The Cape-to-Cairo Railway and Train Ferries Author(s): H. Wilson Fox Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Feb., 1920), pp. 73-101 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1781582 Accessed: 27-06-2016 09:58 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:58:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Geographical Journal Vol. LV No. 2 February I920 THE CAPE-TO-CAIRO RAILWAY AND TRAIN FERRIES DEVELOPNMENT OF THE GREAT LAKES OF AFRICA BY TRAIN-FERRIES H. Wilson Fox, M.P. Read at the,Meeting of the Soiety, I December 19I9. Maf, p. 160. OW that the Great War is over and the control of the territory which is still known as German East Africa has passed out of German hands, never, I hope, to return, renewed interest will certainly be taken in the realization of Cecil Rhodes' dream-the Cape-to-Cairo Railway. No definite route for it has hitherto been laid out, and, broadly speaking, there is considerable choice of alternatives over the greater part of the distance which still separates the railways of South Africa from those of the Egyptian and Sudan systems. The subject of'railway extensions in Africa was discussed at some length in the comprehensive and most interesting paper on the "Railway Development of Africa Present and Future" (G./., Jan. I916) which was read before the Society by Sir Charles Metcalfe on 29 November I9I5, and the same topic was referred to, in perhaps more imaginative fashion, in a paper by Sir Harry Johnston (G./., April I9I5), whose horizon of fancy was not bounded by the limitations from which a great engineer, like Sir Charles Metcalfe, could obviously not escape. The most recent discussion before this Society of some of the special problems of the Cape-to-Cairo project arose in I9I8 in connection with Sir Alfred Sharpe's paper "The Backbone of Africa" (G.y., Sept. I918). My own long association with Mr. Rhodes, and the work I have had in connection with the development of Rhodesia and its railway system, have naturally caused me to take a special interest in these problems, but, beyohd a general conviction that as the interior of Central Africa developed our experience in Rhodesia would be repeated, and that the prospects of trade immediately in advance of the northern and southern railheads would continue to draw each of them forward until at last they would meet sooner or later, I had not been able until quite recently to visualize any method by which this natural process of extension might conceivably be accelerated. I have, however, always kept myself G This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:58:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 74 THE CAPE-TO-CAIRO RAILWAY AND TRAIN FERRIES informed, so far as possible, in regard to the geographical features of the regions through which the line might conceivably pass, as to which a number of reports by competent observers have been received in recent years. The inspiration of the practical suggestions made in this paper flows from my recent work as Chairman of the Select Committee on Internal Transport which was set up by the House of Commons during the last session of the last Parliament. I had then an opportunity of seeing, and acquainting myself with, the conditions of working of the important train- ferries which are now plying regularly between this country and France, and of considering the possibility of an extension of the use of train-ferries to the Irish Channel. The studies which I then made of the conditions in which train-ferries are used for commercial purposes upon the Great Lakes of America and other places, soon suggested the question--Why should they not be used upon the Great Lakes of Africa? I hope that when you have heard what I have to say to-night you will agree with me that the answer to this question should be-They should ! There are probably some people in this audience who are well acquainted with train-ferries, but I venture to say that their knowledge is quite exceptional, and that not one Englishman in ten thousand, at any rate before the war, knew anything whatever about them. I think, there- fore, that before I pass to the particular problems of the Cape-to-Cairo Railway, it may interest you to hear some of the facts and conclusions which I have gleaned from my investigations upon the subject of train-ferries in general. The modern train-ferry is no fair-weather boat. It can brave seas quite as wild as any that are met with in the English or Irish Channels, and is capable-though fortunately it will not have to do so in Africa--of cutting its way through considerable thicknesses of ice. Train-ferries have for some time past played a most important part in the development of the railway system of Denmark, the distances over which trains are carried by this means across arms of the sea varying from Ii to 26 miles. On the Danish system they are regarded as quite ordinary features of railway con- struction, and are looked upon in just the same light as a bridge or tunnel. Perhaps the most ambitious marine project for their use is the proposed establishment of a train-ferry service between Gothenburg and Immingham -a distance of 500 miles; that such a project can be considered from a commercial standpoint by serious people, notwithstanding the terrors of a North Sea crossing, is, I think, sufficient to show that the train-ferry has passed completely out of the experimental stage. For my purpose to-night it is perhaps even more instructive to refer to the extensive use which has been made of train-ferries on great lakes. On Lake Baikal, on the route of the Siberian Railway, a large ice-breaking ferry, which was built in this country by Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., was operated successfully for some years. But for purpose of comparison This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:58:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE CAPE-TO-CAIRO RAILWAY AND TRAIN FERRIES 75 with Africa, I think that American experience offers the best guidance, and particularly that which has been obtained on Lake Michigan. One of the services maintained on this lake covers a distance of 240 miles, and there are numerous services of from 50 to IOO miles. A high authority has stated " that the Ann Arbor train-ferry line on Lake Michigan has demon- strated that in this region, freight (or goods) can be transported 60 miles for about the labour cost of transferring it from cars to boat on one side of the lake, and from boat to cars on the other side." It is also stated, as the result of averages ascertained from the working results of eight different ferry lines in different parts of the world, that the mean expense per mile traversed by a ferry was, in pre-war days, about 8s. 6d. The Ann Arbor line is said to have been worked on a very profitable basis, a four-years average showing that the average percentage of total expenses to total earnings was only 26'8 per cent. The Ann Arbor Railroad Company, at the time to which these figures relate, operated four ferry lines running respectively for go, 8o, 78 and 60 miles, and owned three boats, each provided with four rail-tracks. Their carrying capacity was about 22 cars of 36 feet in length. The total number of cars ferried in I90or was 27,240, and the total goods transported in that year 4I5,600 tons. It may be of interest to note, in comparison with these figures, that the train-ferries on the River Parana, by means of which the Entre Rios Rail- way Company maintains its services between the province of Entre Rios and Buenos Aires, transported in the year ended 30 June I919 380,344 tons of goods, 66,239 passengers and 370,754 animals. The running cost of a ferry boat per mile was 7s. 2d. The Cross-Channel services between this country and France, which were established for war purposes by Sir Eric Geddes with very great success, are maintained between Richborough and Dunkirk, Richborough and Calais, and Southampton and Dieppe. A fourth between Southamp- ton and Cherbourg is also being brought into operation. Three of the ferry boats used have a length of 363 feet, a beam of 61-} feet, a tonnage displacement of 3654 tons, and a draught of I2 feet. Their sea- going speed is I2 knots. They have four rail-tracks, making a total track- length of I080 feet, and they carry 54 xo-ton trucks. Loading and unloading takes place at the after end only.