A visit to Mozambique in 1976

After a protracted struggle with Portugal, Mozambique became an independent state in 1975. Shortly afterwards in November 1976, I arrived at the capital Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques) in the mv Schielloyd. Maputo, which is situated in an extensive low-lying area on Delagoa Bay, is only a short distance from Johannesburg as the norm goes in Africa, and together with Beira was one of the regular ports of call on my shipping company's South Africa service. Late November at Maputo is nearly high summer in a very subtropical place. The heat was simply stifling and what I remember most about this place is an all-enveloping lethargy.

Paul Kruger's Railway

The southern railway network of Mozambique is closely linked to the South African Republic (Transvaal) of which Paul Kruger was President. Anticipating the bitter conflict with the British colonies in the south as early as 1872, he looked at Lourenço Marques as a possible seaport for his republic's economic survival. The Dutch having close ties with the Boer republics, the year 1887 finally saw the founding in Amsterdam of the Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM). After an eight-year effort, building the railway through the wild Komatipoort mountain region on the Transvaal-Mozambique border to the coast, in 1895 through rail services commenced between Lourenço Marques and Pretoria.

The NZASM was quite unlike the British colonial railways elsewhere in Southern Africa, using German-outline locomotives and Dutch signalling. After the end of the South African war in 1902 when the Imperial Military Railways were wound up, the NZASM was brought under the Central South African Railways administration. It seems that the 70 miles of track on Portuguese soil were left out of this: during the following decades treaties were negotiated with the Portuguese colonial authorities, granting them a large percentage of the railway traffic from the Transvaal. In exchange the (then) Union of South Africa was allowed to recruit workers from Mozambique, a very curious arrangement to say the least.

Before independence, Mozambique was very much run as a Portuguese province. I never visited Lourenço Marques then, but to all accounts it seems to have been a rather uproarious place when compared to the stern, Calvinist South Africa of the period, rather like the Las Vegas of Southern Africa. Shortly after independence, inescapably there was a great deal of Portuguese influence still to be seen at Maputo although many had fled the country and the economy was in disarray. Several Portuguese were still seen to be running shipping agencies and stevedoring companies. I did not venture into the town itself, but the railway station close by the harbour looked every inch a Southern European terminus. Even the passenger rolling stock might have been at home in Lisbon or Porto.

Just behind the dock area was the main railway station and an extensive marshalling yard, which was very much in contrast to the ones at Cape Town or Port Elizabeth. After ten years of warfare and the emigration of many Portuguese settlers during the war, inevitably the economy of Mozambique was in a bad state. This was reflected in the state of the railway: most of the track was badly maintained, kinky and overgrown although the main line points were worked electrically. The goods stock that was in use was mainly from South Africa, Rhodesia and Zambia and much of the original stock was decrepit. I did however see a modern Japanese-built diesel loco, and a diesel multiple-unit that lurched alarmingly along the main line out of the terminus. The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells of an extensive improvement programme of the Southern system of the CFM in 1976, but apart from the busy traffic I saw no sign of it. At the time there was a lot of traffic between Rhodesia and the 'front line states' re-routed through South Africa and Mozambique, which had closed its Rhodesian border to comply with the UN resolution regarding Rhodesia. This was confirmed by a number of Rhodesia Railways vehicles I saw at Maputo.

Formerly the Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique, together with the railways in Angola on the Western side of the continent, had a reputation for excellently maintained steam locomotives. Some traces of this were still to be seen in a few passenger locos I saw. The locos that worked the harbour sidings however were generally in a run-down state, but quite interesting nonetheless. I only saw three types of locomotive in the shunting yard: an 0-10-0T (nrs 69, 64, 62) by Henschel dating from 1931-37, a beautiful old Baldwin 2-10-2 tender loco of 1917 and a poor old South African 15BR class 4-8-2 numbered CFM no.427 (I think) that soldiered on desperately with a leaking cylinder cover and smashed cab steps. One of the tank locos had a severely dented bunker and the loco servicing area was a disgrace to behold: one had to wade through ankle-deep cinders and coal spills that no one cared to clear up.

In contrast with these locos were two modern Pacifics, I think by Henschel, one numbered no.333, and a similar one with 'elephant ears' which must have been one of the others from the 331-333 class of 1955. These looked reasonably clean and sounded quite healthy to my ears. The same could be said of a big 4-8-2 goods loco (number unknown) I found in a small reception yard a long way up the main line from the terminus. If I remember correctly this was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works which would make it one of the 701-708 class locos of 1948. However, I did not have a chance to inspect and photograph it properly (except from the pot-shot displayed below) as I was confronted by an armed patrol of the Frelimo, the former guerilla movement-turned-regular that constituted the Mozambique Army in those days.

I thought: this is where I'm going to be arrested and shot for spying on the railway system. After all, Mozambique had a Marxist regime and these were not known for their open attitude to railway enthusiasts. However, I was in my seagoing uniform and all they did was throw me a smart salute (which I of course returned), insist on shaking my hand and carry on along the railway line. At the same time the big loco behind me had let off an ear-splitting whistle and roared off into the direction of the signal box in the photo. The Frelimo patrol can just be seen to the left… This explains why I haven't also climbed on to the footplate of a locomotive of the Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique. Regrettably I had to return to the ship very quickly afterwards without having a second chance to look at the steam locos of Maputo.

Years later a friend in England, on hearing about my Mozambican adventure, sent me a copy of a magazine article about the railways in the Lourenço Marques area, obviously from the 1960s, showing photos of a few locos similar to those I saw there in 1976. These include a sister loco of the Baldwin 2-10-2, and a small 0-4-0T on the 75cm gauge Linha de Gaza to the north of the capital, that in 1976 was on display in the station concourse at Maputo. Information on the railways of Mozambique is very scarce due to the country being unsafe to visit. Recent information suggests there may still be some steam at work there: a 1993/4 report suggests that of the locos I saw there in '76 nos. 67, 332 and 703/4/7/8 were still more or less roadworthy. Also, the Gaza line had a weekly steam working in 1994. The country has been torn by civil war again over the past few years, and under such circumstances a steam locomotive keeps running longest. In this case, I think there is no reason to be happy about it.