Mulobezi Railway: Difference between revisions

The '''Mulobezi Railway''' (once known as the '''Zambezi Sawmills Railway''') was constructed to carry timber from [[Mulobezi]] to [[Livingstone, Zambia|Livingstone]] in the [[Southern Province]] of Zambia, when the country was [[Northern Rhodesia]]. The line uses the {{RailGauge|1067mm}} narrow gauge, also known as 'Cape gauge', shared by all main line railways in Southern Africa.

The British artist and conservationist David Shepherd made a well-known painting of a Mulobezi steam locomotive<ref>[http://www.davidshepherd.org/david_shepherd/ds_becoming_a_conservationist.shtml David Shepherd Foundation website] accessed 16 February 2007</ref> and when the railway ceased working in the early seventies, [[Kenneth Kaunda]], then President of Zambia, gave two of the locomotives to him. One of those, the ''Mulobezi Princess'' is kept at the [[Railway Museum, Livingstone]] where it has been restored to working order.<ref>[http://www.riksantikvaren.no/english/?module=Articles;action=Article.publicShow;ID=3472 Website of Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway] which provided funding and includes a photograph of the 'Mulobezi Princess'</ref> The other locomotive Shepherd transported, together with a passenger coach, to the [[United Kingdom]], and a documentary film of that journey was broadcast in 1976 by BBC Television, called ''Last Train to Mulobezi''.<ref>[http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/99935 British Film Institute Website] accessed 16 February 2007</ref> He donated the passenger car to the National Railway Museum, the world's largest, in York, UK. Other steam locomotives and old rolling stock lie rusting away at Mulobezi.