The Southern Province Railway was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

rail network in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, which was operated only for a few years in the middle of the 20th Century. It ultimately comprised about 275 route kilometers. The central line of the railway network was

Mtwara Mtwara ( Portuguese: ''Montewara'') is the capital city of Mtwara Region in southeastern Tanzania. In the 1940s, it was planned and constructed as the export facility for the disastrous Tanganyika groundnut scheme, but was somewhat neglected whe ...

Nachingwea Nachingwea is a district in the Lindi Region of Tanzania. The district is bordered to the north by the Ruangwa District, to the east by the Lindi Rural District, to the south-east by the Mtwara Region, and to the south-west by the Ruvuma Regio ...

. The isolated network operated without connection to the national network. Because of the failure of the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme the rail system was deprived of its economic existence. After the independence of Tanzania, operations were ceased in February 1963 and the line was abandoned.

Construction

The main reason for the construction was the

Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme The Tanganyika groundnut scheme, or East Africa groundnut scheme, was a failed attempt by the British government to cultivate tracts of its African trust territory Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) with peanuts. Launched in the aftermath of Worl ...

, as part of the former British colonial rule. The project, whose core component was

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

cultivation on a gigantic scale, ultimately failed. In order to transport the crops, in 1949 the Overseas Food Cooperation put the line Ruo -

in operation, it was extended a year later to

Lindi Lindi is a historic southern Tanzanian coastal small city and regional capital of the Lindi Region located at the far end of Lindi Bay, on the Indian Ocean in southeastern Tanzania. The town is south of Dar es Salaam and north of Mtwara, t ...

on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

. This extension was partly laid on a former 18 km long

feldbahn A , or , is the German term for a narrow-gauge field railway, usually not open to the public, which in its simplest form provides for the transportation of agricultural, forestry () and industrial raw materials such as wood, peat, stone, earth an ...

, constructed in 1921, which ran from a

sisal Sisal (, ) (''Agave sisalana'') is a species of flowering plant native to southern Mexico, but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff fibre used in making rope and various other products. The term sisal may ...

plantation in

to Narunyu. When the Overseas Food Cooperation ran into financial difficulties in 1952, the railroad was merged with the East African Railways and expanded to a network. As of 1954, the newly built harbor and the port city of

was connected with

Mikindani Mikindani (''Mji wa kale wa Mikindani'' in Swahili) is a historic coastal town located in Mtwara-Mikindani District of Mtwara Region in Tanzania. The name comes from the Swahili word ''mikinda'' which means "young coconut trees". Therefore the ...

. In 1958 the route Chilungula-Masasi was constructed.

Rolling stock

Both steam (the series RV/21, G and NZ) and diesel locomotives were used (the series 80 and 81). Passenger traffic existed between Mtwara and

for which a second hand Diesel Motorized Units of the former Kenya and Uganda Railways was used.

References

*{{cite book, last1=Burton, first1=David, title=The Groundnut Line: The Story of the Southern Province Railway of Tanganyika, date=2014, publisher=David Burton, location=Telford, Shropshire 2 ft gauge railways in Tanzania Railway lines in Tanzania

Construction

Rolling stock

See also

References