The Museum is still rail-connected, allowing restored locos access to the main line for working steam excursions.

With the privatisation of Kenya Railways, the Museum and exhibits have been transferred to the guardianship of the National Museum of Kenya. The curator of the museum is now Maurice Barasa, an anthropologist by training and who brings expertise in museum management. His father was a stationmaster on Kenya Railways, so he has a family connection with his new duty. He is keen to see more steam tourist trains and will have meetings with Rift Valley Railways in due course, about making formal arrangements for steam operation and promotion.

Graham's account of the progress of the restoration can be seen at the 2409 diary page.

5918 Mount Gelai
Pride of the Museum fleet
Picture ©2004 Trevor Heath

By 1896 all was ready for a second attempt to build a railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria and the inaugural platelaying ceremony was performed on 30th May, 1896. However the German East African railway had already commenced construction of the line from Tanga in May 1893, but after taking two years to build 40kms of line, the Usumbara Bahn was declared bankrupt and construction had to be taken over by the German Government. The line eventually reaching Moshi in 1912.

The Uganda Railway was constructed to metre gauge as this was already in common use in India which meant there was a ready source of locomotives and rolling stock. In addition, most of the labour, skilled and unskilled, was imported from India, many of whom remained after their contracts ended to become the nucleus of the Asian community in Kenya and Uganda.

Ryall`s Saloon No. 13

After leaving Mombasa, the line had to cross the waterless Taru Plain, a slow job with every drop of fresh water having to be taken by train from Mombasa to the construction camps. By 1898 the line had reached the Tsavo river. At first the line was carried across the river by a temporary wooden trestle to allow the railhead to move on while a permanent bridge was built under the direction of Captain, later Lt. Colonel, J. H. Patterson. The construction was held up for several months by two man-eating lions, who attacked the camp and killed scores of African and Asian workers, before being eventually hunted down and shot by Patterson. The stuffed and mounted carcases of the two lions are now on display in the Field Museum in Chicago.

This was not the last time lions were to disrupt the line. In 1899, a road engineer by the name of O'Hara was dragged from his tent near Voi and killed. A year later, on 6th June 1900, at Kima station, Police Superintendent C. H. Ryall was sleeping in his observation saloon, number 13, when he was killed by a lion which entered the carriage and dragged the body through a window and off into the bush. Two other men in the saloon, Heubner a German trader who ran a store in Nairobi, and Parenti, an Italian merchant, had narrow escapes. The lion was eventually captured in a baited trap and shot.

By 1899 nearly 500 kms of track had been laid and the line had crossed the Athi plains and arrived at the foot of the Kenya Highlands. The railhead reached an area of swampy ground known by the Masai name of Nyrobi. Here a major depot was established to facilitate the construction of the line up into the highlands. The administrative offices were also moved here from Mombasa and homes built for the staff. This attracted an influx of Asian merchants to supply goods and services to the railway workforce. In addition, the Colonial Administration headquarters was moved from nearby Machakos, a settlement by-passed by the railway. In 1900 the spelling was changed to Nairobi and the future capital city was born.

East African Railways

Midway between Nairobi and Lake Victoria was the great natural obstacle of the Rift Valley with its 450 m drop from the Highlands to the floor of the valley. In order to speed up construction an inclined railway was constructed down the steep sides of the rift. The steepest part of the incline descended for 210 m at a gradient of 50°. The inclines were cable operated with the main descent utilising two counterbalanced transporter wagons running on broad gauge tracks, each carrying one metre gauge wagon. Some of the brickwork for these inclines can still be seen. This enabled the railhead to be pushed on across the floor of the Rift Valley towards Lake Victoria while the permanent descent of the rift was still being constructed.

The railway was originally intended to link directly with the Ugandan capital of Kampala and the route had already been surveyed. However political and economic pressure from a British Government that was never more than lukewarm about the project meant a quicker and cheaper alternative had to be found. A new route was surveyed from Nakuru to the nearest point on Lake Victoria on the Winam Gulf and the line built to there as an interim solution.

Railhead finally reached Lake Victoria, 930 km from Mombasa, on 19th Dec 1901 at a point called Port Florence, named after Florence Preston, wife of the chief foreman platelayer, Ronald O. Preston, who had accompanied her husband on his 5 year journey all the way from Mombasa. Mrs Preston was given the honour of driving home the last key at the waters edge¹. Port Florence was later renamed Kisumu. After the First World War a new main line was constructed from Nakuru on the original, more northerly, route around the head of the lake which eventually reached Kampala in 1931. A branch to the soda deposits at Lake Magadi was completed in 1915. The Nanyuki branch reached Thika in 1913, Naro Moro in 1927, and finally arrived on the foothills of Mount Kenya in 1931. The Solai and Kitale branches were completed in 1926 and the Kisumu line was extended to Butere in 1932.

In Uganda, the main line was extended from Kampala to Kasese near Mount Ruwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, in 1956. The Northern Uganda branch from Tororo had reached Soroti by 1929 and was later extended to Pakwatch on the Nile above Lake Albert, arriving there in 1964. This line was has now been extended across the White Nile to Arua near the border with Zaire.

¹ Another version of this story has it that the port was named after the wife of George Whitehouse, Chief Engineer of the line, also called Florence. Whitehouse was, alledgedly, later reprimanded for it. I can see a scenario where both men told their wives "It's named after you, Dear."

The last main line to be built was the Chinese funded and equipped Tazara line (TAnzania-ZAmbia RAilway) from Dar es Salaam to Tunduma on the border with Zambia. This line, intended to give Zambia an alternative outlet to the coast for its exports after Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, was completed in 1976. Unlike the other East African lines the Tazara was built to the 3'6" gauge of the Southern Africa railway system. This allows through running to Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa if required. There had, for many years, been a plan to convert the East African network to "Cape Gauge" with some of the later steam engines and the earlier diesel classes being designed for easy conversion.

• 327 Vulcan Foundry ED1 2-6-2T (EAR 1127)
• 87 Karamoja Beyer-Garratt EC3 4-8-4+4-8-4 (EAR 5711)
• 2401 Vulcan Foundry EB3 4-8-0
• 2409 Vulcan Foundry EB3 4-8-0
• 5505 Beyer-Garratt GB 4-8-2+2-8-4

• 393 Nasmyth Wilson EE 2-6-4T (EAR 1003) plinthed in Jamhuri Park, Nairobi

Tanganyika Railway

• 301 Beyer Peacock DL 4-8-0 (EAR 2301)

East African Railways

• 1315 North British 4-8-4T converted from 4-8-2T
• 2921 Masai of Kenya North British Tribal Class 2-8-2
• 3020 Nyaturu North British Tribal Class 2-8-4
• 3123 Bavuma Vulcan FoundryTribal Class 2-8-4
• 5918 Mount Gelai Beyer-Garratt Mountain Class 4-8-2+2-8-4
• 5930 Mount Shengena Beyer-Garratt Mountain Class 4-8-2+2-8-4
• 6006 Sir Harold MacMichael Beyer-Garratt Governor Class 4-8-2+2-8-4

Magadi Soda Company

• Hugh F Marriott 0-4-0ST

Write to The Curator,
Nairobi Railway Museum,
Kenya Railways Corporation,
PO Box 30121-00100,
Nairobi, Kenya. Email: prm@kenyarailways.co.ke

The main items in the archive are:

• Eight albums of original photographs from the 1896-1900 construction period of the original Uganda Railway
• Over 100 specialist books and suppliers' catalogues on steam locomotive engineering, from the technical library of the CME's department
• The original letter books from the UR from 1900 to around 1912
• The General Manager's reports (printed and bound) from early 1900s to 1980 or so
• Original letters and files from the two German forerunners of Tanganyika Railways, up to about 1915
• Working Timetables, Appendices, Rule Books, Traffic Regulations, etc. from mid-KUR period (around 1930) to late EAR period
• Some files relating to line construction and projected branch lines
• A partial run of Railway Magazine from 1930 to mid 1950s
• A partial run of Model Railway News from 1940s to 1950s
• A number of miscellaneous maps, plans, and drawings
• Records relating to marine vessels
• A run of Institution of Civil Engineers proceedings from about 1870 to 1915 or so
• A run of Kenya Gazette from early 1900s to around the mid 1970s
• Framed photographs of former CMEs, CCEs, and GMs of the UR/KUR/EAR

Picture ©2004 Graham Roberts

For further information about visiting Kenya, see the Kenya Tourist Board website.

Pictures of recent Steam excursions.

Picture ©2004 Graham Roberts

Apart from tourist excursions the museum steam locomotives in both Kenya and Tanzania are used fairly regularly on service trains, mainly goods, to maintain operational experience amongst the crews. This has maintenance benefits as well as machinery that is regularly used gives less problems than that which is only operated intermittently.

Nairobi Railway Station

• Thika Eagle Mon-Fri. Journey time about 150 minutes.
  Thika-Nairobi 0530; returns 1730
• Kahawa Cheetah Mon-Fri. Journey time about 70 minutes.
  Kahawa-Nairobi 0610, 0648, 0900; returns 0750, 1550, 1810.
• Kikuyu Buffalo Mon-Fri. Journey time about 120 minutes.
  Limuru-Nairobi 0530 returns 2030.
  Kikuyu-Nairobi 0915, 1915 returns 0800, 1740
• The Airport Peacock Mon-Fri. Journey time about 50 minutes.
  Embakasi-Nairobi 0700,0900,1645,1840; returns 0810,1545,1750,1945
• Jambo Kenya Deluxe Daily. About 14 hours.
  Nairobi-Mombasa dep 1900 arr 0825
  Mombasa-Nairobi dep 1900 arr 0900
• Port Florence Express
  Nairobi-Kisumu Mon/Wed/Fri dep 0630 arr 1945
  Kisumu-Nairobi Tue/Thu/Sun dep 0630 arr 2030
• Butere Dove
  Kisumu-Butere Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun dep 0845 arr 1212
  Butere-Kisumu Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun dep 1300 arr 1603
• Mount Kilimanjaro Express
  Voi-Taveta Wed/Sat dep 0500 arr 1000
  Taveta-Voi Wed/Sat dep 1430 arr 1912
• Mount Kenya Express
  Nairobi-Nanyuki Sat only dep 0800 arr 1653
  Nanyuki-Nairobi Sun only dep 0800 arr 1628

There are currently no passenger services in Uganda.

The Iron Snake by Ronald Hardy. A history of the construction of the Uganda Railway. The title is taken from an ancient Kikuyu prophecy. Published by Collins 1965

Steam Locomotives of East African Railways by R. Ramaer. A technical and historical outline of the motive power of both the British and German built lines. Published by David & Charles 1974, ISBN 0-7153-6437-5.

Steam in East Africa and Steam Twilight by Kevin Patience. Two books of photographs covering steam operation from beginning to end. Published by Heinemann 1976 and by the Author 1996 respectively.

Railway Across the Equator by Mohammed Amin, Duncan Willetts, and Alastair Matheson. A coffee table book featuring the late Mohammed Amin's superb photographs of the modern scene in East Africa. Published by Bodley Head 1986. ISBN 0-370-30774-7.

Garratt Locomotives of the World by A. E. Durrant has a chapter on the East African Garratts. Published by Bracken Books 1987. ISBN 1-85170-141-9.

East African Locomotives a booklet of postcard photographs of a number of locomotive classes with some basic information on each. Published by EAR&H about 1964.

The Man-Eaters of Tsavo by J.H. Patterson. The eyewitness account of the lion hunt. Republished by Fontana 1974. ISBN 0-00-613299-5.

Zanzibar and the Bububu Railway by Kevin Patience. The story of the island's steam railways and the mule-hauled trams in Zanzibar town.

Steam Safari With East African Railways by Charan Singh Kundi. An account of the November 2001 excursion to Mombasa by 5918 Mount Gelai, includes photos from the trip as well as during its service days. The author is an ex-driver with EAR&H. Published by Majestic Printing Works, P.O. Box 42466, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya. No ISBN.

• Peter Ritchie's photographs
• Malcolm McCrow's photographs
• James Waite's photographs
• Trevor Heath's photographs

Picture courtesy Alan Wall ©1968

58 Class Beyer-Garrett and 13 Class shunter at Kisumu 1968
also a Cowan & Sheldon handcrane of 1896

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