The fascinating history of a 30 gauge railway in the Northwest South Africa, opened in 1871-76, and its locomotives. The railway closed in 1941, but rail operations (with diesel and electric locomotives) continued at the mines until 2003 and at Port Nolloth until 2006. Read about problems with condensers and brackish water, gravity operation and attempted blow-up during the Boer war!.hb,
This is an extraordinary booklet about the locomotives of a littleknown but quite romantic railway that last saw activity throughout its length more than sixty years ago (although a tiny fragment of it remained in use at Port Nolloth until recently). The text is enriched by detailed accounts of incidents that happened throughout the working life of the railway, such as the attempted blowing up of Ookiep by Boer Commandos in May 1902 (with the aid of a stolen Namaqua Copper Company locomotive and a wagonload of dynamite!). The unearthing of particulars of some of the rarest of locomotive builders, such as Lilleshall of Shropshire and Dick, Kerr of Kilmarnock, has lent fascinating body to what could have been bland locomotive lists. It is thanks to Peters tenacious research that we not only know the critical dimensions of most of these engines, but what loads they handled and the operating problems encountered as a result of brackish water, desert sand and extreme heat that prevented the condensing apparatus of the early Kitsons from functioning effectively, as well as how all of these problems were overcome.
Charlie Lewis