Mayumbe line explained

Mayumbe line
Start:	Boma
End:	Tshela
Open:	1898
Close:	1984
Linelength:	140km (90miles)
Map State:	open

The Mayumbe line was a 140km (90miles) long gauge narrow gauge railway in the north west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between the port of Boma and Tshela.

History

The Société des Chemins de fer vicinaux du Mayumbe (CVM) was created on July 30, 1898,^[1] to build and operate a network of railways built at a narrow gauge in the province of Lower Congo, in the Congo Free State which became Belgian Congo then Republic of the Congo, with a planned extension to the Republic of Congo.

On 1 January 1936, the CVM was integrated with the Office des Transports Coloniaux (OTRACO).^[2]

In 1974, it was merged with the Office National des Transports (ONATRA). The line was dismantled in 1984 under Mobutu Sese Seko, along with the local industry.^[3]

Line

Boma - Lukula - Tshela (140 km^[4])

• Boma (Plateau) - Bangu (8 km), opening May 7, 1899
• Bangu - Kisundi (35 km), opening on January 1, 1900
• Kisundi - Lukula (35 km), opening December 31, 1901
• Lukula - Tshela (60 km), opening 31 December 1912, extension opened by the State

In 1932, the Boma Lukula section was converted to narrow gauge, the section from Lukula to Tshela in 1938.

Locomotives

• No. 1-8, type 020T, delivered in 1898-9 by Saint Léonard Liège^[5]
• No. 1A-4A, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1911 by Saint Léonard Liège^[6]
• No. 1B-2B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1919 by Saint Leonard in Liege
• No. 3B-6B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1921 by Saint Leonard in Liege
• No. 7B-11B, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1924 by Saint Leonard in Liege
• No. 1C-4C, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1926 by Saint Leonard in Liege
• No. 1E, type Garratt 020-020, delivered in 1927 by Saint Leonard in Liege

Notes and References

1. Web site: Chemin de fer de Boma à Tshela. fr. KANGU - MAYUMBE - BAS-CONGO. February 23, 2009. September 22, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065153/http://kangu.skynetblogs.be/archive/2009/02/23/chemin-de-fer-boma-tshela.html. March 4, 2016. dead.
2. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20101204151247/http://www.bck-kdl.be/compagnies.htm . BCK - KDL - Le site des chemins de fer du Katanga . 4 December 2010 . dead .
3. Closed "owing to its lack of profitability" (Inter Rail No. 2/1997); Mobutu also closed the bank branches and industry in this region (Le Potentiel No. 3700/2006)
4. Book: Durrant. A.E.. A.A.. Jorgensen. C.P.. Lewis. Steam in Africa. London. 1981. Hamlyn.
5. Web site: Locomotives. Société Anonyme de Saint-Léonard. 1903. La page des Tassignon .
6. Web site: Garratt locomotives from other builders . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120313075308/http://users.powernet.co.uk/hamilton/other.html . March 13, 2012 .