While the southern arm of the great line has been pushed on energetically northwards from Cape Town, the northern limb has descended almost as rapidly down the Valley of the Nile to the great interior, so that the heart of the continent is being eaten into spiritedly from both ends. The two branches have been built under totally different auspices. Whereas the southern section was carried out by private enterprise, the northern division is the work of Government effort.

In the north the railway has made history rapidly, and its conquest has been of a complex character. It placed a unique weapon in the hands of the Government, and it wrested a vast track of Africa, aggregating 950,000 square miles, from barbarity and religious fanaticism in the form of Mahdism.

Owing to the impoverished condition of the country, the railway in Egypt has experienced a very chequered career. It commenced its pacific invasion promisingly enough, but it was found to be a highly expensive settling influence for a land whose coffers had been depleted almost to the extent of emptiness.

The early lines, when laid, were neglected, and consequently fell into a sorry condition. The majority of people who had regard for their lives and limbs preferred other vehicles of transport. Everything in connection with the iron road was conducted in a haphazard manner. Trains started without any one having the faintest idea as to where they were going or what time they would reach some destination. Lord Cromer relates that when he first went to the Land of the Pharaohs all the lines were single track. No staff or block system of any kind was in vogue, and there were no signals. A train started from a station on the off-chance that another train was not coming in the opposite direction. Needless to say, as he tersely remarks, “he avoided those lines.”

In the Sudan matters were even worse. The Khedive embarked upon a laudable enterprise when he decided to carry the iron highway southwards from Wadi Haifa. Khartoum was the objective, but nearly half a century passed before the iron horse appeared at the latter point, for when the Khedive’s railway got so far as Sarras, 33 miles south, funds became exhausted and the scheme was abandoned. Another attempt was made in 1885–6, on the occasion of the Nile Expedition, to resuscitate the scheme, and by great effort another 53 miles were tacked on from Sarras to Akasha. The life of the second section was short, for when the British forces retired the track was pulled up by the dervishes, and Sarras reverted to its position as the southern terminus.

When Lord Kitchener was deputed to crush the Mahdi for once and for all, he found 1,200 miles of sandy desert between him in the north and the seat of the fanatic’s power. The river was available for the movement of troops as in the previous campaign, but the latter had emphasised the disadvantages of that highway through hostile territory. He foresaw that only one agency would enable him to accomplish the desired end, and that was the railway. Among his officers was a Canadian engineer, Sir Percy Girouard, and he discussed the possibility of building a line across the desert to span that inhospitable gap in order to pour his troops against the Mahdi forces. The engineer realised the situation and undertook to carry the line southwards from Wadi Haifa.

The task was commenced in 1896, and railway construction was pushed forward with such spirited energy that Kerma, at the head of the cataracts, was gained in a short time. No great engineering difficulties were offered because the desert is tolerably level, and the sand provided a good foundation for the steel sleepers, or ties, with the minimum of ballasting. The greater question was to maintain the steady supply of requisite material southwards from Alexandria. Yet an average speed of two miles per day was maintained, the rails being laid for the most part by natives, assisted by both British and Egyptians, under the military engineers.

The objective was Abu Hamed, where the Nile describes a big elbow, and at that time this point was in the hands of the enemy. Its capture, however, by the Anglo-Egyptian troops resulted in a speeding-up in constructional work on the advancing railway, and the 80 miles of line into this town were laid in about two months. Clinging to the east bank of the river, it was driven southwards to Atbara, where a halt was called, and where the headquarters were established for the Omdurman campaign. Curiously enough, although the railway has reached the capital of the Sudan, Atbara has not yet lost its importance from the railway point of view, being the administration centre for the whole Sudan Government railway system.

At this place the Nile is swelled by the waters of the Atbara River, which flows in from the east. While the campaign was in progress communication between the opposite banks was maintained by means of a wooden bridge. As the river, however, is tempestuous when in flood, during which period it rises to a high level, a more permanent structure was demanded for the iron horse. The width of the waterway called for the erection of over 1000 feet of steel bridging. When the advance of the railhead was determined, it was decided to rush the railway across the river before it once more rose in flood. Tenders were invited, only to be received with dismay, because it was found that the structure required was of such an elaborate character that no English firm would undertake to complete it within two years.

This upset official calculations severely, and accordingly fresh tenders for a simpler type of bridge were called. The task was thrown open to the world, and celerity of construction was the primordial condition. The British firms re-tendered, but to their disgust they were beaten hopelessly both in regard to the cost of the structure and the time in which it could be erected by the American engineers. The result was that the contract went to a Philadelphia firm. Five weeks after the receipt of the order the steel-work left New York, and within a further few weeks communication across the river was provided by 7 spans of steel, each 147 feet long, resting on cast-iron cylinders.

The most remarkable feature about this contract was the public outcry that ensued. British methods were held up in comparison with American hustle, much to the disparity of the former. British builders were assailed as lethargic, wedded to obsolete methods, and consequently had suffered the penalty of such conservatism by being beaten in a most hollow manner. The same critics, however, failed to shriek so loudly in acclamation a year later in appreciation of a British firm which accomplished a feat which even startled the Americans. This was in connection with a bridge of five spans, each 105 feet long, which was turned out of a Midland shop to replace the structure which had been destroyed by the Boers across the Tugela River in Natal. Both British and American engineers were invited to tender, and the American firms, despite their wonderful organisation, hustling methods, and their remarkable facilities for accomplishing quick work, were dismayed to find that they had been beaten by their British rivals as hollow as the latter had been vanquished some months before. The successful firm rolled 100 tons of steel, had it inspected, tested and passed by the Natal Government engineer in eight hours. It had undertaken to deliver the first span within six weeks of the receipt of the order—as a matter of fact, it was completed within nineteen days. The Americans themselves admitted that the British performance was wonderful, and that complete revenge had been taken for the Atbara contract.

As the railway pushed its way towards Khartoum, the ranks of the labourers were swelled by large numbers of dervishes, who had grown disheartened at the result of their resistance to the British advance on the northern borders of the Mahdi’s stronghold, had realised the impotency of their efforts, and consequently had decided to throw in their lot on the railway. The increased labour enabled the work to be prosecuted even more energetically, though a certain amount of time was lost in drilling this raw material into the mysteries of wielding the white man’s tools.

When the dervishes first saw the locomotive they marvelled. Steam was beyond their comprehension. They believed stoutly that the engine’s boiler was packed with animals, and when the driver blew his whistle many fled in complete terror. To them the agonising shriek of the animal on wheels was more terrifying than the hail of lead from a Maxim gun. Indeed, it is reported that one chief, when he saw a locomotive puffing along slowly and laboriously with its load of cars, went so far as to assail the British officers for their callous cruelty in making so small a beast pull such a heavy, long load!

The Atbara bridge, after fulfilling all requirements for eleven years, had to be reconstructed. It was not found strong enough to withstand the heavy loads of to-day, for on the Sudan railway weights, lengths and speeds of trains have increased strikingly during a decade. When overhaul became imperative, an English firm secured the commission to rebuild the American structure, and to-day there is nothing left of the bridge which provoked such acrimonious discussion at the time of its erection. Owing to the elaborate nature of the building operations a temporary bridge had to be thrown across the river to carry the railway traffic.

When Khartoum was gained another pause was unavoidable owing to the necessity to cross the Blue Nile in order to continue southwards to Sennar. This arm of the great Egyptian river is fickle, for in times of flood it rushes along at some 11 miles an hour. The contract for carrying the railway to the opposite bank was secured by the firm entrusted with the overhauling of the Atbara bridge, and it is a noble work of its class. The river being navigable, facilities had to be provided to permit vessels to pass up and down. This end was met by introducing an electrically operated rolling lift span working like a drawbridge. To enable railway construction to be carried on while the river was being negotiated a temporary timber bridge was thrown across the waterway. While this was in progress the power of the waters rushing through this tributary when in flood was emphasised in no uncertain manner. A considerable quantity of scaffolding intended for the support of the steel bridge during erection was torn up and hurried down-stream.

When Sennar was gained, a deviation directly eastward was made in order to gain El Obeid, which is the centre of the gum trade, one of the most prosperous and expanding industries of the Upper Sudan. Owing to its more convenient situation on the main river, Omdurman always has been the market for this article, the supplies being conveyed across country by camel caravan. It is generally considered that now El Obeid has been gained by the railway, that the decadence of Omdurman is certain, but though this may be inevitable up to a point, the town is always bound to command a certain position of importance inasmuch as it is the centre of a considerable pilgrim traffic.

On the advance to El Obeid the bridging of the White Nile had to be carried out, and here again British engineering triumphed, for the contract was awarded to the builders of the Khartoum bridge. This firm, with these two Nile bridges and the Victoria Bridge across the Zambesi, may be said to have imprinted their name indelibly in Africa in connection with bridge-engineering. The point of crossing is Goz Abu Guma, and owing to the erratic character of the White Nile its design occupied considerable deliberation. This river is sluggish both in time of flood and in the dry season. Indeed, it might be described as a huge ditch. When low the water occupies a channel about 1,500 feet in width, but in the wet season it sprawls across the country for a matter of three miles or so.

It was decided, however, that the bridging of the normal channel would suffice, the line being carried over the part subject to periodical inundation upon well-built embankments. The over-water structure comprises 9 steel spans each 146 feet in length, and one swing-bridge span 245½ feet in length to permit navigation up- and down-river, because the Sudan Development & Exploration Company maintain a steamship service between Khartoum and Gondoroko, the head of navigation on the Nile, 1,081 miles from Gordon’s city. The spans are 6 feet above the level of High Nile, and are supported on masonry piers sunk in steel caissons, or cylinders, under the agency of compressed air, to a depth ranging between 30 to 50 feet below low water.

Although the iron link has stretched beyond Khartoum to the south, Alexandria and Cairo are not in through railway communication with the capital of Sudan, 1,480 miles away. The Egyptian railways have their most southerly outpost at Shellal, just below Assuan, which is about 24 hours’ journey from the Mediterranean seaboard by the White de luxe express. The terminal of the Sudan system is at Haifa, just south of the border between the two countries. The river Nile constitutes the artery of communication between these two railway points, the steamer occupying about 40 hours. This break in the iron chain possesses distinct drawbacks, the most serious of which is transhipment between steamer and railway. The expense and inconvenience of this route, with its breaking bulk, reacted severely upon the Upper Sudan, and accordingly the latter Government decided to secure an independent outlet to the coast. There was only one means of accomplishing this end, and that was to strike eastwards across country to gain the Red Sea.

This was not a simple enterprise, especially under conditions which did not lend themselves to the expenditure of a large sum of money. An easy graded line was imperative, and the surveyors had to search diligently for such a route, because a range of hills breaks away from the northern edge of the Abyssinian plateau, to run parallel with the coast-line of the Red Sea to the Gulf of Suez. Investigations along the coast resulted in Suakin, 305 miles distant from Atbara, being selected as the sea terminus, and the surveyors succeeded in securing a location giving no banks heavier than one per cent., and with no curves of a sharper radius than 1,155 feet.

As the constructional engineers were confronted with some heavy work shortly after leaving Suakin, in order to overcome the coast range, building was commenced from both ends of the line simultaneously. This procedure, however, did not prove entirely satisfactory, owing to the cost and delay in bringing material down from Alexandria to Atbara, so when the engineers at the Suakin end had subjugated their obstacle and the material could be landed easily from vessels and hurried to the railhead, operations were suspended from Atbara. The remoteness of Suakin, however, produced individual handicaps, the greatest of which was in regard to labour. The scattered natives were given employment, but as they were unfamiliar with the tools and methods they did not prove successful, and large numbers of Egyptians who had toiled on the other lines were shipped to the Red Sea terminus. They were housed in military tents, and a stranger happening suddenly upon a railway camp might have been pardoned for labouring under the impression that he had alighted upon an invading army under canvas, because the tents were pitched in such regular rows as to indicate military occupation.

The mountains occasioned some little anxiety owing to the damage that was caused by wash-outs due to the heavy rain, but these were soon mastered. This abundance of water later on gave place to extreme scarcity, for when the constructional forces had penetrated the heart of the desert, this commodity was found only with great difficulty and by infinite labour.

Despite these drawbacks, however, the 305 miles of line were laid and opened for traffic within the short space of 14 months, which testifies to the high standard of the constructional organisation and the energy with which the undertaking was pushed forward. The significance of this branch from the Nile to the sea was revealed instantly, but unfortunately it was realised that the terminal point on the coast left much to be desired. Further investigation revealed a better site for a harbour 50 miles north of Suakin, and this point, now known as Port Sudan, is the terminus of the line, the harbour being equipped with modern facilities for handling traffic between ship and railway. The new port is connected by rail with Suakin, however, which is being retained as an outlet.

The railway will creep gradually southwards along the bank of the White Nile in all probability, but in the meantime the river will constitute the artery of communication. The waterway abounds with sand-bars and other obstructions to navigation which provide very little depth of water in some places, but the Sudan Development & Exploration Company have met this situation by the utilisation of steamers which draw extremely little water and are able to pass through the shallows in perfect safety. The Sudan Government also maintains a steamship connection between Khartoum and Gondoroko. This water link is about 1000 miles in length, and the round trip occupies about 23 days. A few years ago the possibility of being able to proceed so far up the river under steam was feared to be impracticable, owing to the dense masses of floating tangled masses of vegetation, or “sudd,” which blocked the river. But this has been broken up and a clear fairway is maintained. As a result, Uganda now has an outlet to the Mediterranean which can be developed considerably as the northern extremities of that country are opened up.

Unfortunately, beyond Gondoroko the river cannot be used, because for about 100 miles—from Rejaf to Dufile—there is a continuous chain of rapids. These two points therefore will be connected by railway probably. When Dufile is gained the river can be used once more so far as Lake Albert Nyanza, where the line from Cape Town would be met, although there is a belief that the Sudan Government intends to push the railway to a far more southern point.

It will be seen that although Rhodes’ great scheme was for a continuous steel road from north to south, this idea has had to be modified in order to meet unexpected conditions, which at the time of the railway’s inception were not apparent. In reality one will travel from the “Cape to Cairo” over a combined rail and water route longitudinally through the continent. At the present moment one can cover the whole journey by rail and water, except for a distance of about 600 miles, and this gap is being closed rapidly. As the settlement of the country along the line of communication becomes effected, and the heavy drawbacks incidental to transhipment become more and more emphasised, there is no doubt but that the water route will be superseded gradually by the railway, so that in time the original idea will be consummated, and trains will pass right through from the Cape to Cairo over a continuous path of steel some 6000 miles in length.