Tsavo Railroad Bridge in Kenya - Research Paper Example

Number “Tsavo Railroad Bridge in Kenya’’ Tsavo Railroad Bridge was built in 1898 by the British under the watchful eyes of Colonel and engineer John Patterson during the Uganda railway construction project. This was a time when British colonialist were looking to expand their transport network through East Africa so as to transport their cargo back home through the port of Mombasa and in the process increase their presence. The bridge was a simple but quite a long design that was put in place through a series of processes that were majorly done by the imported Indians and few natives. This bridge represents the necessity of the rail network that covered over 580 miles and reflected the early British engineering technology. The bridge is, however, unique due to its ability to be useful to date despite so many years having passed by. Historical Overview The Uganda Railway was a project that was started by the British colonialist to ease the transportation across the vast East Africa. The project was mainly done by laborers from India another colony of the British especially due to lack of indigenous labor. Its construction began in Kenya at the port of Mombasa in 1896 and would by the end, use over 1.2 million sleepers, 4.8 million steel keys and thousands of other materials which were all imported from Britain through the port of Mombasa at Kilindini. This project was however seen as a way in which British were increasing their dominance in East Africa. However, the project was later used for major transportation of agricultural products and other materials thereby reducing the number of people used as slaves in addition to being economically important for the Kenyan and Ugandan governments (Encyclopedia Britannica). The same line was also used during the First World War against General Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa by moving of heavy-duty machinery inland from the port of Mombasa. Either way, the railway line was one of the spectacular features of East Africa and the bridges along the line added even more astonishment along the way. Below is a photo caption of the railway line. The railway is about 1000 mm gauge and runs through to Kisumu. This included the Tsavo Railroad Bridge, which was spectacularly built and serves its purpose to date long after some of the similar bridges were avoided or destroyed. The Painful Cost of Constructing Tsavo Railroad Bridge The Uganda Railway and the subsequent projects along the line cannot be fully discussed without mentioning the man-eating lions of Tsavo in Kenya. In 1898, the British together with their Indian workers were in the process of building a railroad bridge over the Tsavo River in Tsavo. But this was not going to be successfully achieved without several attacks by the cats that were famously known as the man-eaters due to their tendency to eat human flesh in addition to the herbivores diet cats are known to take. The Indians who were majorly working on this railways, recruited by the British, for nine months and beyond, were seriously attacked by two lions. Approximately after one year, it was estimated that close to 135 people had been killed by these lions (Upton). Relationship between the Bridge Construction and the Man-eating Lions One may wonder how or why lions that are known worldwide to be consuming herbivore would go for human flesh. First, the Tsavo River bridge building was undertaken at a time when the climate at the Tsavo area was not favoring existence of most herbivores that form the bulk of the lions food. Herbivorous animals survive on grass but this time it was dry and hot meaning many such animals had migrated to other areas or had died in any other death possible. This only left the canines desperate for food, and as is known, a desperate animal can behave in a desperate manner. The Indians and the indigenous workers here only provided the alternative source of food to these animals. In fact, in my view, it was humans encroaching the territory of these cats and hence provided easy targets. Secondly, it was noted that there were several injuries on the lion that were considered to eat most humans. Such injuries included misaligned jaws, broken teeth and some were suffering from various diseases. In some of these cases, it was noted that lions were going after humans and this could have been because humans are slower, hence catching them is easier (Upton). They were, however, stalked and killed by Patterson, who used their skin as rugs in his house and later on sold them to the museum. Location of the Bridge Tsavo Railroad Bridge is located in the current Tsavo national park in Kenya. It is around 130 miles North West of Mombasa on river Tsavo. The valley of the river at that point is about 100 yards. The picture below represents a completed bridge structure. Tsavo Bridge It was constructed by the British during the colonial period when they were building the Mombasa Kisumu railway line. The major project was the construction of the railway line. Tsavo Bridge is not well researched and has limited resources on the net apart from the movies created by Hollywood movies and Pattersons few books and documentaries whose main focus are the man-eaters and the overall railway line. Initially, temporary bridges were built to allow the track to cross the river and continue being built on the other side (Flank). In March same year, this project would see the British army colonel called Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson oversee the process of a permanent railroad bridge construction in 1898. This was also the time that saw the man-eaters of Tsavo attack the construction workers at night in their tents for over nine months (Flank). Culture of the Locals The late 18th century was a time that saw East Africa as a whole being crude and uncivilized. Most of the locals were not educated and had no exposure to industrialization. This the reason most of them even referred to the railway line as the snake. The locals instead of seeking for jobs were distancing themselves and instead just taking precautions on the level of interactions they achieved with the colonialists. The cultural behavior was a stone age with no proper industrial production. The government system was absent except for the ethically organized systems apart from the one that was provided by the colonialists. The area was also bushy, and wild mostly sharing the living space with animals that could expose them to other serious diseases. The Bridge Construction Process In his book, Lieut.-Col. J. H. Patterson narrates that during the period of attack by the lions, construction of the railway had been progressing well. This was seen as the first important piece of work he had started when he arrived being completed (the widening of a rock cutting through which the railway ran just before it reached the river). At this point, just enough of the rock had originally been cut away to allow room for an engine to pass but any protruding carriage could not pass without being obstructed by the jagged faces of the cutting. To solve this problem, he put a gang of rock-drillers to work on the spot thereby making it passable. This was concurrently going on with laying of the foundations of a girder bridge that was to separate a gully between Tsavo Station and this cutting. Because of time needed to create it, a diversion was then made around it to create a temporary way to the bed of the Nullah and up to the other side (Selous). After preparing the foundations and abutments, the gully was connected by an iron girder, the slopes leading up to it attached to either side. He determined the volume of water at flood, mean, and low levels and then did all the necessary calculations at length. He then marked out the positions for the abutments and piers and began the work of sinking their foundations. Patterson admits that he experienced a great deal of problems with the centers piers that made the rivers break in several times. This created a need for a dam up and so it could be pumped dry again before work could be resumed. The next step was to sink as deep as possible to reach the hard solid foundation below the river bed. This was however not very close. They dug so deep without finding it, and while almost resorting to pile-driving, to his relief, they struck solid rock on which the huge foundation-stones could be laid with perfect safety. This confirms that the soil type around the Tsavo region is too deep, and so does the water table. The group then moved to the next step of finding a suitable stone from within the neighborhood that could be used in building the bridge. The stones that were to be a favorite for the job were found a distance away prompting the need to prepare a way for the trolley line. This was done, and the next step was now to build the two temporary bridges over the river. These were made in the crudest fashion out of palm trees and logs felled at the crossing places, resulting to a flood coming down. This was to provide a way for the trolleys carrying loads of rocks to pass to the other side of the bank. Luckily for the group, the bamboos were never swept downstream until the construction of the permanent bridge was done. The process was however interrupted so many times with man-eaters, mutiny, accidents and inadequate building materials. The construction, however, proceeded in a not so faster manner. As the piers and abutments progressed in height, the question of how to lift the large stones into their positions came into their minds and since they had no cranes to lift the heavy stones, Patterson came up with a shears that was made up of some few thirty-foot rails (Selous). This creation worked well, and by manipulation of ropes and pulleys the heavy stones were positioned faster without any problem so that the masonry of the bridge was finished in the shortest time possible. The following task was to put temporary piers in the middle of each span and then to build up a crib-shaped wooden sleeper. This was to subsidize the lack of winches and sufficient blocks and tackle to haul iron girders over into position. That distance was around sixty-foot between the piers with iron girders. Wooden beams were then stretched across from the stone piers to these cribs and laid with rails, and then the girder was put over its exact position, while still aboard the trucks that had transported them from the coast. They were then lifted up from the trucks. The temporary bridge was destroyed, and the girders, one after the other were finally positioned. By the end of this procedure, the bridge was complete and ready for the first train to pass over. Challenges to the Construction Process Man-eating Lions At first when the colonel was told of the men disappearing and the story of the lions being spotted, he was reluctant to credit the information especially the one that associated the disappearance of the men with the presence of the lions. He, on the contrary, thought the men were being murdered by their fellow friends for money. This, however, changed the moment he came to the site of the spot where Ungan Haslem a fine, powerful Sheikh was taken away by the lion (Selous 23). This prompted the search for the animals by the colonel and captain Haslem, who happened to be staying in Tsavo by then. After the Colonel heard about such sad story, he suddenly left with the mind of hunting animals. At the same time, he was in the company of Captain Haslem, who at that point, lived at Tsavo. They easily traced the lion given the several stops it made before preparing to devour the body. The stopping spots were all filled with the blood of the victim as the lion ripped off the skin to reach its flesh (Selous). Harsh Climate The weather at the time was hot and dry with water at the Tsavo River being minimal; the constructors saw an opportunity to build hurriedly the railway bridge. This is because it was going to be easy to erect the pillars that would carry the bridge up. This in my opinion was motivated by the fact that all work was all manual hence shallow water could be easy to work with. However, this was also the time that the Lions were missing their food, and the construction workers were just an alternative. The whole process of this bridge construction is reported to have been overseen by General Patterson, but it is not clearly documented if it is really him who designed the bridge or if he had some engineers do the work for him. It is also not documented if Patterson ever trained in bridge design, construction or had prior experience. Unavailability of Stones to use for Piers Another great difficulty with which they had to contend was the absence of suitable stone in the neighborhood. The available stones were usable, but their use would have proven expensive and not feasible. So the colonel had to search the district for a better option but this proved time-consuming. In fact the stones that were finally used, he just stumbled upon while hunting birds. Mutiny among the Laborers After coolers who were imposing as masons had been detected by the colonel, Patterson introduced piece work which was not good news to other masons so they staged a plan to remove Mr. Patterson on the way by killing him. This, however, did not succeed. There was also discomfort among the workers occasioned by the frequent killings of their fellow workers prompting a demand to be addressed by Patterson on the issue. Poor Technology The British at this time had poor technology making it hard for them to accomplish simple tasks like building of such bridges within the shortest time possible. In fact, Mr. Patterson reports that they did not even have winches to help them in lifting the heavy materials to positions. Everything that was being done was all manual, or the machinery that were available were either manual or very inferior to the kinds available today. From the book, the lieutenant narrates how most of the work that happened there at the bridge he had to improvise some machine. They had no cranes for the bridge job, so they decided to work with improvised shears made of a few thirty-foot rails (Selous). Diseases This proved a real challenge to the workers considering the number and the environment they were operating under. Most of the workers were imported from India a region with completely different climatic patterns from the one in Tsavo area. This is evidenced by the presence of hospital tents around the bridge construction area, although these tents were also attacked by the man-eating lions. Other Wild Animals This area being wild, was not only a habitat of the lions but also other wild animals like hyenas, wild dogs and leopards that all posed the danger to the workers. Patterson even reports that his flock of animals was attacked, and all killed by leopard just for the sake of killing. Resistance from the Locals This project was resisted by most communities living in East Africa. Some of the strongest resistance was from Arap Koitalel that led the Nandi resistance. The same was with the unwelcoming Maasai, who attacked the bandwagon killing over 500 workers because their daughters were alleged to have been raped by some workers. If it were to be Built Today Tsavo bridge was a simple design but with complex construction process brought about by probably poor technology and poor skills among the workers. There are so many advances in technology with regards to machinery used in construction works and even the computer software that help in designing these bridges. The level of training amongst engineers and another personnel has also improved. Right now, a person being hired to do work is vetted rigorously for specific skills. The same bridge built today will be similar in design but the major difference would only be in the amount of time taken to accomplish a given task as most of the tasks will be done by robots or relevant machines thereby saving on time and expenses on workers. The whole process took so many people to perform, in fact, the least number of people that were ever working on the bridge were 100. This would reduce to around 50 persons today gave the current technology. However, today would see concrete and powerful quality steel being used for the piers instead of stones. In fact, even the stone searching process, would be limited as machines are now available that can crush to the desired levels rocks to appropriate sizes on site. Tsavo being a national park, the bridge design would have considered the need also to expand the bridge to create space for tour vans that ferry people along the park. The bridge lacks gourds that are nowadays a basic requirement of every bridge, and that would be provided in a new design. Conclusion The railway line and the bridge are still being used by the Kenya government under the Kenya Railways Corporation that operates both cargo and passenger trains. The Mombasa- Nairobi line is very busy. In Uganda, the Uganda Railways Corporation is operating only the line between Kampala and Port Bell and the one between Kenyan border and Kampala. The standard of the work that was put on building the bridge was quality explaining its survival to date. Works Cited Encyclopedia Britannica. "British East Africa," 1911. Encyclopedia Britannica. 13th April 2015. Flank, Lenny. "Tsavo man-eaters: the true story of Ghost and the Darkness." 09th April 2014. Daily Kos. 25th April 2015. . Selous, Fredrick Courteney. "THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE MAN-EATERS ." Lieut-col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. The man eaters of Tsavo and other East African Adventures. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1919. p23. Upton, Emily. "The man eating Lions of Tsavo," 21st January 2014. Today I Found Out; Feed your Brain. 24th April 2015. Read More