Glasgow

george matthews wrote:It's a great pity the British didn't split the country into two parts.

Well, they certainly thought about it, but at the Juba Conference in 1947 the southern representatives controversially voted to remain one country. Then in the early 'fifties, with the rise of nationalism in Egypt (remember Britain was not the sole colonial power in Sudan - it was a Condominium ruled jointly by Britain and Egypt), the safeguarding of the Suez Canal became a greater priority for Britain than the fate of the southern Sudanese, and Egypt was pushing for a united Sudan (and indeed at one point for Sudan to be united with Egypt). Ironically the British lost Suez anyway.

In fact, from the 1920s to the '40s, Sudan was ruled effectively as two separate countries, with strict controls regarding movement between the two. It was a well-intentioned policy to protect the southerners from the northerners, but it back-fired badly by retarding development in southern Sudan and leaving southerners at a disadvantage when it came to political negotiations.

johnthefireman wrote:

george matthews wrote:It's a great pity the British didn't split the country into two parts.

Well, they certainly thought about it, but at the Juba Conference in 1947 the southern representatives controversially voted to remain one country. Then in the early 'fifties, with the rise of nationalism in Egypt (remember Britain was not the sole colonial power in Sudan - it was a Condominium ruled jointly by Britain and Egypt), the safeguarding of the Suez Canal became a greater priority for Britain than the fate of the southern Sudanese, and Egypt was pushing for a united Sudan (and indeed at one point for Sudan to be united with Egypt). Ironically the British lost Suez anyway.

In fact, from the 1920s to the '40s, Sudan was ruled effectively as two separate countries, with strict controls regarding movement between the two. It was a well-intentioned policy to protect the southerners from the northerners, but it back-fired badly by retarding development in southern Sudan and leaving southerners at a disadvantage when it came to political negotiations.

Yes, I am familiar with the colonial history. The trouble was that in the 1930s nobody foresaw the future and behaved as though the British would be there for ever.

One for George: Renewable energy capacity overtakes coal

The International Energy Agency says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal. The IEA says in a new report that last year, renewables accounted for more than half of the increase in power capacity.

johnthefireman wrote:One for George: Renewable energy capacity overtakes coal

The International Energy Agency says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal. The IEA says in a new report that last year, renewables accounted for more than half of the increase in power capacity.

Yes, that news was on the BBC on Tuesday.

In fact, from the 1920s to the '40s, Sudan was ruled effectively as two separate countries, with strict controls regarding movement between the two. It was a well-intentioned policy to protect the southerners from the northerners, but it back-fired badly by retarding development in southern Sudan and leaving southerners at a disadvantage when it came to political negotiations.

In fact building the railway to Wau was the result of abandoning the policy of separation - by the new Sudan independent government.

It seems to me that building a SG line from Kampala via Pakwach in Uganda to the southern capital might be a possible plan. That would give them contact with Mombasa.

george matthews wrote:building a SG line from Kampala via Pakwach in Uganda to the southern capital might be a possible plan. That would give them contact with Mombasa.

Broadly that is one of the plans floating around East Africa at the moment. One or both of the new standard gauge lines being built or scheduled to be built in Kenya is supposed to extend to Juba, but I can't remember whether the one currently being built from Mombasa will do so, or whether it is only the proposed line from the new Lamu port which forms part of LAPSSET. The maps I've seen of LAPSSET suggest that the route to Juba will not go through Pakwach in Uganda but will go through Kenya via Baringo, Lodwar and Lokichoggio.

Last time I was in Pakwach was around 1997. Interesting little place but we couldn't hang around as both the LRA and ADF were active in the area at the time (we passed a bus which was still smouldering from an ambush), and it also wasn't the sort of place where you wanted to take photos of infrastructure as the security forces were jumpy about things like that.

I've been in Wau more recently, a few years ago. The line had been cut when the River Lol bridge near Aweil was blown during the civil war, but a few trains ran when it was repaired in 2010 a few years after the peace agreement was signed in 2005, mainly bringing southern Sudanese returning to the south around the time of Independence in 2011. Before the bridge was blown, the government used to use the railway to resupply their beleaguered garrison in Wau. Once or twice a year trains would go at walking pace loaded with supplies and ammunition, with close protection from huge numbers of regular soldiers often moving on foot while engineers repaired the sabotaged track as they moved, but also with hordes of militia mounted on horseback. The militia were unpaid - their salary was whatever they could loot, including slaves. They would sweep ahead of the trains cutting a swathe through the countryside, killing and looting all in their path. Everyone within 20 or 30 km of the railway line would flee. Even the UN and international aid agencies used to evacuate their staff when they heard a train was on the way.

I've posted a few photos:

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 147&t=8779" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 147&t=8731" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 147&t=8730" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 147&t=6525" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 47&t=12550" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

johnthefireman wrote:Some photos of the steam engines in Nzara in 2003, 2011 and 2016 - http://www.friendsoftherail.com/forum/v ... 47&t=14916" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steam lorries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9vOHnXpT8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This thread is a long way from Glasgow.

An example of the constructive ways in which threads here go off topic.

Having said that, a lot of the steam engines in Africa probably came from Galsgow in the first place!

John- your post about Wau is so serious that mine below it, about steam lorries, seems idiotic. I hadn't read your Wau post when I put mine in. However, I will continue my idiocy a bit longer. There is an article about a steam driven airplane that actually flew in 1933, in the Jan. 2017 Aviation History magazine.

John mentions atrocities comitted by the unpaid militia in Sudan. My avatar post link to the Otavi line mentions the genocide of the Herero and Namaqua people in German Southwest Africa (now Namiibia,) between 1904 and 1907 by the German colonial government.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_ ... a_genocide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, a well-known event (in Africa, at least - maybe not in Europe and north America?), often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

I wasn't aware of it.

The whole subsequent history of Namibia stems from those brutal massacres.