Nongqai Vol 15 No 4C - Rhodesian Armoured Trains

Hennie Heymans

Trains have always fascinated me. I have travelled by train all over in South Africa, South West Africa, Swaziland and Rhodesia. (The names of some of these countries have since changed – but this is a history magazine, so we will stick to the old names ) I have travelled by train from Bredasdorp – the most southern railway station in Africa northwards, I have been from Pretoria to Victoria Falls station. (Here I had a braai on the platform.) I have been to Tsumeb in the north, Walvis Bay in the west and to Durban in the east. I have been to Mafeking, Cullinan, and Kameel. I have seen Southern Africa by rail. I have also travelled by rail in East Africa, Europe, and the Far East. I love trains and rail travel.

Trains are of great strategic importance to a country. When one takes a strategic look at Railways in Southern Africa one can see that British strategic and economic considerations played a leading role as railways were developed. Rhodes had a dream: A railway line “from Cape to Cairo”. The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley and later gold on the Witwatersrand led to speedier urban development. Produce from the farms had to reach the markets and wool, coal and minerals had to be shifted from the mines to the power stations and harbours.

The British won the Anglo Boer War because they controlled the railways with its communication infrastructure. The British Army could communicate with one another via the railway telegraph system. If there were no railways, the British would have needed thousands of oxen and ox wagons. (During 1896 there was a serious Rinderpest epidemic in Southern Affrica ) A trained span of oxen can do 10 - 15 miles a day. The railways helped to speedily spread man, including POW’s and materiel across the country. Even the harbour in Beira was used to send reinforcements and supplies to Mafeking which was besieged by the Boers. Not only were there passenger and goods trains but also ambulance, hospital, and armoured trains.

During the Rhodesian war the railways played an important strategic role in land-locked Rhodesia to keep imports and exports going while their economy was experiencing boycotts. The boycotts made Rhodesia more self-sufficient. Once Mozambique became independent Rhodesia relied on the SA Railways because of sanction-busting the railways were the arteries that fed Rhodesia. Rhodesia relied more and more on the export of its tobacco, maize, minerals and produce. Rhodesia had abundant supplies of coal and steam traction was used to the benefit of the country.

Stern and innovative measures were needed to keep the trains running and the Rhodesians did an excellent job under difficult and tyring circumstances. We salute the memory of all those brave men who kept the trains going. We thank Gerhard for this fine article.

RHODESIA’S RAILWAYS AT WAR

Gerhard van Tonder

It is with some irony that the country that was Rhodesia from 1890 to 1980 was twice forced to armour-protect her rail transport against belligerent forces: once in the late 1890s and then, decades later, again in the 1970s.

By the time war broke out in October 1899 between the South African Republic and Britain, Colonels Robert Baden-Powell and Herbert Plumer had already arrived in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, to raise two regiments for the defence of the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Rhodesia. Baden-Powell then based himself in Mafeking, shortly before Republican forces invested the town.

The railway between Bulawayo, where the line from Cape Town terminated, and the beleaguered Mafeking became a lifeline for Baden-Powell as well as serving to defend northern Bechuanaland from Transvaal commandos.

An armoured train at the Bulawayo workshops, 1899.

One of Plumer’s escort wagons, 1900.

In September, Colonel John Nicholson of the British South Africa Police (BSAP) initiated the armoured conversion of six trains in the railway workshops in Bulawayo. Two were sent to Mafeking, while the remaining four, including a construction supporttrain, were retained for use from Bulawayo. Each armoured train consisted of an engine and a wagon with a mounted maxim gun and/or a 7pounder gun. The trains proved decisive in protecting the railway, spearheading Rhodesian thrusts southwards and supplying Plumer’s advance towards Mafeking.

Getting ready to leave Bulawayo for Mochudi, Bechuanaland. In many cases, ‘armour’ merely consisted of lengths of rail line and sleepers.

In the early months of the war, invading Transvaal forces controlled much of the southern border area of Bechuanaland. Much of the action took place along the rail line from Mochudi to Gaborone and Crocodile Pools (Ngotwane Siding), a distance of about 65km, then south towards Mafeking, involving two of the armoured trains and artillery positions on fortified hilltop strongholds.

On 18 October, near Lobatse one of the armoured trains engaged and pushed back the Marico Commando. However, on 24 October the Rhodesians fell back to Mahalapye, evacuating Gaborone and Crocodile Pools which, together with Mochudi station, remained in Republican hands for almost the whole of November. Nicholson responded by sending reinforcements of some 350 BSAP and

Rhodesian troops and Bulawayo railway engineers with their armoured support wagon.

Southern Rhodesia Volunteers, with two additional armoured trains, from Bulawayo to Palapye and Mochudi.

Rhodesian Frontier Force officers inspect the armament on an armoured wagon, Bulawayo 1899. In the right-hand photo, they are L-R: Colonel Nicholson, BSAP, Colonel Baden-Powell, Commanding Officer, Captain Noel Llewellyn, BSAP, Lieutenant H. Wallis, SRV.

In 1967, as Rhodesia’s parliament sat for the first time since unilaterally declaring its independence from Britain, a concerned Minister of Justice, Desmond Lardner-Burke, put a damper on the justended festive season by requesting a continuance of the State of Emergency.

He informed the House that one hundred terrorists had been accounted for during the previous nine months, adding a solemn warning that the armed activities of the two main banned nationalist movements, ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union) and ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union), were destined to escalate. Arms caches had been found both internally and in neighbouring Botswana. In April, Minister Lardner-Burke tabled a further extension of these emergency powers, as seemingly random acts of sabotage and outright vandalism cropped up in the countryside: arson, fence-cutting, tobacco-slashing and rail network interference. The minister called for increased vigilance by the security forces and the police (BSAP), especially along the country’s border with her northern neighbour, Zambia.

The following month, a routine BSAP roadblock just north of Karoi precipitated an unforeseen encounter with four ZANU terrorists hiding in a commercial pantechnicon on its way from Zambia to Salisbury. The four heavily armed men had, according to the driver, forced their way onto the vehicle at Makuti, just above the Zambezi Valley escarpment. Trapped inside the vehicle and with no avenue of escape, the four insurgents succumbed to a barrage of fire from the uniformed police at the scene.

BSAP roadblock, c.1971.

By mid-1967, security force and BSAP intelligence, primarily gleaned from captured insurgents, confirmed that several hundred guerrillas were now poised in Tanzania and Zambia, awaiting deployment to the Zambian border. War matériel seized along the Chirundu/Salisbury corridor added weight to concerns about an imminent incursion of large numbers of trained guerrillas into the northwest.

Just before first light on 31 July 1967, a large gang of insurgents, comprising ZAPU and South Africa African National Congress (SAANC) fighters entered Rhodesia between Kazangula and Victoria Falls, and had gone to ground in the Deka River area of the Wankie National Park. John Dube commanded the ZAPU element, while a man of mixed-race, George Driver, headed up the SAANC contingent. The insurgents split into two mixed groups, the Lithuli group to be based in Tjolotjo District, and the Lobengula group farther east in Nkai District.

Following a marked increase in guerrilla activity in the Victoria Falls–Kazangula area, it was inevitable that, in January 1975, the first attack on Rhodesia’s rail network took place between the mining town of Wankie and the railway siding Thomson Junction to the northwest.

From 1975 to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, the defence of Rhodesia’s railway networkagainst ZIPRA and ZANLA guerrilla attack and sabotage became critical. The nation’s very survival depended on the Rutenga rail link with South Africa, especially for the importation of war matériel to sustain its desperate fight against guerrilla forces. Not surprisingly for a sanctioned country famous for its innovation and improvisation in armoured rolling stock, Rhodesia manufactured her own equipment to facilitate rail security.

A Wickham inspection trolley of the type used in Rhodesia before the bush war. Following the attacks on commercial trains began in January 1975, Rhodesian security forces started to patrol the line between Wankie and Victoria Falls with standard Wickham inspection

trolleys of the type shown above. between. However, it was quickly realised that these vulnerable vehicles would have to be replaced with armoured ones.

The concept chosen would incorporate an armoured driver/passenger capsule with a V-shaped hull to deflect blasts from detonating explosive devices on the track. This, in fact, was the same design principals applied to all types of Rhodesian forces’ road transport. The capsule would be mounted on an existing chassis which, in the case of the first such armoured vehicle, was that of a long-wheel base Land Rover, the most common government vehicle in Rhodesia.

An early Rhino with a turntable on the side and a Wickham trolley in tow. (Boet du Plessis).

The first type of armoured vehicle produced in Rhodesia was dubbed the ‘Rhino’, starting a trend in which all road and rail armoured and mine-protected vehicles in the country received names of animals. The Rhodesia Railways showed a strong interest in the Rhino, and late in 1976 three bespoke armoured capsules were delivered to the central railway maintenance workshops in Bulawayo for assessment.

The Rhino, mounted on a standard Land Rover chassis, had to be modified for use on the rails. The first hurdle to overcome was the fitting of special rail wheels as those of the Land Rover’s wheelbase and axle were wider than the Rhodesian rail gauge of 3ft 6in. The four-wheel drive function, the steering system and the rear hydraulic brakes were not required, and a rail wheel was designed to sit on the inside of the Land Rover hubs.

The first Rhino trolley entered service in early 1977. However, cracks started to develop in the chassis from the constant jolting over rail joints, and reinforcing plates had to be welded on for added strength.

Adding to the teething problems was an unacceptably high rate of half shafts snapping; they were never meant for rail application. With determination and resolve it was back to the drawing board to draft a new chassis layout that would satisfactorily address these issues.

Ojay, more commonly called the Kudu.

In the interim, in Salisbury Morewear Engineering, existing manufacturers of railway rolling stock, started to develop another mine-protected vehicle. Designers Ted Owen and William Jeffrey pooled their expertise to come up with the ‘Ojay’, a corruption of their surnames. Using either the Land Rover or Datsun Nissan Safari chassis, the vehicle featured concertina-looking bullet-deflector plates, giving rise to the more widely used name of ‘Kudu’.

The rail variant benefitted from a modified transmission system in which a V-belt transmitted the power from the axle flange to a pulley driving the rail wheel. This arrangement avoided the transmission of jolts back to the drive axle. A Wickham-type front axle replaced the standard one. The configuration proved very suitable for rail use and was therefore continued on all subsequent designs. The first Ojay/Kudu entered service in April 1977.

Railway security Pat O’Connor, crew and Kudu. (Boet du Plessis)

Members of Rhodesian security forces and their Kudu armoured trolley. (Phil Evans)

The twisted remains of a Kudu following an IED detonation. (Phil Evans)

However, increasing numbers of Rhinos and Kudus began to fall victim to improvised explosive device (IED) detonations, sometimes with catastrophic results. In instances where very powerful explosive charges were used, one of the wheels would invariably be blown off, causing the front of the vehicle to plough onto the rail sleepers. In some cases, the whole vehicle was derailed.

Derailed by a mine on the tracks.

Rigorous examination of crew injuries and vehicle damage ensued as the designers sought remedies to reduce these risks. Firstly, 10mm-thick steel in the form of a ‘V’ was secured beneath the vehicle, providing direct blast protection from the radiator to the rear axle.

An anti-derailment device was then designed, comprising a steel square-tube frame bolted on just a few inches above the tracks. The frame was the same width as that of the armoured trolley, to which plates were welded so as to extend beyond the rails on either side. So, in the event of the loss of a wheel, the frame would allow the dropped trolley to ride on the tracks and so avoid derailing. A final locomotion aid was the fitting of a cow-catcher to protect the trolley from colliding directly with obstacles placed on the track.

The explosion of the petrol tanks presented a real and even fatal threat to the trolley crew. The decision was then made to replace the fuel tank’s rigid fasteners with sprung metal bands held in place by 6mm veranda rivets. In the event of a violent shock from an explosion, the tank would break free and be jettisoned a safe distance from the vehicle.

The next question was purely practical: how to turn the vehicle to go in the opposite direction. The Land Rover gearbox with its four forward gears was retained, but with the rail application the drawback was that there was only one reverse gear. The solution was to provide each trolley with a turntable. On earlier models, the turntable was mechanically operated, while on some later variants this was done hydraulically.

The next model was the ‘Tusker’, which used the same chassis as the Kudu, but with an enhanced crew capsule that offered improved protection. Some Tuskers were used as transport by signals officers.

The last type of armoured trolley to come off the assembly line was the ‘Cougar’, which brought together all the previous modifications. It featured a double-braking system, employing hydraulics on the rear wheels and vacuum brakes on the front ones. A radio-controlled trolley was also spoken about, which would be remotely guided from a second trolley following behind at a safe distance of 500 metres, but it was never designed.

Top and above, the Tusker. (Top Phil Evans)

Cougar with armoured crew trolley. (Phil Evans)

Cougar in Bulawayo. (Alan Crottey)

Finally, the ‘Jackal’ was built, ostensibly in great secrecy. Powered by a Leyland 680 diesel motor, it was intended to run ten minutes ahead of the overnight mail/passenger train in between Bulawayo and Salisbury. The Jackal could accommodate 35 fully equipped troops and was more like an armoured personnel carrier than a patrol vehicle. Post-independence, the National Railways of Zimbabwe commandeered the Jackal from the Bulawayo Railway Museum for use along the vital fuel-importing Beira Corridor through war-ravaged Mozambique, but its massive weight and doubtful reliability made it a non-starter.

Interior of the Jackal. (Phil Evans)

Both diesel and steam locomotives also underwent armour modification with the affixing of steel plate over what were deemed vulnerable areas, mainly the driver’s cab.

The cumbersome Jackal.

To provide goods trains with armed escorts, a certain number of flat wagons were fitted with mounted 7.62mm MAG machine guns and 20mm cannon. At each end of the wagon, armoured shelters provided protection for those not manning the weapons. These wagons were called “Kwagons”, the ‘K’ standing for kill.

A National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) DE2 diesel locomotive showing armoured cabs from the war years.

Armoured Rhodesia Railways steam locomotive. (Phil Evans)

The wagon security crews were mainly drawn from six specialist Railway Defence Companies of the 1st Battalion, Guard Force, raised in 1975 as the fourth arm of the Rhodesian security forces. They mainly operated from Gwelo (Somabula) towards Rutenga and Beitbridge on the South African border.

Guard Force cap badge, left, and shoulder patch.

Twelve goods trains ran daily: loaded in one direction and travelling at night, and then back empty during the day. They ran at short intervals apart, thereby not allowing the guerrillas sufficient time to set explosives on the line.

When availability allowed, armoured trolleys would run about four minutes in front of each train. Over time, this model was adapted so that trolley patrols would operate randomly at night and goods trains were restricted to daylight travel.

“K”-wagons armed with MAG machine guns and 20mm cannon. (Horst Schobesberger)

From the time Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal in June 1975, the zone most at risk was the south-eastern section of Rhodesia’s rail network through the lowveld via Rutenga; now the only import route left for the beleaguered nation. As a consequence, the majority of the armoured vehicles were concentrated on the Somabula (near Gwelo in the Midlands)–Beitbridge line. The remainder were split between the Bulawayo–Plumtree line to the southwest and the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls line heading north from Bulawayo.

All the armoured units were eventually linked by radio to the Centralised Traffic Control, CTC. Trolleys were fitted with metal brushes at each of the four wheels, which ensured contact was

maintained with the line, thus keeping the electric circuit complete. The system operates by running an electric current through the rails, thereby alerting the control room immediately if the line had been cut, or if a trolley had derailed. A reaction team could then be despatched to the exact spot.

On the eve of Zimbabwe’s independence in April 1980, all armoured trolleys were withdrawn from service, with the exception of two Cougars which were retained by the engineers at Rutenga, while a third Cougar was handed to the National Railways Museum in Bulawayo. Shortly thereafter, Renamo anti-Mozambique government rebels commenced attacks on the eponymous Beira Corridor linking landlocked Zimbabwe with the port of Beira on the Indian Ocean. This led to the recommissioning of certain armoured units for protection service along the corridor.

During the counter-insurgency conflict, the Rhodesia Railways retained its own security branch, adapting the section to deal with the changed circumstances introduced by the war.

Upon leaving the BSAP in 1972, Boet du Plessis joined the Rhodesian Railways Security Branch in Bulawayo. From then until 1975, in addition to his railways’ job, Boet was called-up with the army’s Re-enforcement Holding Unit, the Internal Affairs vedette echelon and finally the territorial 2nd Battalion, Rhodesia Regiment. When it was felt that his responsibilities online security were important to the war effort, he was granted exemption from any further military commitments.

Sadly, Boet passed away in South Africa several years ago, but while he was still alive he very kindly allowed me to use parts of his very interesting memoirs to tell the story of just how profoundly important the smooth operating of the railways was to the country’s prosecution of the Bush War. What follows is Boet’s very matter-of-fact, no frills story of how he and his team struggled with ongoing determined efforts by insurgents to blow up the rail tracks so essential for the transport of fuel and war matériel. Boet wrote:

Patrolling the line.

At a derailment incident which is on flat ground, Old Mr “G” with 80 workers would normally lay a rough diversion track within 24 hours of non-stop working. Taking this incident as an example, the old man would have this track repaired within 24 hours; that includes bringing in all the new stone, cut rails out and relaying the track. He was unbelievable. He would jump on the bulldozer and pull all those trucks away from the scene. He would then get his welders to cut out the damaged rail.

In the meantime, his maintenance train crew would stop at the site where they would offload the concrete sleepers, replace them, replace the rail and then open the track. Once the trains have moved through, he then throws the ballast in between the concrete blocks and resets everything.

Under normal circumstances, the Engineers would have first thrown down a large explosive mat (Cortex) which covered the track and ballast either side - a couple of meters wide and about 25 metres in length. Setting it off would trigger any funnies off in the area where mines may have been placed. We were having so many of these derailments and acts of sabotage to the line, that we started taking short cuts because any delays meant trains were not moving the vital goods.

After re-opening the line to normal traffic, the clearing up would commence. The cargo contained in the derailed wagons would be dumped from the bogies so that the bogies can be ready for work again. At this stage, any wheels and springs would be replaced on site very quickly.

On many occasions, especially from Triangle, tons of sugar would be set alight, or the old man would dig a hole with the ‘dozer and push the sugar into the ground. I can assure you, within hours of the “Sugar Train” being stomped [attacked] the ‘weevils’ [local tribespeople] came out of the woodwork and carried tons away to their villages. On many occasions we took the necessary action.

A K-car, in the foreground, coupled with a Jackal. (Phil Evans)

Static manned bunkers protected sensitive installations such as bridges. (Phil Evans)

In the beginning the terrs [common term for the guerrillas] tried to blow the rail bridges, but their actions were very amateurish. We then built bunkers at the rail and road bridges. But you can now imagine the terrs were also sharp as they knew that if they could cut the CTC (Centralised Traffic Control) cables or interfere with the cables in a section, it would mean the red lights appeared on the central control console, and the train is then halted until the track is cleared. More delays.

This is when you are called in. During the day, to save time you would travel by vehicle on the dirt road or fire break and check for the problem. If it is a very hilly area and information received that the roads are now mined and not cleared, you would set off on the rail line in your security trolley.

There are times when they blast the tracks in two separate spots a hundred metres apart, in which case you may end up falling into one of the craters with your trolley, or you could get a squirt [rifle fire] or two. The trolley had a spotlight protruding out the top, so when I patrolled, I turned my headlights off and only left the spotlight on. In their ambushes, the bullets normally went over the top as they aimed at that light.

When information was received that big groups were in the area and we were moving fuel tankers, we placed a number of trucks in front of the engines, and we would sit in the open sandbagged bogie at the back of the train with either a 12.7mm or 20mm canon.

K-car crew man a Hispano 20mm cannon. (Horst Schobesberger)

When we go through areas which appear to be ideal ambush places, you could give it a squirt with this weaponry, and those tracers and explosive heads were unbelievable. What a noise! You can also imagine every time you let off a few rounds what that did to the poor old engine driver not knowing what is going on. Being out in the open bogie there were no comms [radio communications], so on many occasions we would have to use a flashlight to indicate everything was OK.

For me personally, the most nerve-racking times were when I sat in front at night with the driver in the cab of his diesel engine, more as a morale booster for both of us. You observed that track come flying towards you, then you go across cuttings, culverts and bridges as you shoot around the corners.

You know if you hit something you have no chance as all those loaded trucks are right behind you and will keep following you. You know they cannot be stopped. That part I did not like, and there was very little protection come to think about it. A number of the engines were hit in the centre by rockets, and the driver, who sat in the nose part, was generally not affected.

It was very different, however, when he hit a landmine, and in every case that I attended, the driver had burst eardrums with blood running down from his ears. As a result of the explosion, most of the rail crew were in total shock, shaking and talking incoherently - not nice.

The collapse of the Portuguese Government in Mozambique and Frelimo taking over assisted the terrorist incursions into the Southeast corner of Rhodesia. These intensified and large groups of terrorists, anything from 20 to 80, kept entering the country, and with this most of our security roads along the rail tracks were now being mined. I recall a section of road just north of Rutenga which had five mines within two kilometres.

One particular morning we received a call from Rutenga ComOps [Combined Operations] informing us that an Army stick [patrol], which had been patrolling between Garare and Ngungubane, had

located an explosive device near a small bridge in a deep cutting between two large mountains. The Army informed me that they had arranged for a Sapper [army engineer] to be recalled from the border mine field, and that this chap would have to be escorted to the scene and could we supply motorised transport. I then informed JOC Headquarters that I would arrange for a security trolley to take the soldier to the scene.

At 9.00 a.m., I called for my security trolley driver to do the pre-shift checks on the armoured trolley before departure. On the arrival of the Engineer Sapper, we set off from Rutenga to Ngungubane where the explosive device had been found.

While we were travelling, I looked at the Engineer Sapper and noted that he was perspiring profusely; the sweat just ran from his body. I asked him if he was nervous, and he said he was indeed. I then asked him why and he stated that he was not familiar with electrically detonated mines. Working in the minefields was apparently much easier. Well, I then decided to keep an eye on him for the whole trip to see what he would do.

We travelled at 50kph on the rail tracks, arriving about an hour and half later at the scene which had been clearly marked by the Army patrol. The trolley driver parked the armoured security trolley about 30 metres away from the scene. I then took up a covering position from within the trolley while we watched the young army engineer walk along the top of the rail line to where the device had been located.

After 15 minutes, with this man just lying on top of the railway line staring at the electrical wires protruding from the ballast, I called out and asked him what the problem was. He got up and walked back to the armoured trolley where he informed me that he did not know how to defuse the electrical device. At this stage all the trains, which were north and south bound, were standing idle in sidings waiting for us to clear the line.

I informed the Sapper that I had never been trained to lift landmines or to remove electrically detonated mines; however, I would go back to the scene just to have a look. We then tiptoed like cats along the top of the railway line until we got to the scene. On our arrival, I noticed that the ballast

Rhodesian soldiers armed with G3 7.62mm rifles in a K-car. (Phil Evans)

between four railway sleepers had been disturbed, and I also noticed two wires protruding from the ballast with one wire attached to the railway line with beeswax and the other wire on the inside of the track. This meant, when the train’s wheel flange touched the second wire, the electric circuit would be complete, and the mine would explode.

It was now midday and extremely hot, with the temperature in the mid-forties, and the railway line was burning through our clothing where we lay on it. While we were lying there, I informed the Engineer firstly to remove any wire touching metal and then to bind it up so that it could not make a circuit. The bare wire, which was protruding from the ballast and folded towards the inside of the track, was the first one that we moved away from the track and taped up. Then we removed the second wire which was attached by beeswax and taped this one. We started to remove the ballasts, one by one, following the electrical wires.

The

Rhodesian Air Force Cessna 337 ‘Lynx’ had expansive air-cover capabilities.

As we had taken such a long time to clear the tracks, a military aircraft circled the area above us to see what was causing the delay. We were immediately instructed by radio from the aircraft to lie low and not to make any hasty movements as the hill on our west had about 60 CTs [communist terrorists] and locals watching to see how the blast would go off and how we would be killed.

The pilot said that he would turn and attack this group, which he promptly did, strafing the hill. Terrorists and locals scattered with some firing back at the plane taking place. The pilot then circled and strafed the area a second time, reporting that he had hit a number of this group. Boy, did we feel exposed. Here we were lying on top of the rail tracks in the open, with 60 pairs of eyes staring down on us hoping we would make a mistake and kill ourselves.

We removed all the ballast until we came to the mine, successfully removing the detonator. We traced the cable through to the next section, where we found explosives with detonators which we removed, and then followed the cable further to a 9V Kariba Battery [brand name].

The Soviet TM-46 anti-tank mine was encountered everywhere.

We continued with this process to the next area where, between two sleepers, we found half a bag of ammonia fertilizer with diesel and explosives. As we removed the detonators, we cut the electrical cords and taped them. We were concerned that an AP [anti-personnel] mine may have been placed under the fertilizer bag, so we used a grappling hook with a long line and gently pulled it up and away from where it had been lying. Having removed all the explosive devices from the scene we quickly scraped the ballast back with our bare hands.

With our trophies in the back of our trolley, we set off back to Rutenga. It was a job well done and my first induction and education to lifting landmines. I would also like to say we wore no protective equipment as there just was nothing available.

As for the security trolley drivers, many were elderly men who, with the train drivers/ guards and their Security Branch crews, faced enormous dangers. Can you imagine, travelling every night, up and down the same route, with nowhere to hide, on the rail tracks with lights on at night (cannon fodder) just waiting to be taken out; challenging the insurgents to shoot at you in the open areas. You felt naked, and every minute of the hour you waited for the RPG-7 rocket to hit the side of the trolley. You sacrificed yourself and crew just to ensure safe passage for the trains carrying valuable fuel and goods inland.

On many occasions when we travelled as escort for the fuel trains, we travelled on the same CTC section, normally only a kilometre or two ahead of the train. Bearing in mind, if you detonated a landmine, the weight of the train following you, which had metal wheels on metal tracks, could not stop immediately. It could take a kilometre or two depending on the gradient, weight and speed of the train – by that time the train would be upon you, and you would be crushed.

Until today these brave men have not even been thanked or mentioned in dispatches. There were no individual heroes. They were all heroes. It was through their bravery that the Rhodesia Armed Forces and Government could continue to operate successfully and ensure their success.

I can only fully endorse what Boet has written in this very small insight into the work of the forgotten warriors, the men of the Rhodesian Railways. They placed their lives at great risk to ensure that vital supplies, and fuel and ammunition for the war kept coming in.

A rusting war memorial to innovation and bravery, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

VERSOEK OM DONASIES

Soos wat ons almal maar al te goed weet, is prakties niks vandag meer verniet nie. Behalwe u NONGQAI. Dis hoe ons dit graag wil hou. Maar, daar is natuurlik bedryfskostes. En die TRUST het fondse nodig vir sy welsynswerk, ten behoewe van oudgediendes in nood. Ons uitgewers (Grupo Excellentia) het ‘n maklike stelsel vir donasies, via PayPal, opgestel. Een kliek (op die spaarvarkie se snoet), en u kan ‘n bydrae maak, met u kredietkaart. GEEN OMSLAGTIGE BANK-OORDRAGTE. Vinnig en veilig. Van minder as R100 ($5), tot soveel as wat u wil stipuleer. Van elke bedrag geskenk, gaan 25% ter dekking van media-bedryfskostes, en 75% gaan na die TRUST se welsyn-rekening. Dankie by voorbaat vir u ondersteuning!

REQUEST FOR DONATIONS

As we all know (and all too well, at that!) nowadays practically nothing is free. Except for your NONGQAI. That is how we would like to keep it. But, of course, there are operating costs to cover. And the TRUST needs funds for its charitable work, supporting those who had served their country but now find themselves in need. Our publishers (Grupo Excellentia) have established a quick, easy & secure system for donations via Paypal. NO BANK TRANSFERS. One click (on the piglet’s nose) and you can make your donation, from your credit card. From less than R100 ($5) to as much as you wish to stipulate. Of every amount donated, 25% goes to help cover media operating costs, and 75% goes to the charity account of the TRUST. Thank you in advance for your kind support!