Bulawayo - Dett
11 photos
updated : 2022-08-25
Bulawayo - Dett is the southern section of the long main line to Zambia via Victoria Falls. Traffic was fairly heavy with coal from Wankie and Zambian copper providing much of the traffic. The line was still largely steam worked by the larger 15th and 20th class Garratts until the early 1990s.
Heany Jn - West Nicholson
10 photos
updated : 2020-12-09
The 170km branch from Heany Junction, east of Bulawayo, reached West Nicholson in 1905. The line was built to serve gold mines but most traffic was limestone from Colleen Bawn to a cement works near Bulawayo. In the 1980s 16A Class Garratts worked most trains, with 14As appearing less often.
16A Class Garratt
10 photos
updated : 2020-12-09
The 16A Class 2-8-2+2-8-2 Garratt was a post war development of the earlier 16th Class, designed for freight haulage on lines laid with 60lb rail. They had small wheels, making them good for slogging up steep gradients. A total of 30 were built in 1952-53 and a few shunting around Bulawayo until recently.