East African Railways

East African Railways and Harbours

East African Railways 60 Class Garratts on Kampala Shed in 1960. The 60 Class Garratts were used on trains to Kasese in the west and to Nakuru in the east. PHOTO - Malcolm McCrow

By 1961 they were displaced on the Mail Trains by 58 Class Garratts which had in turn been displaced between Nakuru and Nairobi by the new 90 Class diesels. PHOTO Malcolm McCrow
	11 Class Tank - 1129 - (left) with a two coach Rail Tour excursion train approaching Kampala's low level platform from the Western Uganda Extension (Kasese) Line after a 5 mile trip during which footplate riding and "run past" photography was indulged. EAR&H's Scammell British Railways style "iron horse" (right) loads road freight for local delivery in Kampala. - PHOTOs EAR&H Magazine
			Kampala Goods Shed completed in 1954. Later developments at Nakuru were based on the Kampala redevelopment. PHOTO - EAR&H Magazine
	The Railway Station in Kampala (left) will, for me, always be associated with School Trains. A 58 Class (right) awaits departure at 1700.
	Unique 58 Class - the only one to have EAR&H on its tanks - prepares to depart Kampala (left). The same train beyond the level crossing near Central Workshops heads out of Kampala in October 1962 (right).
	The view from the train of the level crossing above (left). Seta - a typical Uganda station (right).

		The EAR&H had few serious accidents, but on 3 January 1963, just 23 miles from Kampala, a freight train with a caboose and 6 tank cars of high octane aviation fuel for Entebbe Airport stalled on the gradient. After setting back, the driver made a run at the gradient which the engine cleared with ease and tore off down the other side where it derailed. The escaping fuel was ignited by the Garratt's oil furnace and the driver and firemen were killed. After three days of continuous round-the-clock working the single track line to Nairobi was re-opened. PHOTOs - (top and left) A J Hudson.


A typical Uganda country station - Kawolo, near Jinja (right). A 58 Class, with its oil-burning furnace clearly visible, heads the up Uganda Mail, while a 60 Class heads a freight. Both PHOTO - A J Hudson.

A 56 Class heads a passenger train through a typical Uganda station in the early 1950s (left) - PHOTO - EAR&H.
			Kawolo showing the Up Uganda Mail headed by a 58 Class Garratt in 1960. Kawolo, half way between Jinja and Kampala was the only station in Uganda which was licensed to handle spirit. It served the nearby Neutral and Methylated Spirit Factory which supplied spirits to Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam where it was used in the making of gin. PHOTO - EAR&H Magazine
	Kampala-bound Mail Train (right) crossing Jinja Bridge. The 60 Class Garratt will have taken over the train at Nakuru, the previous afternoon. Since the locomotive is not fitted with a Giesel ejector, the photograph was probably taken around 1960. The fourth coach is one of four first class stainless steel coaches. At this time, the train will have gone through Mbulamuti (for Namasagali). - PHOTO EAR&H - P B Whitehouse. By the mid 1960s, diesels were running through to Kampala. Here a 90 Class crosses the Nile Bridge with a long freight train for Kampala - PHOTO EAR&H

The 4 Down from Kampala rumbles over the viaduct at the Jinja end of the Nile Bridge on its 871 mile journey to Nairobi. PHOTOs EAR&H Magazine

A School Train (right) approaching Jinja Bridge in 1960 - still hauled by a 60 Class.

Classic late 1950s. Number 1 Up - The Uganda Mail crosses the Nile Bridge heading for Kawolo and Kampala - PHOTO EAR&H Magazine. The photograph was taken in the mid 50s. The train is hauled by a 60 Class Garratt and aluminium first class coaches sandwich the dining car.
			From the book Railway Across the Equator by Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and Alistair Mathieson. A Kampala bound Uganda Railways passenger train crosses Jinja Bridge in more recent times. Tragically Mohamed was killed when the Ethiopian Airlines jetliner in which he was travelling was hijacked and crashed into the Indian Ocean on 23 November 1996.
	An Eldoret bound School Train has just arrived in Jinja in January 1956 (left). Until the link between Busambatia and Magamaga (completed 1960) obviated the need to go round via Mbulamuti, trains arrived in Jinja from Kampala in daylight. The 60 Class taking water at Jinja (right).
	Jinja Station (left) looking towards Tororo. A 60 Class heads a train through the platform bound for Kampala. A train heads into the rapidly setting African sun (right). The leading three coaches are through coaches from Namasagali to Nairobi/Mombasa and would have been added to the Mail Train at Mbulamuti. These coaches, which carried tourists who had been on a Lakes and River Nile Cruise, were sometimes added to Mail Trains - PHOTOs EAR&H Magazine.
		The Uganda Mail arrives Budumba some 33 miles from Tororo PHOTO - EAR&H Magazine - December 1956
	East African Railways & Harbours