NB:
In 1895, when work started on the UR, 3ft 6in was by no means a universal "African" gauge. The nearest southern African Cape gauge lines were a long way from Mombasa, as was the limited length of 3ft 6in gauge track to the north in the Sudan.
Henry Gunston wrote:As to British East Africa (now Kenya) and the building of the Uganda Railway (UR) in the late 1890s, my conclusion from research was that the ready availability of metre gauge locos and rolling stock from India swung the balance over choosing 3ft 6in "Cape" gauge.
Not only was ex-Indian material used in construction of the UR, but there was a feeling that, in case of "an emergency" after the UR was opened, more metre gauge stock for troop carrying and other military purposes could have been quite easily shipped over to Mombasa from India.
It is interesting that in 1895 the existing Indian metre gauge lines (perhaps not surprisingly) only "released" a rather poor selection of their "older" locomotives for use in construction work in British East Africa. Although the UR decided for the longer to use the well established "F" class 0-6-0 tender Indian design, they had to order those locos new from British builders. When strikes and other problems slowed down delivery of the "F" class, the UR then had to order the "B" class 2-6-0s from Baldwin in the USA.
In 1895, when work started on the UR, 3ft 6in was by no means a universal "African" gauge. The nearest southern African Cape gauge lines were a long way from Mombasa, as was the limited length of 3ft 6in gauge track to the north in the Sudan.
The Germans no doubt used metre gauge in German East Africa (NOT officially known as Tanganyika until taken over by Britain after World War 1) because metre was a narrow gauge already in use in Germany and other parts of Europe.
Regards
Henry Gunston
