https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEo-ykjmHgg
This video was released 6 days ago as of the 17th. Anyone else seen it? Railroads like this are always fascinating.
Would be interesting to understand how the track is maintained in such an location.
At least they don’t have to do any weedspraying…
Did anyone see C&OFP riding any of the cars? [:)]
Yeah - I think he was taking a bunch of fish, too…
I just spent a little while following the route - there is a lot of tangent there. I’d have to imagine that it’s notch 8 and kick back for most of the trip.
First of all, I absolutely despise National Geographic. I have a good and valid reason for doing so, but it has nothing to do with railroads.
The main question the video raises in my mind is why no one, in all these years, has developed a better, more efficient, system for moving the fish inland? Having each man carry a cooler/box of fish in a ore gon is wasteful, inefficient, and frankly, nutty. It takes days of his time when he could be doing something more productive, such as catching more fish.
In North America, and elsewhere, commercial systems developed to make things more efficient. And they developed early on. Merchants (wholesalers) bought the fish at the dock. Express companies developed to efficiently move the products (fish) inland from the ports. Other merchants (retailers) sold the fish to the people who needed the fish. So why hasn’t this happened in Africa?
Why is this guy still relegated to hopping an ore train with his one box of fish? It makes no sense.
From the Wikipedia article on the railroad, the road has some passenger cars, which sometimes are run on the train. Apparently, there is not enough passenger traffic to warrant regular operation of them. Still, this is highly inefficient transportation of food, especially fresh food.
I wonder how long the trip is.
Remember the hallmark of 3rd World countries - fight efficency except as it puts hard currency into the pockets of the leaders. Mere human residents of the country be damned - keep them down and indegent with a subsistance level existance.
Indeed - the simple addition of a reefer to the consist would allow the fish (and other products) to move more efficiently.
But this introduces the possibility of creating a middleman - someone to buy the fish from the fishermen at the port and handle getting it to the final destination - where perhaps another vendor handles the sale.
So you have three people/entities doing what is currently done by one. Safe bet the fisherman won’t see all of that $50 he now nets for the trip. And it’s also a safe bet that someone will eventually control the trade, to their own benefit, as Balt suggests.
Just such an operation, though not in Africa:
I have never been a big fan of their ethics.
But I highly recommend this photo essay from the April 1923 issue:
The railroads main purpose is to carry Iron Ore and it’s path is from a Mining facilty in the intereor to a port city on the Atlantic. Seems more the fisherman happen to use the train more than the train actively encourages them.
Yes, but the video said that they sometimes add passenger cars to the train. When they do, does the diner serve hot meal items? I’m not riding if they don’t.
Another note. It says that the temperatures sometimes reach 40 degrees C. That is equivalent to about 110 degrees F. Yet the trains seem to move along at a better speed than Amtrak does when the temps are in the 90s in the U.S.
In the Sahara, all meals are “hot”.
NO
C = F
30 86
35 95
40 104
45 113
50 122
55 131
Note 55C about highest temp any commercial aircraft and engines is certified to. Older aircraft max to 50C or 45C .