Kenya's steam giant thunders again

Wheels

One of the largest British-built steam locomotives ever built, the Mount Gelai, first commissioned in 1955 and rusting away at the railway museum in Nairobi for 20 years, was recently lovingly brought back to life. Ndungu Kibira reports on the initial run.

As a thin cloud of greyish smoke rose from the horizon, someone shouted. A huge crowd surged forward, ignoring the rains pounding the platform and the tracks at Nairobi Railway Station, as Mount Gelai, a rehabilitated steam locomotive engine last seen in service in 1980, slowly came into view.

The Kenya Railway's security detail had a difficult time in crowd control that Tuesday morning of November 6. For Kenya Railways, in conjunction with EcoFarm Holidays, (a Kenyan local tours operator) had at last succeeded in restoring an old steam engine that had lain idle, but serviceable, at the Kenya Railways Museum for 20 years.

The steam engine will be used as a tourism attraction, hauling steam safari trains from Mombasa to Voi, Tsavo National Park, and to Nairobi - with hotel nights spent at the coast and along the way.

"Today is the first time in nearly 15 years that a working steam locomotive engine is being seen on the Kenyan mainline. The star of today's event is the recently restored 59 "Mountain Class" Beyer-Garrat steam locomotive; the world-renowned Mount Gelai," Kenya Railways Managing Director, Andrew Wanyandeh, proudly announced.

As she came into view, people stared in disbelief. With its huge pistons arms heaving forwards and backwards, thick steam blowing from its boiler, a fire roaring in its furnace and the piercing sound of its horn, Mount Gelai can be an intimidating sight, especially at night.

According to Ngugi wa Mbugua, a Director of EcoFarm and the project's promoter, steam enthusiasts across the world hold Mount Gelai in great esteem. She is the largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotive ever built for the metre-gauge track. In its active days, the 59 Class BeyerGarrat steam "loco" would effortlessly haul a 1,200 ton freight train for the 530km from Mombasa to Nairobi.

This mighty Mountain Class group engine undoubtedly contributed greatly to Kenya's development process, right from 1955 when the then East African Railways and Harbours ordered 34 such locomotioves from Beyer & Peacock of Manchester, United Kingdom. To date, only Mount Gelai and Mount Shengena (on display at the Nairobi Railway museum) remain serviceable; all the other 32 have been scrapped.

The adventure begins

She has been restored by a team of 15 retired Kenya Railways technicians supported by serving technical staff under the Kenya Steam Preservation Project. An hour after connecting with the rest of the train, Mount Gelai gave two short warning whistles, and then a thunderous blast from its horn. With another final whistle, the steam safari train slowly left Nairobi on its journey to the coastal city of Mombasa, 530km distant.

On board the promotional trip were local and foreign journalists, independent filming crews, travel agents, and steam-- engine enthusiasts. Kirpal Singh Sandhu, who drove this engine for 16 years before retiring as a locomotive driver, had come with his wife from Mombasa to participate in the inaugural Steam Across the Nyika. He ended up driving the engine too. I have a personal attachment to Mount Gelai. Today is also my 68th birthday, so it's celebration time for me," said Singh.

However, things did not go exactly as expected. Initially planned as a three-day excursion to Mombasa, the trip turned into a dramatic seven-days of steam across the Nyika. There were a number of unexpected problems. The first came at Kapiti Plains, only some 60km from Nairobi. Although the engine is in a fairly good condition, the train has to call a halt and undergo a two hour valve and pipe repair.

The foreman in-charge of the restoration crew, Kamau Gakunga told journalists it was natural for the engine to have a hiccup or two since "it has not moved in 20 years".

Then there were technical hitches. The crew had misread its fuel oil consumption capacity - and the minimum level "reserve/idle fuel capacity" guage. As a result, it ran out of fuel twice, resulting in a four day delay. Passengers spent nights on board the train in the most the most unfamiliar of conditions. "We are lucky that a 100 years after this railway line was built (in 1901), the Man Eaters of Tsavo are no longer with us," one passenger commented, referring to a pride of man-eating lions which had laid a reign of terror during the building of the line.

At Konza Station, 90km from Nairobi, where the train ground to a halt for 36 hours awaiting a fuel tanker, there were few distractions and no newspapers for the passengers to while away the long hours of waiting. The Nairobi-Mombasa Highway was 13 km away via an earth road, and mobile phones did not work either.

Luckily, the food (three course meals) was excellent, and there was enough stock of drinking water in the coaches. The locomotive had ferried two water tankers just in case.