The Rise of Rail-Power in War and Conquest, 1833-1914Pratt, Edwin A.
History
The Rise of Rail-Power in War and Conquest, 1833-1914
Pratt, Edwin A.
Railroads; Transportation, Military
Taking the sum total of the military traffic carried on the Cape
Government and the Natal Government Railways respectively during the war
period, we get the following substantial figures:--
Cape Government Railways, from October 1, 1899, to March 31,
1901:--Officers, men, and other passengers, 1,247,000; supplies, etc.,
1,058,000 tons; horses and other live stock, 540,321, besides many
wagons and guns.
Natal Government Railways:--Officers, men, prisoners of war, sick and
wounded, women and children (including Boer refugees), natives and
Indians, 522,186; baggage and stores, supplies, hay, forage, etc.,
861,000 tons; ammunition, 9,784 boxes; guns, 454; vehicles, 6,430;
pontoons, 48; traction engines, 84; horses and other live stock, 399,000.
MISCELLANEOUS SERVICES
The figures here given as to the military traffic carried do not
represent the full extent of the work that was done by the South African
railways during the course of the war. One must also take into account
the wide variety of subsidiary services rendered, and these are the
more deserving of attention because they show, more than had, perhaps,
been the case in any previous war, that railways can afford valuable
aid in the conduct of a campaign apart from the achievement of their
fundamental purpose in the transport of men and matériel.
If we look atthe list of services rendered by the Natal Government
Railways we find that the Railway Department--in addition to the
transport work represented by the above figures--adapted six armoured
trains; prepared special carriages for the 6 in. and 4·7 in. guns;
adapted and equipped three hospital trains, withdrawing for this
purpose fully a quarter of the most serviceable carriage stock from
the ordinary traffic; wired and lamped the hospitals at four different
centres, supplying them, also, with electric current; mounted the
electric search-light apparatus with engine, dynamo, etc.; supplied
30,000 troops at Colenso with water; found the plant and fuel at
Ladysmith for condensing water from the Klip River for 20,000 persons
during the four months' siege; allotted and arranged a portion of the
goods-shed as the Base Medical Stores at Durban, and fitted up vans to
follow the army with reserve medical supplies.
The Department's Engineering Staff speedily restored, or temporarily
provided--either on the Natal system or along 100 miles of the Transvaal
railways, when these passed under control of the British forces--72
bridges and culverts, varying in length from 10 to 600 feet; 32
different portions of permanent way; and many water tanks, etc. The
Engineering Staff also effected in seven days a clearance through the
Lang's Nek Tunnel, blown in by the Boers, and constructed several miles
of new lines, sidings and deviations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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