Lothair is a village located northeast of
Ermelo and southeast of
Chrissiesmeer, in the
Msukaligwa Local Municipality in the
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Situated on the Bonny Brook in an area settled by Scottish immigrants, it was surveyed in 1878 and named after ''
Lothair'', the novel written by
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...
and published in 1870.
Lothair is at the end of a railway line from Ermelo; the
Swazilink
Swazilink is a planned railway in South Africa and Eswatini.
Route
The main railway would run 146 km from Lothair in Mpumalanga in South Africa to Sidvokodvo Junction in Eswatini. This would reduce the pressure on the Richards Bay line, r ...
project aims to connect this line to the
Eswatini Railways
Eswatini Railways (ESR), formerly known as Swaziland Railway or Swazi Rail, is the national railway corporation of Eswatini.
Overview
As in the rest of Southern Africa, the rail system of Eswatini is built to the narrow Cape gauge of . ESR ...
network at
Sidvokodvo
Sidvokodvo is a town in central Eswatini, situated south of Manzini. It used to host Eswatini Railway's steam shed, but steam traction has long been abandoned in Eswatini. The station area is now completely fenced and used by carriage repair ind ...
in Eswatini.
It houses a small community that depends on working on the farms for a living.
References
Populated places in the Msukaligwa Local Municipality
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