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Uncovering the History of a Rhodesia Railways carriage

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As Building ONE at the Science and Innovation Park prepares to open for public tours in late 2024, we take a closer look at one of the objects that stands on its dramatic freestanding grid.

Key facts

  • The Rhodesian Railways carriage was built in 1927 by the Birmingham Railway and Carriage Company
  • Artist David Shepherd discovered the carriage in 1974 on the Zambezi Sawmills Railway line and had it transported back to Britain for preservation
  • In 2005 it was donated to the National Railway Museum along with the Cape Government Locomotive now on display in Great Hall
Rhodesian Railways Carriage, 1928 on display at National Railway Museum. Science Museum Group Collection
Rhodesian Railways Carriage, 1928 on display.

Disclaimer: The term ‘Rhodesia’ and ‘Rhodesian Railways’ are used in this article as historical terms.  

Who was David Shepherd?

David Shepherd is remembered as one of Britain’s most popular artists of the 20th century. He was also a committed and outspoken conservationist who campaigned for the protection of African wildlife. As if this was not enough, he was also passionate about steam locomotives, playing a key role in the preservation of Britain’s steam heritage. His passion extended as far as owning locomotives. 

In the 1970s Shepherd's passion for African wildlife combined with his passion for steam when in then-Rhodesia—modern Zambia—he discovered a British-made locomotive and a former Rhodesian Railways carriage working on the Zambezi Sawmills line. Such was his love for them, Shepherd had the locomotive and carriage transported back to Britain where they had several homes, before in 2005 they were donated to the National Railway Museum.

" BR(LMR) Turntable" by David Shepherd, 1955, depicting British Railways Class 5 (Black 5) and Class 8F locomotives around a turntable, Painting Oil on Canvas and part of the NRM Collection. Science Museum Group Collection
" BR(LMR) Turntable" by David Shepherd, 1955, depicting British Railways Class 5 (Black 5) and Class 8F locomotives around a turntable, Painting Oil on Canvas and part of the NRM Collection.

The object’s association with Shepherd is just one small part of their fascinating story. The history of the loco features in one of the National Railway Museum's ‘Curator with a Camera’ episodes below, but the carriage also has a fascinating, multi-layered history.

What was the connection between Rhodesian Railways and the British Empire?

The carriage was ordered from Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company, based in Birmingham, in 1928. It was exported from Britain and entered service on the railway lines operated by the former Rhodesia Railways Company. The Rhodesian railway network was one of many overseas railways served by British rolling stock manufacturers in the 20th century.

Rhodesian Railway Carriage drawing

Not only was the export market a source of big business for British firms but the operation of railways wasth fundamental in how the British Empire itself functioned. Railways were constructed largely to coincide with the aims of the colonial power, allowing for the transport of people but also raw materials. They were also key to establishing and maintaining colonial rule, for example the government could send troops quickly to areas to stop political unrest.

In the late 19th century plans to construct a ‘Cape to Cairo’ railway line were backed by Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the British South Africa Company (BSAC). The BSAC initially administered the historical region of Rhodesia—modern-day Zambia and Zimbabwe—and named the territory after Rhodes. The railway line that Rhodes envisaged was planned to stretch from Egypt in the north of Africa to Cape Town at the most southerly part of the continent.

One of the aims of the railway was to cement Britain’s control over Africa in the face of competition from other European imperial powers. The railway would allow Britain to transport materials such as coal and iron ore for export, a hugely profitable business. While the British Empire may have benefitted from this trade, indigenous populations usually experienced very little of the benefit. 

The line from Cape to Cairo was never fully completed. A section between Uganda and Sudan was never constructed, but a line did run through South Africa and Rhodesia. It was on this line that the carriage donated to the National Railway Museum would have run.

A caricature of Cecil Rhodes traversing Africa after the announcement of his plans for a telegraph line and railway between Cairo and Cape Town. Wikipedia Commons
A caricature of Cecil Rhodes traversing Africa after the announcement of his plans for a telegraph line and railway between Cairo and Cape Town.

What was it like to be a railway passenger in Rhodesia?

After export the carriage entered service as a First-Class coach on the Rhodesia Railways network in 1928. First class travel was a lavish affair, complete with plush compartments and full sets of dining silver. Later, the carriage was converted to a composite first- and second-class coach.

Just like in Rhodesia itself at the time, a racial hierarchy was present in how passengers were able to use the railway. While racial segregation was not formally practiced on Rhodesian Railways, Black African passengers were often subjected to ‘petty apartheid’, a term used to describe the informal practice of racial discrimination and the exclusion of Black Africans from certain services or spaces.

One incident which took place on a train from Bulawayo to Salisbury was described in an article published in the Rhodesia Herald in October 1957. The article drew on the account of a Mr J.R.D. Chikerema, Vice-President of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC).

Along with other SRANC officials, Chikerema had tried to reserve seats in a third-class carriage. A Rhodesia Railways staff member had denied the request and insisted that reservations were only possible for second- and first-class trains. After requesting a second-class compartment, the officials were told that the train’s second-class carriages were full.

The officials had then sent a taxi driver with a written request for a second-class compartment under ‘European names’—N. George, C.J. Roberts and M. Peters. The reservation was accepted. When the SRANC officials finally boarded the train using their European monikers, they found themselves sharing the compartment with a European passenger.

A conductor, after discovering that the officials had used false names to disguise their identities, asked the officials to move to a different part of the train. They refused, prompting the conductor to find an alternative compartment for their European passenger, who was eventually relocated. 

Responding to charges of ‘apartheid’, Rhodesia Railways explained that this was a frequently occurring administrative error affecting both European and African passengers. It also issued a more telling statement about the principles that guided its informal policies: 'In the interests of all races it is obvious that different races, while accommodated in the same class of carriage should not be placed in the same compartment’. The statement confirming that the company actively condoned segregation along racial lines on its service.

What was the Rhodesia Railways African Strike of 1945?

Discrimination was not restricted to just passengers on Rhodesia Railways but also its own staff. In 1945 most Black African railwaymen earned around a pound per month. White railwaymen earned anywhere from 10 to 30 times as much. The only positions available to Black Africans were in lower paid roles, for example in workshops. Therefore an ‘industrial colour bar’ existed for Rhodesia Railways’ staff, effectively banning Black African workers from working in certain positions on the railway and with little to no chance of ever earning higher wages, or comparable income to white workers.

This issue contributed to a strike in 1945, when a promised increase in wages and living standards failed to materialise at the end of the Second World War. A commission set up in the wake of the 1945 strike revealed Black African employees were subject to largely unfit housing conditions and food that was ‘unfit for human consumption’. The strike's timing with the conclusion of the Second World War caused a wave of similar strikes across colonial territories signalling the beginning of a wider anti-colonial movement.

A photo taken from inside the carriage of the Rhodesia Railways insignia on the window. Science Museum Group Collection
A photo taken from inside the carriage of the Rhodesia Railways insignia on the window.

After its service on the Rhodesia Railways network the carriage finished its working life on the Zambezi Sawmills railway. The railway was constructed to carry timber from Mulobezi to Livingstone. The carriage’s exact use on this railway is not known but it is believed that it may have been used to transport or house workers.

Shepherd first encountered the carriage when visiting the Zambezi Sawmills Railway in the 1970s to film the BBC documentary Last Train to Mulobezi.

End of the line

The carriage, which is now housed in the state-of-the-art storage facility Building ONE at the Science and Innovation Park in Wroughton, serves as a lens to the key role of the railways in the British Empire. It also illuminates the racial discrimination that was suffered by users of the Rhodesia Railways network, as well as its staff.

Railways not only allowed European powers to create and control colonies, but also had a lasting impact on the social fabric of the country. Hierarchies of labour and racial divides were established that impacted on large parts of public life. The history of the carriage, and the history of Rhodesia Railways, also shows—through the 1945 strike—that the railway also played a part in challenging and changing the colonial order, too.

Find out more

The research that informed this feature was carried out for a forthcoming article in the Science Museum Group Journal.
 
  • Burrett, R. (2022) ‘Saving modern heritage: The National Railways of Zimbabwe’s Railways Museum, Bulawayo’, in Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Post-colonial Zimbabwe. Routledge.
  • Vickery, K.P. (1998) ‘The Rhodesia Railways African Strike of 1945, Part I: A Narrative Account’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 24(3), pp. 545–560.
  • Vickery, K.P. (1999) ‘The Rhodesia Railways African Strike of 1945, Part II: Cause, Consequence, Significance’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 25(1), pp. 49–71.
  • Lunn J. The Political Economy of Primary Railway Construction in the Rhodesias, 1890–1911. The Journal of African History. 1992