Kenyan steam update August 2009
Posted: 29 Aug 2009, 14:17
I've just posted the following report on the East_African_Steam Yahoo group:
Maurice is travelling to UK next month to visit the National Railway Museum and also to see how some of the preserved railways and main line steam excursions work. He will also be presented with some Kenyan loco number plates which were stolen from the Nairobi museum and eventually recovered in UK. They plan to have TV cameras present - a nice bit of PR. He would also like to see South African steam at some point, and I told him I'll put him in touch with FOTR and HRASA if he gets that far. He's very encouraged to hear that steam is running in South Africa on a regular basis.
From a South African view point it probably makes one jealous to see that Kenya Railways' Managing Director appears to be fully behind steam, although they are having problems with (South African!) Rift Valley Railways, who are safeguarding their core freight routes (sound familiar?!). KR refused to give the steam engines to RVR because they are part of the national heritage and should be run for tourist excursions not for business, I was told, again a message which South African authorities could learn from.I had a long and interesting meeting with museum curator Maurice Barasa and deputy Tom Nyika this morning. The museum is looking OK, with no major changes since I last saw it a couple of years ago. Maurice has obtained the use of another room to spread the displays out a bit, has got authority to go and pick up artefacts from all over Kenya, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Museum, and is generally trying to enhance marketing and advertising. Attendance at the museum is still quite poor, but school visits are becoming very popular.
There are stacks of reels of old movie film which must be incredibly rare and valuable. Maurice is trying to get them put onto DVDs. There's also a lot of other archive material. At a recent exhibition in Mombasa he displayed one file and someone offered him a million shillings for it on the spot (around GBP 8,000) - it included correspondence between the queen and Kenya Railways. There are also a lot of German documents, presumably relating to Tanganyikan railways. Paradise for a researcher.
Maurice is very keen to run steam excursions, with the support of Kenya Railways' Managing Director, but so far it has proved difficult. 3020 was steamed in November 2008 for an excursion which was cancelled at the last moment, reportedly due to lack of coordination or cooperation from Rift Valley Railway. Maurice believes that has now been sorted out by KR's MD, and is hopeful that 3020 will run again soon. There are suggestions of running to Thika and elsewhere. There is also a very ambitious suggestion to build a short line from Athi River into the Nairobi National Park. Well, there's no harm in having ambitious dreams, but the first step is probably to get a short excursion to run successfully.
I had a look at the three operational steam locos in the main workshop. At first glance they all look complete. All are now undercover again, after 3020 apparently stood outside for some time.
Now that I'm based in Nairobi again I've offered to help a bit, both with whatever technical knowledge I have as a fireman and shed driver in South Africa, and also my experience of running steam excursions with Friends of the Rail. In a couple of weeks I plan to go and start cleaning 3020 and have a good look over her at the same time. Unfortunately I also have a full-time job with a lot of travelling, which impinges negatively on the important things in life, namely steam engines...
Maurice also told me that they are planning to start a refresher course for steam crews at the training institute. I hope to get a look at the manual so I can refresh myself a bit - I'm not familiar with oil firing nor with air brakes.
Maurice and Tom are certainly keen and have good plans. Let's hope it works out.
Maurice is travelling to UK next month to visit the National Railway Museum and also to see how some of the preserved railways and main line steam excursions work. He will also be presented with some Kenyan loco number plates which were stolen from the Nairobi museum and eventually recovered in UK. They plan to have TV cameras present - a nice bit of PR. He would also like to see South African steam at some point, and I told him I'll put him in touch with FOTR and HRASA if he gets that far. He's very encouraged to hear that steam is running in South Africa on a regular basis.