subject: Luxury Train Africa Through The Advancement In The Region [print this page] History from the vantage point of luxury train Africa is amazing. Every continent has it unique identity and Africa is no different. Its character is composed of topographical features but also of the people whose contributions have left concrete signs.
During the colonial era European countries expanded into other parts of the world. They did not understand that China and India were far more civilized than they themselves were and tramped clumsily over treasures that were unappreciated. However, in Africa they found a continent where the wheel was unknown. Goods were transported on heads or legs, not on wheels.
In South Africa there are few rivers that are navigable for more than a few kilometers. A long mountainous spine runs up the eastern site of the country making the hinterland difficult to access from the wet eastern side. A barrier of deserts protected the heart of the country from the west. When gold was discovered in large quantities near the center early colonists began the enormous engineering challenge of building smooth platforms across rough country.
To get from ports to remote hinterlands where resources like gold and diamonds had been discovered engineers had to construct incredibly long, smooth excavations, lay down secure beds of gravel with wooden sleepers at close intervals on them and then nail steels rails securely so that heavy rolling stock could run along them without being derailed. To make their task even more challenging rough terrain had to be traversed. Valleys and mountains were crossed, not to speak of rivers, swamps and what must have seemed like endless plains.
Ox wagons were the first vehicles to open up the interior of South Africa and connect cities founded on gold with sea ports in Durban and Cape town. When rail routes were completed the contents of fifty wagons could be slid at speeds that were ten times faster than wagons. In addition elegant passenger carriages enable people to sit in comfort and watch the countryside flash past.
Another route from Cape Town to Johannesburg had to traverse the arid plains of the Great Karroo which is like vast sea bed from which the water has been drained. Though there are are fewer mountains and fast flowing rivers the greater distances and aridity of the terrain make the task equally challenging. When it is considered that the people who built these routes had no mechanical diggers, tip lorries lorries or bull dozes with which to work the extent of their achievements is quite marvelous.
It was not only the main routes that were constructed during the colonial era. Subsidiary lines ran between smaller towns, connecting them and enabling the transport of agricultural produce such as milk, oranges, fruit wool and sugar. Where the trains stopped at halts and stations small settlements grew up. In many cases houses and sheds were built to accommodate staff and goods. Fast vanishing from the landscape as road and air transport replace rail vestiges of railway culture and historic land marks do still remain to be seen from tourist trains.
In Capital Park, Pretoria there is a railway museum the preserves many of the artifacts that were typical of luxury train Africa in its early days. From this museum tourists can still travel in carefully restored period carriages to enjoy something of the style and the adventure of colonial days. These are luxury trains with observation cars. From them one can observe what has become of the efforts of colonial builders and engineers.
