Railways

Plans for the railway line began in 1864 when the Natal Coal Company asked to purchase land on which to carry on mining and to construct a railway from Pietermaritzburg to the coal mining districts in the county of Klip River. On 12th December 1881 tender details were submitted to the Colonial Office in London for approval. The last section of the line from Ennersdale reached Ladysmith in March 1885 and was used for the first time on 31st July 1886. To celebrate, children were given a free ride to and from Estcourt. Ladysmith became a working terminus and construction of the extensions to the Freestate and Transvaal began in 1899.

 

 

The section from Ladysmith to Glencoe was opened in 1889 and the railway line through to the Transvaal border reached Charlestown by 1891, but not opened across the border until 1895, completing the link through to the Witwatersrand.

In 1886 the Ladysmith Railway station included the station building, made of wood and iron, a goods shed, an engine shed, store and workshop in the middle of the station and a wool shed. Later a marshalling yard was built and the wool shed demolished.

There were 116 railway employees who remained in town during the siege, helping with guard duty and general maintenance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armoured trains were used throughout the South African War, some were simple in construction using a standard flat-bed truck onto which sides were fitted using armour plating of half-inch thick sheets of steel about six feet high with two rows of loophole. These loopholes were set at such a height that men can fire both standing and kneeling. The plates were fixed to the trucks all round by means of clamps and wedges. Other Armoured trains. Like “Hairy Mary” were more elaborately designed as the photographs show.