The golden age of railway travel

Somewhere in the 1970s and 1980s, Botswana’s network of roads was not widely bituminised and to some extent, risky to travel by buses making the train the most convenient and safer mode of transport.

Our buses on the national roads were the likes of the now defunct, Jack D Wright and Matambanazo types, which were not like today’s Mercedes Benz or Marcopolos that are tailor-made for super comfort. It was also just fun travelling by train, with screeching noise from its steel wheels squealing and causing that train-track friction sound.

Squeal, which is presumably caused by the lateral sticking and slipping of the heavy steel wheels across top of the railroad track, has always been part of the fun forcing patrons to sleep and wake up to the funny and raucous sound. Passenger train in particular, often described as a colossal man-made ‘millipede’ by poets, always behaved like a model strutting on a bigger stage and dressed to the nines. The Botswana Railways passenger train was always the cynosure of all eyes.

From outside, watching from under the brightly lit railway station floodlights, the guard at the tail of the train would from nowhere dangle his bright light commanding the locomotive driver to commence the journey. Like the soft strings from an accomplished keyboardist, the large steel wheels of the train will slowly start rolling with a shriek and quickly gather pace.

It is of course the traditional clickety-clack sounds of the steel wheels that still freshly ring in my head even today as I reminisce the experience of many years ago. Like a flooded river, decorated by evening lights, the passenger train will snake its way out of the railway station blaring the bye-bye and raucous horn on its steel passage until it fades from our eyes. For train lovers, this was the ritual they endured day in and day out. A traveller would open the train window for a wave as the train gains momentum and drifts away into the darkness. Meeting all sorts of characters on the way, some of who were regular entertainers on the trains was one of the unavoidable offerings.

There were troublemakers who at all costs would avoid paying the requisite train fares by dodging the train security personnel who maintained law and order including ensuring all travellers paid the fares. Unfortunate ones sometimes fell into the hands of the security and would be forced out of the train at the next railway station.

This action was, however, never a deterrent as there were repeat offenders who believed in beating the system even in glaring danger. Yes, some boarded the train to sell various wares from Lobatse to Francistown and vice versa. There were known pickpockets who daily boarded the train also as they survived on the crumbs they salvaged from the pockets of the poor travellers. One day when we prepared for a trip from Francistown to Palapye, my mother whispered to me in a lower tone: “Son, do you see how full this train is?” I responded in the affirmative. “I am putting this folded toilet paper in the pockets of this overcoat and I know my bulged pocket will attract pick pockets.” Shortly after taking out seats in the train, she showed me her empty pocket. That is how some people survived by emptying other people’s pockets, daily.

Travel takes us out of our comfort zones and inspires us to see, taste and try new things. Tourists and some first time travellers, tried the train for its convenience, some liked it whilst some regretted. It was a question of choice. To some, it was a question of hanging for far too long on a legacy that wasn’t rewarding.

These are passionate travellers whose first mode of travel is the train: Rain or sunshine. The train’s comfort or discomfort constantly challenged many to adapt or die. And to explore new surroundings, but also to engage with different people, to embrace adventures as they come and share new and meaningful experiences with friends and loved ones.

There were instances when young travellers in particular, juiced-up will throw out indiscriminately after taking one too many of inebriant drinks. The elderly will rise and take their place by chiding the offending party and thereby bring the requisite order. In my youthful years, a journey by a train provided both the convenience and advantage of meeting new and old friends. Booking a seat by the window was a must.

It provided an opportunity to see objects outside as if they were in a race with the train. Besides common nuisance perpetrated mostly by middle-aged and muscular men, imbibing the holy waters with sound of African music blaring from a cassette tape player, South Africa-based mine labourers returning home with their long soft hairs and light skins speaking Fanakaloo (A language consisting of many languages) would sometimes take over the provision of entertainment with their battery operated cassette players belting out ‘mosakaso’ genre as it were at the time.

In most cases, those would be their prized possessions (radios) after months of wasted opportunities at the South African mines before their next pay at the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WENELA) and Native Recruiting Company (NRC) offices. The Palapye railway station was the meeting point for these miners coming from mainly the vast Central District region and further kilometres north in Francistown.

For them, it was important to use the train where they would display their newly acquired level of wealth through their drinks and endless and empty talk.

During school seasons, travelling by train was a must. The only trouble for me, when schools reopened was travelling with my senior sister who was a student at the Francistown Teachers Training College then. She did not entertain boys’ mischief, so the trick all the time we travelled together was to ensure I left her in charge of my bags whilst I joined other boys elsewhere on the train, until I picked my bags at the Shashe station where I would alight to the Shashe River Secondary School leaving the ‘disciplinarian’ to travel further.

Meeting schoolmates and other friends on the train was exciting and provided some interesting catch-ups from the holidays. We would mostly be kitted on our new clothing just to show off that we have added something to our wardrobes. On our fingers we will be lighting a cigarette after another. Some of our peers will be sharing hidden bottles of the holy waters to warm up our journey.

When schools closed, travelling by train was a ritual that was unparalled and provided freedom that we did not have at both the school and home environments. It was an opportunity for us to express ourselves outside the controls of our parents and teachers as no one played the role of parents on the train except on isolated incidents as it takes a village to raise a child.

The passenger train was many things to many people. In as much as thugs easily made hay from unsuspecting passengers, the train provided a special opportunity for fun lovers to make endless fun. Old friends met and new friendships were made and sometimes, friendships were terminated just like that.

The informal sector also benefitted the most. The setting at Francistown in particular was conducive environment for small business operators to make a kill by selling just anything. In the olden days it was common that tea made out of burnt sugar was in high demand. Besides its attractive and good aroma, it also tasted very nice. For whatever reason, it is no longer in the market. Fresh chips, fat cakes, candies and other conveniences were openly sold at the railway station and right on the journey in the train. Taxi operators benefitted a great deal from transporting people to and from the railway line.

In the train, entertainment was also galore at the buffet where food and alcohol were served. During month end and public holidays, multitudes will crowd at the railway stations for their transport.

By nature, most of the time, the passenger train would be over crowded forcing some passengers to remain on standing throughout the journey.

As young boys, the Palapye railway station provided some unintended entertainment at night. There were floodlights that changed our clothing and some of the naughty young boys will just go to the station simply for that. It was fascinating and for first visitors to the station, it could create some confusion.

Within the railways property which were mostly for the whites from Zimbabwe as part of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) before the Botswana Railways took over, we positioned ourselves as ball boys at the tennis courts just across the railway line where at the end of the day we benefitted as we were given old tennis balls which we needed so much. We also benefitted from open entertainment through periodic bioscopes shown at the railway station.

Our parents also used to buy essentials like sugar, milk and pies from the Mail train running between Bulawayo and Mafikeng. This was a luxurious train that was mainly booked by the white community and affluent members of the society.

My uncle, who at some stage was employed by the BR as a railway track maintenance labourer, did not fully occupy his two facing one-roomed huts known in the vernacular as dikotoisi, whatever it meant. He allowed my grandmother to brew traditional beer known as mokuru and we sometimes found ourselves overcrowded in the kotoisi with our grandmother as she sold her stuff. It was common for kotoisi children to join hands and play train games, due to their dwelling place’s proximity to the railway station and the railway line just nearby. The train had a lot of influence on the lives of the children in the neighbourhood.

Besides hunting for birds in the vicinity and across into the railways property where there were many trees of umbrella thorn or mosu in the vernacular, we were used to the BR lurid train horns which were so common as the train arrived and departed. It was even common for our creative playmates to mimic the various sounds of the train horns.

From Ramatlabama to Ramokgwebana, the BR passenger train was many things to many people. It did not just transport them. Maybe because of its efficiency, a lot of people had special attachment to the train system making it a part of their daily plans.

Born and brought up in Palapye, one of the lucky places that lie within the Ramatlabama-Ramokgwebana railway line, a project attributable to the Cape to Cairo dream of Cecil John Rhodes.

The train was the primary mode of long-distance transport in Botswana until 2009. It also custom-built many of its passenger cars to be able to meet the demands of the lower class.

All passenger services were discontinued in 2009 and services were later re-introduced in March 2016.

Botswana Railways run two nightly passenger trains, one from Lobatse to Francistown, and the other from Francistown to Lobatse, with stops in Gaborone, Mahalapye, Palapye, and Serule. The passenger train is termed the “BR Express” (Botswana Railways Express).

BR was created in 1987 when the government of Botswana bought out the Botswana-based sections of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ). NRZ had been initially operating the rail system after Botswana had gained independence.

On February 27, 2009, all Botswana Railways passenger services were halted. However, passenger trains run by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) continued to run from Bulawayo to Lobatse via Plumtree, Francistown and Gaborone.

In December 2014, Botswana Railways announced that they will purchase new passenger cars and locomotives and that passenger services would resume in late 2015. A passenger service between Gaborone and Lobatse, marketed under the name BR Express, eventually began operations in March 2016.

Legend has it that one frigid twilight, a family from a village in the proximity of Palapye slept on an empty wagon mistaking it for a Botswana Railways passenger train and only to wake up in the morning thinking they had arrived in Gaborone which was their destination.

The story has it that upon waking up from a stationary wagon, the family was particularly shocked by striking similarities between ‘Gaborone and Palapye’.

In a shocked voice, one of the family members had reportedly shouted: “ Goo! Gaborone wa lona o tshwana le Palapye! (Meaning Gaborone looks like Palapye).”

The poor family was apparently oblivious to the fact that they had not gone anywhere...but had slept on a stationary wagon mistaken for a passenger train.

True or false, this story in a way depicts appetite that some people have on consuming Botswana Railways goods and services.

It was the losses and safety challenges that led to the constant discontinuation of the passenger train. Its losses were mainly attributed to overhaul and maintenance costs of locomotives and wagons as well as other costs associated with train operations like fuel and wagon hire.

When asked in a previous interview if they had plans for the return of the passenger train in the light of the relaxations of the COVID-19 regulations, former Botswana Railways head of corporate communications and public affairs, Sakaeyo Baitshepi, said the passenger train remained suspended indefinitely until the Botswana Railways gets to a point that it will be convenient, profitable and sustainable to run it.

Baitshepi had added that trains across the world were subsidised by the government to run and BR is no exception.

“Despite being an alternative mode of transport, the passenger train has been running at a loss worsened by its lower prices because each trip’s profits could not cover fuel expenses. It was expensive for the government to run the passenger train hence the decision to suspend it and we are currently focusing on how best we can fix the operations’ inefficiency,” Baitshepi had said.

He also had said they were also looking at how they can run it in a sustainable manner so that when it returns it could be more lucrative and profitably run. The passenger train was convenient as travellers used to have return trips from the northern to the southern parts of country or verse versa. Its return, he had said, would help to reduce costs that are normally associated with long travel as travellers would not need to pay lodging fees to wait for morning as they would straightaway connect to a night train.

Baitshepi emphasised that more importantly, the train used to help lessen long queues especially during long holidays.

The suspension of the passenger train has not only inconvenienced travellers between the northern and the southern part of this country, it can also be linked to many deaths that continue to claim lives along the congested A1 highway.

“It should be noted that the absence of the passenger train means that many people are forced to use their own transport, or public buses hence increasing the volume of traffic resulting in accidents. In advanced economies, trains are the mode of transport used for both short distances in cities and long distances across the country,” he had said.

However, it is hoped that by the time BR decides to bring back the passenger train, they will come up with a good strategy to run the train commercially so that it can be able to sustain itself.

Just this week, Sereo Thabeng who has taken over from Baitshepi, albeit on acting basis, told Mmegi newspaper that we may have to hold onto our horses for sometime before the return to the excitement the passenger trains bring.

Thabeng had paid Mmegi a courtesy call after her elevation. It was our conversation that particularly sparked sharp memories of travelling on a train. We want our train back!