What do Bill Bryson, the Roosevelts, Churchill and the Queen have in Common?
John Gaudet
October 05, 2006
They’ve all had the experience of riding on a railway completed in 1901 in Kenya. That line variously called the ‘Iron Snake’ by the Africans, the ‘Lunatic Line’ by Victorian tabloids, was later known as the ‘Lunatic Express.’ It is still in use today.
The trip from Nairobi to Mombasa, a journey of 13 to 14 hours across a panoramic savannah, was made in comparative luxury in 1907 by Winston Churchill who was impressed with the effort required to build it. The British art of ‘muddling through,’ he said, was seen here in one of its finest expositions “...Through everything – through the forests, through the ravines, through troops of marauding lions, through famine, through war, through five years of excoriating Parliamentary debate, muddled and marched the railway...”
It was the animal life that attracted Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit in 1909. In Kenya on a hunting expedition, they were provided with a bench bolted to the cowcatcher so they could witness the unparalleled vista, a pristine ecosystem teeming with game animals, on a track described by them as “...a railway through the Pleistocene.”
It continued to impress, and the Queen on visits to Kenya in 1959 just four years before Independence, and again in 1983, on the 20th anniversary, enjoyed the privilege of special cars, which on her last visit included, two renovated Royal coaches, two diesel engines, four coaches, two covered bogies, a brake van and two motorized trolleys.
When I traveled on it in 1984 I found the service was still good, the dining car provided great food, the trains generally ran on time and comfortable two-berth sleeping compartments were available in first class. In fact, things looked pretty much the way they did in the days of Churchill, Roosevelt and the Queen. The only disadvantage was that the train left Nairobi in the evening and arrived the following morning in Mombasa. Thus the modern traveler, unlike Kermit, Teddy or the Queen, has no view of the animal life, unless, as often happens, they run into one in the middle of the night. An animal the size of an elephant will stop it in its tracks.
Also, since the 1980’s most of the rolling stock, tracks and other essential works have been allowed to deteriorate. Now it’s quite rough around the edges. So rough that the highly successful author, Bill Bryson, in Kenya on a charity tour sponsored by CARE in 2002, thought the line had reverted to the original Victorian concept, where the British taxpayer was appalled by the wild nature of it – shaky looking wooden trestle bridges, enormous chasms, prohibitive cost, hostile tribes, men dropping like flies from disease, and man-eating lions pulling railway workers out of carriages at night – Lunatic Line seemed to fit (Bill Bryson's African Diary, Broadway Books, NY, all proceeds are donated to CARE).
Bryson had no reservation about calling it the Lunatic Express; he thought the trip was like trying to sleep through an earthquake! But all that may soon change, as the Kenya and Ugandan governments have recently signed a joint agreement to allow privatization of the line. And in September, 2006, the World Bank approved the first grant ($70 mill.) to help the railway regain its position as a relevant and competitive mode of transport. It may yet prove to be what it once was, one of the most exciting railway rides in the world.
John Gaudet, a Ph.D. in plant biology from University of California (Berkeley) and Fulbright Scholar to both India and Malaya, spent many years in East Africa in a research program funded by the National Geographic Society. He is the author of many scientific papers, co-editor of a book on African aquatic plant ecology and a former associate editor of the journal, Aquatic Botany. His work has appeared in The Washington Post and local magazines, including Pleasant Living, a bi-monthly magazine dealing with life in the Chesapeake Bay area. His new novel ‘The Iron Snake’ due out this fall (Brandylane Publishers, Richmond, VA) is based on the saga of the “Lunatic Express,” and the people affected by it.
The trip from Nairobi to Mombasa, a journey of 13 to 14 hours across a panoramic savannah, was made in comparative luxury in 1907 by Winston Churchill who was impressed with the effort required to build it. The British art of ‘muddling through,’ he said, was seen here in one of its finest expositions “...Through everything – through the forests, through the ravines, through troops of marauding lions, through famine, through war, through five years of excoriating Parliamentary debate, muddled and marched the railway...”
It was the animal life that attracted Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit in 1909. In Kenya on a hunting expedition, they were provided with a bench bolted to the cowcatcher so they could witness the unparalleled vista, a pristine ecosystem teeming with game animals, on a track described by them as “...a railway through the Pleistocene.”
It continued to impress, and the Queen on visits to Kenya in 1959 just four years before Independence, and again in 1983, on the 20th anniversary, enjoyed the privilege of special cars, which on her last visit included, two renovated Royal coaches, two diesel engines, four coaches, two covered bogies, a brake van and two motorized trolleys.
When I traveled on it in 1984 I found the service was still good, the dining car provided great food, the trains generally ran on time and comfortable two-berth sleeping compartments were available in first class. In fact, things looked pretty much the way they did in the days of Churchill, Roosevelt and the Queen. The only disadvantage was that the train left Nairobi in the evening and arrived the following morning in Mombasa. Thus the modern traveler, unlike Kermit, Teddy or the Queen, has no view of the animal life, unless, as often happens, they run into one in the middle of the night. An animal the size of an elephant will stop it in its tracks.
Also, since the 1980’s most of the rolling stock, tracks and other essential works have been allowed to deteriorate. Now it’s quite rough around the edges. So rough that the highly successful author, Bill Bryson, in Kenya on a charity tour sponsored by CARE in 2002, thought the line had reverted to the original Victorian concept, where the British taxpayer was appalled by the wild nature of it – shaky looking wooden trestle bridges, enormous chasms, prohibitive cost, hostile tribes, men dropping like flies from disease, and man-eating lions pulling railway workers out of carriages at night – Lunatic Line seemed to fit (Bill Bryson's African Diary, Broadway Books, NY, all proceeds are donated to CARE).
Bryson had no reservation about calling it the Lunatic Express; he thought the trip was like trying to sleep through an earthquake! But all that may soon change, as the Kenya and Ugandan governments have recently signed a joint agreement to allow privatization of the line. And in September, 2006, the World Bank approved the first grant ($70 mill.) to help the railway regain its position as a relevant and competitive mode of transport. It may yet prove to be what it once was, one of the most exciting railway rides in the world.
John Gaudet, a Ph.D. in plant biology from University of California (Berkeley) and Fulbright Scholar to both India and Malaya, spent many years in East Africa in a research program funded by the National Geographic Society. He is the author of many scientific papers, co-editor of a book on African aquatic plant ecology and a former associate editor of the journal, Aquatic Botany. His work has appeared in The Washington Post and local magazines, including Pleasant Living, a bi-monthly magazine dealing with life in the Chesapeake Bay area. His new novel ‘The Iron Snake’ due out this fall (Brandylane Publishers, Richmond, VA) is based on the saga of the “Lunatic Express,” and the people affected by it.
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