Bulawayo Railway Museum (established 1972) is a railway museum located at

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

railway station in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

that houses several exhibitions on the history of the railway system in Zimbabwe, formerly

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. Its oldest exhibits date back to 1897, and include

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

' personal railway coach. The museum is owned by

National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

(NRZ). Due to the severe shortage of rolling stock, some

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s from the museum have, in the past, been refurbished and returned to service.

Exhibits

Main exhibits are grouped into seven different classes namely: # Steam Locomotives # Diesel Electric Locomotives # Coaches and Saloons # Wagons # Trolleys # Railway Cranes # Other Miscellaneous Items

Steam Locomotives

* Lawley. 4-4-0. Falcon. * Small Class #1. 0-6-0 Tank. 'Rhodesia'. * Small Class #7. 0-6-0 Saddle Tank. 'Jack Tar'. * 6th Class #19. 4-8-2 Tank. . * 7th Class. #43. 4-8-0. * 9A Class. #122. 4-8-0. * 9B Class. #115. 4-8-0. * 10th Class. #98. 4-8-0. * 11th Class. #127. 4-8-2. * 12th Class. #190. 4-8-2. * 14th Class. #507. 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt. * 16th Class. #600. 2-8-2+2-8-2 Garratt. * 19th Class. #330. 4-8-2. Henschel. * 20th Class. #730. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt. * 20th Class. #736. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt. * 20A Class. #740. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt.

Diesel Electric Locomotives

* Class DE1. #0106. Davenport. * Class DE2. #1200. English Electric. * Class DE3. #1314. English Electric. * Class DE4. #1407. Brush. * Class DE5. #1531. David Poole (Jung). * Class DE7. #1708. SGP. * Class DE8B. #1837. Sorefame. * Class DE8B. #1845. Sorefame.

Coaches

* Dining Car #660. Chimanimani. * C6 - Enginemens Caboose #21 * Enginemens Caboose #25 * Guards Van #89035 * C5 - Eye Surgery Coach #1823 * C3 - Rhodes Private Saloon * C2 - Chaplain's service coach #872 * First Class coach #1045. * First Class balcony coach #1058. * Second Class balcony coach #2024.

Goods Wagons

* Short open wagon (wood) * Short Livestock Wagon. (wood). * 4 Wheel wooden underframe (Oldbury Rly Carriage Co Ltd.) * Short explosives wagon EOZ 134167 * Short wooden 'K' wagon. RRKUK 843429 * Long Aluminium 'K' wagon. URR KHB * Short metal 'K' wagon. URR KOZ

Trolleys

* T3 - used by Engineers to inspect the railway line * Victoria Falls Trolley

Railway Cranes

* Booth Bros Crane * Ransomes & Rapier Crane

Artifacts, Art and Photography

There are also a number of items and pieces of art related to the railway industry at the museum. These include pictures of the day the Queen of the United Kingdom visited Rhodesia, pictures of the "white train", a chronicle of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

' death with his furniture in his coach, typewriters, train ticketing machines, train tickets, train passes, train destination boards, models of locomotives and coaches.

Buildings

There are two key buildings at the Bulawayo Railway Museum. The first one, right by the entrance, is the

Shamva Shamva is a town in the province of Mashonaland Central in the Shamva District of Zimbabwe. It is located in the Mazowe valley about 90 km north-east of Harare. The area was called Abercorn by Rhodesian colonizers. The present name is deriv ...

Station and the other is the Main Hall which houses many of the special exhibits.

Shamva Station

This is a typical Rhodesian Railways station building, dismantled and moved from Shamva to the museum to serve as the main reception. It consists of a ticketing office with most of the notice boards and equipment (rain gauge, fire extinguishers, etc) a railway station was expected to have during Rhodesian Railway times.

Main Hall

This hall was once the mechanical workshop of the Bulawayo station. In it can be found much of the mechanical equipment used there and at the station. There is also a wall of fame of Chief Mechanical Engineers since the start of Rhodesia Railways until 2013. This hall houses the most important exhibits at the Museum.

Management and Ownership

The Museum is owned by

, but before that it was owned and formed by Rhodesia Railways. It is managed by Mr. Gordon Murray, a long serving member of the company but subsequently a pensioner.

References

External links

Unofficial museum homepage

Friends of the Bulawayo Railway Museum
{{authority control Railway museums in Zimbabwe Museums in Zimbabwe Buildings and structures in Bulawayo Tourist attractions in Bulawayo 1970s establishments in Rhodesia