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Pulp African Trains

Page history last edited by Michael 3 years, 2 months ago

back to Railway Travel


Egypt

 

Cairo-Alexandria Express

 

     Daily trains from Misr Station, Cairo (evening times shown in italics). The arrival time for a ten-minute stop in Tanta is also shown. 

 

depart

Tanta

arrive

7:00

8:15

9:30

7:45

9:00

10:15

11:00

12:30

2:00

2:00

4:00

5:15

4:00

5:30

7:00

5:30

6:45

8:00

6:30

8:00

9:15

p.m. times in italics

 

     Daily trains from Alexandria. The arrival time for a ten-minute stop in Tanta is also shown.

 

depart

Tanta

arrive

7:00

8:15

9:30

7:45

9:00

10:15

11:00

12:30

2:00

2:00

3:15

5:15

4:00

5:30

7:00

5:30

6:45

8:00

6:30

7:45

9:15

p.m. times in italics

 

Sunshine Express

 

station

day

arrive

depart

notes

Cairo

A

--

~6:00

 

Giza

A

?

?

 

Wasta

A

 

 

 

Minia

A

 

 

 

Assiut

A

 

 

 

Sohag

A

 

 

 connection by bus to Abydos

Kena

A

 

 

 

Luxor

A

6:00

--

 

Minor stops not shown; p.m. times in italics

Another train departs Cairo at 9:00 am, arriving Luxor at 9:00 pm; and a third, with sleeper cars, departs 6:00 pm, arriving at 6:00 am.

See the page on the Taurus Express for connections from Cairo to Europe via rail.

 

station

dayarrivedepartnotes
Luxor A -- ~6:00
Kena A ? ?  
Sohag A
     connection by bus to Abydos
Assiut A
     
Minia A
     
Wasta A
     
Giza A
~6:00
   

Minor stops not shown; p.m. times in italics

Another train departs Luxor at 9:00 am, arriving Cairo at 9:00 pm; and a third, with sleeper cars, departs 6:00 pm, arriving at 6:00 am.

See the page on the Taurus Express for connections from Cairo to Europe via rail.

 


 

Kenya & Uganda Railways

 

     A meter-gauge system and almost entirely single-tracked; the main line leads from Mombasa on the India Ocean, though Nairobi, and onwards to Kampala on the shores of Lake Victoria; there is a major branch to Port Florence (Kisumu) on the shores of Lake Victoria. The line to Kampala was only opened in 1931. Nairobi is about 5,400' above sea level; the summit of the line, near the Equator, is at 9,136' above sea level. The mainline trains operate at about 40 miles per hour, with a "speed including stops" of about 28 miles per hour. Travel from Nairobi to Mombasa takes about an hour less than the other way around!

     The KUR introduced powerful coal-fired Garratt articulated 4-8-2+2-8-4 steam locomotives in 1926, the "EC" class, 88' long, weighing 125 tons each. By the late Thirties, almost all long-distance trains are operated by Garratts.

      The railway connects from Nakuru to Nairobi (about 100 miles or 4 hours) and Mombasa on the coast (another 300 miles and 13.5 hours), and the port of Kisumu on Lake Victoria (to the west of Nakuru about 100 miles or 4 hours). A very aggressive pair of lions killed at least 28 of the construction workers at Tsavo on this route in 1898. 

      A number of steamships and ferries have been in service on Lake Victoria since the turn of the century -- some built on the lake, some transported in pieces from Europe to Kisumu by sea and rail and then reassembled. From Kisumu to Port Bell is about 13 hours travel; Port Bell to Mwanza is about 19 hours.

      The daily trains from Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond consist of a locomotive, a tender, a goods and mail wagon, several 3rd class carriages, two 2nd class carriages, two 1st class sleeper carriages, the restaurant car, two more 1st class sleeper carriages, three more 2nd class carriages, two or three more goods wagons, and the guard's van at the end. Europeans travel 1st class, most Indians and Arabs travel 2nd class, and poor Indians and natives (Africans) travel in 3rd class. 2nd class has separate compartments; 3rd class has only hard wooden benches in one large space.

      The branch to Kisumu is particularly dramatic:  "The building of the Kenya Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu must rank high in the top ten great railway building engineering achievements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Nakuru to Kisumu section being the most difficult with its innumerable steel viaducts over deep chasms and valleys and still keeping to a 2% ruling grade." 

 

 

station

day

arrive

depart

notes

Mombasa A -- 7:00  
Nairobi B 8:30 8:45  
Nakuru B 12:45 1:00

connection to Kisumu

Kampala C 8:00

--

 

p.m. times in italics; minor stops not shown

 

station

day

arrive

depart

notes

Kampala C -- 4:45
Nakuru B 4:00 4:15 connection to Kisumu
Nairobi B 8:15 8:30  
Mombasa A  10:00 --  

p.m. times in italics; minor stops not shown.

 

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