TOPIC:

Imperial Military Railways

After the Free State Railway was taken over by the British forces, troops were moved where required as much aa possible by rail, the lines being used exclusively for military purposes. Part of General Sir A Hunter's forced are here seen on the way to the Transvaal Capital, after the surrender of General Prinsloo and a large Boer force.

Engineer telegraphists, Viljoen's Drift

The telegraph staff of the RE is, without doubt, am important branch of this useful Corps. The civilian in the centre of the picture, who is the regular Post Master, is responsible for the artistic board, with the bespoke telegraph design.

In memoriam

By the side of the line at Roodewal, ORC, are to be seen these crosses, each bearing the legend 'Killed in action', erected to the memory of men of the Railway Pioneer Regiment, who perished in an attack on the lines by the Boers. Very touching sometimes, were these evidences of a desire to mark the last resting places of comrades.

Really enjoying seeing these photographs David. Thank you for sharing these with the forum.

Thank you, Ians1900.

It has been enjoyable to see some new images and I would have have liked there to be more in the album.

With all these great train pictures in this collection I want to add that someone should look at the DRISA archive. https://atom.drisa.co.za/index.php/ So many trains, bridges, etc. Probably many are here already in different articles.


Langsnek Tunnel, July 1900. Damaged northern portal after being blown up.


Hospital train at Irene station.

FYI: The DRISA Archive keeps a selection of digital copies of the roughly 200 000 images in the Transnet Heritage Library in downtown Johannesburg. The DRISA (acronymn for Digital Railway Images of South Africa) project was formally launched during 2016. AtoM is an acronymn for Access to Memory.