pretoria - Johannesburg Company |
Company type | Listed Company |
Defunct | 13 October 1908 ![]() |
Headquarters | |
Number of employees | ca. 1500 Dutch employees; an unknown number of South African employees |
Dates of operation | 1887 | –1902
Successor | Central South African Railways |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
Track length | ca. 1147 km |
The Netherlands–South African Railway Company (Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij; Nederlands-Suid-Afrikaanse Spoorwegmaatskappy) or NZASM (also sometimes called SASM in South Africa) was a railway company established in 1887. The company was based in
Background
The British conquered the then
The relationship between the British and the Boers remained strained throughout the 19th century, especially as a result of the First Boer War (1880–81). Both republics were located in the interior of what is now South Africa, with no route to the coast that did not pass through the British-held Cape Colony and Colony of Natal. Paul Kruger, president of the ZAR, decided that an alternative trade route to the ocean was a priority for the ZAR. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush after 1886 resulted in the rapid industrialization of the ZAR, making access to the ocean even more important, and allowed the suddenly cash-flush republic to invest in large-scale infrastructure projects.
It will set an indelible seal upon the freedom, the independence, the nationality of the Republics, and will put an effectual barrier on the extension of British dominion over the Vaal and Orange Rivers, it will make it perfectly immaterial to us whether the Liberals or Conservatives in England, or Molteno or Patterson at the Cape, are in power.
— Free State Express, quoted in James Stanley Little, South Africa: A Sketchbook of Men, Manners and Facts (1887) Swan, Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co. London. p.266.
Establishment
In 1874 the Volksraad of the ZAR decided that a railway would be built connecting the ZAR with
The Pretoria - Delagoa Bay line, with a length of 562 kilometres (ca. 350 miles), was opened on 6 November 1894 and is still in use today. The railway company employed about 3000 people. Of these, about 1500 were employed in the construction of the Pretoria - Delagoa Bay Line. It adopted the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) (
On 19 February 1896, a train loaded with dynamite was struck by a shunter while being unloaded. The resulting Braamfontein Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history, resulting in more than 70 deaths and 200 injuries.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/DieGatVeroorsaakDeurDieDinamietOntploffingWestelikeRigtingTeMaraisburg19Februarie1896.jpg/257px-DieGatVeroorsaakDeurDieDinamietOntploffingWestelikeRigtingTeMaraisburg19Februarie1896.jpg)
In 1897, a new station was constructed in
By 1899, the NZASM had constructed 1147 kilometres (ca. 712 miles) of railway.[1]
The Randtram Line
As a result of the rapid development of the goldfields on the Witwatersrand in the 1880s and the demand for coal by the growing industry, on 20 July 1888 the ZAR government granted a concession to the NZASM to construct a 16 miles (26 kilometres) railway line from Johannesburg to Boksburg. The line was opened on 17 March 1890, with the first train being hauled by a 14 Tonner locomotive. It became known as the "Randtram", even though it was actually a railway in every aspect and not singularly dedicated to tram traffic. This was the first working railway line in the Transvaal.[4][5][6][7]
The concession was extended the following year to continue the line eastward to
In 1889 and 1890, the NZASM obtained three tramway steam locomotives with an 0-4-0T wheel arrangement for use on the Randtram line. Since the railway classified its locomotives according to their weight, these tank locomotives were known as the 10 Tonners.[4][5] As the Randtram line was expanded to the west and east to become the Reef line between Roodepoort and Springs, the 14 Tonners remained in service on that line, even though their range of operation was somewhat limited by their small coal and water carrying capacities.[4][5] The first locomotive, No. 1, named Transvaal, entered service on 18 July 1889. It hauled the first train on the Randtram line when it was opened on 17 March 1890, and was retired in December 1903, by which time it had covered a distance of 113,309 miles (182,353 kilometres).[4]
By 1899 the Randtram Line had expanded to a length of 82 kilometres (ca. 51 miles).[1]
Pretoria–Delagoa Bay Line (Oosterlijn)
In order to have an outlet to a harbour, a railway line from Delagoa Bay in Portuguese East Africa to Pretoria had been proposed to the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/NZASMFrontispiece1895.png/260px-NZASMFrontispiece1895.png)
The Portuguese line from Delagoa Bay had already reached the border on 14 December 1887, but the first train from Delagoa Bay only entered Komatipoort on 1 July 1891, when the NZASM's contractors completed the bridge across the Komati River. The line from Komatipoort to
The construction of the railway line from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria was beset with difficulties, both in terms of disease and engineering. Malaria claimed many lives among the construction crews, and some of the terrain was mountainous. In the Elandspruit Valley, where the river formed a 295-foot-high (90 m) waterfall, the adjacent cliffs presented a natural barrier to the continuation of the railway from the Eastern Transvaal Lowveld up to the Transvaal Highveld.[4][8]
In terms of construction, the climb up the escarpment was arguably the most difficult section to be encountered by the railway builders on the route. When the line reached Waterval Onder, they had a choice between a lengthy detour with sharp curves and costly deep cuttings, embankments and viaducts, to comply with the agreed upon gradient of 1 in 50 (2%), or a shorter 4+1⁄2-mile-long (7.2 km) section, which would entail a gradient of 1 in 20 (5%) over a distance of 2.1 miles (3.4 kilometres) in one place, as well as a 233-yard-long (213 m) tunnel.[4][8]
The shorter and steeper route was selected. While a gradient of 1 in 20 (5%) is not insurmountable by light trains with orthodox adhesion locomotives, safety and economical considerations led to the decision to install a rack track on the section up the escarpment between Waterval Onder and Waterval Boven. The rack track was built to the Riggenbach system which was in use on European mountain railways, with the rack laid between the rails.[4][8]
The line, also known as the Oosterlijn (East Line) from Pretoria to Lourenço Marques had a total length of 562 kilometres (ca. 350 miles), of which 472 kilometres (ca. 293 miles) formed part of the Oosterlijn.[1] The full line followed the following route:*
- Pretoria (start)
- Bronkhorstspruit
- East Rand
- Middelburg
- Waterval Boven
- Nelspruit
- Komatipoort (last stop in South Africa)
Border crossing between South Africa and Mozambique
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/NZASM.png/261px-NZASM.png)
- Ressano Garcia (first stop in Mozambique)
- Moamba
- Lourenço Marques (Maputo since 1975)
- Maputo Bay - (end)
(*) In the above list, only the major settlements on the line are named; the station names are not given.
The line was officially inaugurated on 1 January 1895. Today the line runs through the
After the completion of the Pretoria - Maputo line, a second, much shorter line was laid down between Pretoria and Johannesburg. It adopted the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) of the neighbouring Cape Government Railways.
Other Lines
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/NZASM_line_map.svg/220px-NZASM_line_map.svg.png)
In addition to the Randtram and Pretoria - Delagoa Bay Lines the NZASM operated another 4 lines:[1]
- Barberton, a 55 kilometre (ca. 34 miles) sideline of the Oosterlijn.
- Zuiderlijn (South Line), intended to connect to the Viljoensdrift (border with the Orange Free State). The total line from Pretoria to Cape Townwas 1674 kilometres (ca. 1040 miles), of which 125 kilometres (ca. 78 miles) was controlled by the NZASM.
- Zuid-Oosterlijn (Southeast Line), intended to connect to the Colony of Natal, ran from Elandsfontein (Johannesburg) - Heidelberg - Standerton - Charleston - Volksrust (border with the Colony of Natal). The total line from Pretoria to Durban was 812 kilometres (ca. 505 miles), of which 256 kilometres (ca. 160 miles) were part of the Zuid-Oosterlijn.
- Zuid-Westerlijn (Southwest Line), intended to connect to the Orange Free State, ran from Krugersdorp - Potchefstroom - Klerksdorp (border with the Orange Free State) with a length of 156 kilometres (ca. 97 miles).
A 1 kilometre track at Elandsfontein near Johannesburg provided a connection between the Zuiderlijn, the Zuid-Oosterlijn, and the Zuid-Westerlijn.
Barberton branch line
In 1882, George Pigot Moodie, Surveyor General of the ZAR, suggested that the Oosterlijn needed to reach
Zuiderlijn
The Zuiderlijn was the NZASM's shortest line leaving the ZAR, but was the also the furthest distance inland. In 1888, the
The building of the Oosterlijn progressed slowly by comparison. In May 1890, the rapid population growth of Johannesburg and the need to ship in heavy mining equipment required a railway to reach the city. In June 1890, the ZAR assented to the building of a line between Pretoria and the Vaal River bridge. Construction began two months later, but the NZASM had financial problems and the project stalled.
Through an agreement made by James Silverwright, a member of the Afrikaner Bond and of Cecil Rhodes's cabinet, the Cape Colony's own CGR built its own line to Pretoria. The CGR would operate the ZAR portion of the line for two years before handing it over to the NZASM.[2] On 7 May 1892, the line was completed from Bloemfontein to the Vaal River Bridge (the border of the ZAR); on 15 September 1892, the line from the Vaal River Bridge to Germiston (65 km) opened; and on 1 January 1893, Pretoria was connected to Cape Town as well as Port Elizabeth.[11][12]
Upon completion of this railway line, it became possible to import heavy machinery, both for gold mining and for the construction of the western portion of the Oosterlijn.
Zuid-Oosterlijn
The Zuid-Oosterlijn was the last of the three NZASM lines connected to foreign rail lines and the coast.
After the discovery of gold, the Cape Colony and the Colony of Natal raced to connect the Rand with the coast. Until the line from
The Delagoa Bay line was commissioned on 1 January 1895.[14] In accordance with the terms of an agreement forged on 3 February 1894, between the ZAR government and the NGR, the NGR built the 250-km link between the Natal-ZAR border and the existing NZASM rail network. The first portion of 210 km between the border and Heidelberg opened on 27 April 1895, and the remainder opened on 15 November of that same year. On 1 December 1895, the 4-km link between the border and Charlestown opened, and that 15 December, the 41-km link between Heidelberg and Union Junction (9 km from Germiston) opened.[11][15]
In November 1894, the ZAR and Great Britain agreed to meet in Swaziland, with President Kruger and the British High Commissioner Sir Henry Loch as signatories. Neither Kruger nor Loch's countries recognized each other diplomatically, and therefore a passenger wagon was wheeled onto the bridge in between and the negotiators returned to their home countries.[16] As the agreement was signed a year before the line's opening, it appears that this short rail line was completed before the Volksrust-Standerton line was built, and that it was used to transport railway construction goods to the area.
The government of Natal paid for the line. They were eager to pay the costs since they anticipated profits that would more than cover the expense.
Zuid-Westerlijn
In 1885, the Cape railway reached Kimberley, and the following year, when the ZAR had difficulty obtaining a £5,000 loan and McMurdo struggled to build the Delagoa Bay line through the swamps near Delagoa Bay, President Kruger and the Cape government proposed extending the Kimberley line to near the Rand. No agreement was reached, and therefore the Zuid-Westerlijn started as a domestic rather than an international line.[17]
Gold was discovered in August 1886 on Rietvlei Farm near
In 1897, the line carried 3,975 passengers boarding at Klersdorp station, more than 270 tons of freight, and around 1,848 horses, livestock, and vehicles. Income was £5,976, but expenses were £6,779. At the beginning of 1898, to help the gold mining industry, railway tariffs were lowered, despite losses growing to £13,047 by the end of that year.[18]
In 1905, after the NZASM was merged into the
Locomotives
The NZASM did not classify locomotives into specific classes - the eight types used in their fleet were known by their weight.
At the end of the 19th century, the German locomotive industry was growing rapidly and had outpaced that of the United Kingdom. Since the NZASM was a Dutch company financed by 50% Dutch and 47% German capital, most of its locomotives were German-built. Out of 258 locomotives in the fleet, 249 were designed by the German firm Maschinenfabrik Esslingen, six by the British manufacturer Manning Wardle, and Louis Smulders & Co. out of Utrecht, Netherlands. Although most of the locomotives were built by their developers, 26 of the Esslingen locomotives were built by Smulders.[20][21]
When the Second Boer War broke out, the Pretoria-Pietersburg rail line was expropriated from its British owners by the ZAR government and placed under the control of the NZASM. The PPS locomotives were all manufactured in the UK.
Year | Number | NZASM Number | Configuration | NZASM Type | SAR type | Force (kN) | Force (lbf) | Manufacturer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1890 | 3 | 6-8 | 0-4-0T | 10-ton | Louis Smulders & Co. | |||
1889 | 1 | 0-4-0T | 13-ton | 22.9 | 5,150 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen | ||
1889 | 5 | 1-5 | 0-4-0T | 14-ton | 33.9 | 7,623 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen | |
1890 | 6 | 9-14 | 0-6-0ST | 18-ton | 31.8 | 7,140 | Manning Wardle | |
1890-92 | 24 | 15-38 | 0-4-2T | 19-ton | 34.5 | 7,744 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen, Maschinenfabriek Breda | |
1896-97 | 3 | ex-PPS | 0-6-0ST | 26-ton | 44 | 9,800 | Hawthorn, Leslie and Co. | |
1892-97 | 4 | 991-994 | 0-4-2RT | 32-ton | 120.8 | 27,154 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen | |
1887 | 1 | ex-PPS | 4-6-0T | 35-ton | 41.6 | 9,354 | Nasmyth, Wilson & Company | |
1891-92 | 20 | 41-60 | 0-6-2T | 40-ton | 74.3 | 16,707 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen | |
1893-99 | 195 | 61-237 | 0-6-4 T |
46-ton | Class B | 73.8 | 16,580 | Maschinenfabrik Esslingen, Werkspoor NV |
1897,1900 | 6 | ex-PPS | 2-6-4T | 55-ton | Class D | 69.4 | 15,610 | Beyer, Peacock and Company |
The South African War to the Present
In 1899 shortly after the outbreak of the South African War, also known as the Second Boer War (1899–1902), the government of the ZAR exercised its rights in accordance to the concession granted to the NZASM to place the company under government control.[22] Towards the end of the war, the company, along with the rail company of the Orange Free State (OVSM), was placed under military control by the British, and in 1904 the NZASM and the OVSM were merged into the Central South African Railways.[citation needed]
After protracted negotiations, NZASM's shareholders and creditors were given some compensation for debts and losses incurred by the company being seized by the British. The NZASM was formally dissolved in 1908, and the final financial statements were presented to shareholders in 1909. The company also published a book, In Memoriam,[1] about the history of the NZASM in 1910. The money from the company's liquidation was used to establish the Zuid-Afrikaansche Stichting Moederland (ZASM) in 1908. The ZASM is an organization dedicated to the advancement of cultural and economic ties between the Netherlands and South Africa. The ZASM also purchased a building in Amsterdam to house the organization's archives and collections, including a part of the NZASM's archives. This building is now used by a variety of organizations under the common banner Zuid-Afrikahuis (South Africa House).[citation needed]
A great deal of the NZASM's infrastructure including bridges, drains, houses, and stations still exists and in many cases is still owned and actively used by Transnet. Several of the NZASM locomotives have survived and now form part of the Outeniqua Transport Museum's collection.[citation needed]
In 1916, shortly after the establishment of the Union of South Africa, the Central South African Railways was merged with the railways of the former English Cape (Cape Government Railways) and Natal (Natal Government Railways) Colonies, resulting in the establishment of the South African Rail and Harbour Administration or Spoornet. In 1980, Spoornet was renamed to Transnet, and it was granted company status in 1990.[citation needed]
![NZASM 14 Tonner 0-4-0T, no. 1 Transvaal at the Outeniqua Transport Museum.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/NZASM_14_Tonner_0-4-0T_of_1889_%2812557648623%29.jpg/220px-NZASM_14_Tonner_0-4-0T_of_1889_%2812557648623%29.jpg)
The NZASM archives may be found in the South African National Archives in South Africa; the Dutch National Archives in the Netherlands;[23] and in the archives of the Zuid-Afrikahuis[24] and the Dutch Economic History Archive (NEHA),[25][26] both in Amsterdam. The NZASM photos in the collection of the Zuid-Afrikahuis have also been digitized and may be viewed online.[27] NZASM related archival material may also be found in various other archives, including The National Archives of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Nederlandsche Zuid Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappij (1910). In Memoriam N.Z.A.S.M. Amsterdam: J.H. de Bussy.
- ^ ISBN 0-313-25966-6.
- S2CID 163150608.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
- ^ a b c d e f Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter IV - The N.Z.A.S.M.. South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1944. pp. 762, 764.
- ^ a b c The South African Railways - Historical Survey (Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd, Circa 1978.)
- ^ "A South African Railway History". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^ a b c Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter IV - The N.Z.A.S.M. (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, November 1944. pp. 843–845, 848.
- ^ Plug, C (25 December 2014). "Moodie, Mr George Pigot (surveying)". S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- ^ "NZASM Barberton Branch Line". Artefacts.co.za. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Statement No. 19 – Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway". Jaarverslag (200954–13). Suid-Afrikaanse Spoorweë. 1953.
- ^ de Jong, Robert. "NZASM Structures of the Southern Line". The Heritage Portal. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
- ^ "Notes and Queries: Rail route centenary" (PDF). Natalia (19): 80–81. December 1991.
- ^ Seale, R (April 1987). "The Story of 'Roos'" (PDF). Pretoriana – Tydskrif van die Pretoriase Historiese Vereniging (Genootskap Ou-Pretoria) (91 (NZASM-Herdenkingsuitgawe)).
- ^ Bulpin, TV (1966). Natal and the Zulu Country. Cape Town: T.V. Bulpin Publications (Pty) Ltd.
- ^ "NZASM South-Eastern Line Border Bridge (Convention Bridge)". Artefactc.co.za. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ Walker, Eric A (1967). A History of Southern Africa (3rd [1st 1928] ed.). London: Longman. p. 406.
- ^ a b Zietsman, CF van R (July 1982). "Die bou van die Suidwestelyn, 1895–1897, en die NZASM-stasiegeboue op Krugersdorp en Klerksdorp" (PDF). Contree: Tydskrif vir Suid-Afrikaanse Stedelike en Streeksgeskiedenis/ Journal for South African Urban and Regional History: 5–9.
- ^ "Cape Town to Pretoria Route" (PDF). The Blue Train. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- S2CID 163150608.
- ^ Wilburn, Kenneth E. (April 1987). "Cecil Rhodes, James Silverwright, and Paul Kruger: The Nature of Railway Diplomacy in South Africa, 1890–1892" (PDF). The Journal of African History (91).
- ^ De Jong, R; Van der Waal, G-M; Heydenrych, D (1988). NZASM 100: The Buildings, Steam Engines, and Structures of the Netherlands South African Railway Company. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
- ^ "Finding Aid. 2.18.18.02: Inventaris van het archief van de Nederlands-ZuidAfrikaanse Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM) te Amsterdam" (PDF). Nationaal Archief. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ^ "Finding Aid. 076: Inventaris van het archief van de Nederlandsch Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij". Zuid-Afrikahuis. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ^ "Collectie Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (Amsterdam)". International Institute for Social History. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ^ "Collectie Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM)". International Institute of Social History. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ^ "NZASM". Het Geheugen van Nederland. Zuid-Afrikahuis. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
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