Bauchi Light Railway 0-6-2 Locomotives in Nigeria

Class Bukuru (Locobase 21011)

Data from "Nigerian Government Railway Type 0.6.2", See also John R Raphael, Through Unknown Nigeria (London: T Werner Laurie Ltd, 1914), pp. 130- 138;Richard Arnold, "Traveling by Railway in Nigeria", Railway Magazine, Volume XXXIII [33] (1913), pp. 238-241; and reproduction of G S Moore, "Narrow Gauge in Nigeria", Railway Magazine (July 1964), pp. 578-581 on Akintokunbo A Adejumo,"Still On Nigeria's Railway History Narrow Gauge In Nigeria"at [], last accessed 15 April 2022. Works numbers were 4849-4852 in 1911, 5035 in 1913, 5131 in 1914, and 5326-5329 in 1921.

Locobase 20766 offers the Cape Copper Company's Clara class 0-6-2 tender engine, which operated on the Namaqualand Railway (also a 762 mm gauge line)and had essentially identical dimensions and areas. That design put 10,000 lb (4,543 kg) more weight on the drivers, however, and its engine weight came to almost 18,000 lb more than these Nigerian locomotives.

Setting aside the necessity of placing the motion outside the frame and weighting the driving wheels "exceptionally heavily", Richard Arnold found "little to distinguish them from the old Great Eastern goods engines, for they are painted the same flu, and have the straight funnel [sic] now virtually peculiar to the Great Eastern." Although European passengers traveled in a first-class van, the natives, "who by the way travel in such numbers that one wonders how they got on before the advent of the railway" rode in an open goods truck.

The first four--Madaiki, Galadima, Magaji, Womba--provided main-line service on the BLR, which was authorized on 21 January 1911. It began at Zaria, which was the terminus of Lagos boat train.

Its first 86 miles (138 km) southwest from Zaria to Rahama opened 15 months later on 15 April 1912. Over the next two years, the system would grow, covering the next 15 miles (25 km) to Jengre by 7 July 1913. The BLR was also climbing, reaching Jos--32 miles (51.5 km) away and 4,000 ft (1,219 m) above sea level--one year later on 6 July 1914, and finishing at Bukuru 10 miles (16 km) further on and 4,500 ft (1,372 m)ASL on 10 December 1914. Here the line touched the tin deposits in the northern edge of Nigeria's Shere Hills.

Clearly the line was successful as the BLR added Bukuru-class Naraguta in 1913, #56 in 1914. The last four arrived after the end of World War I in 1921. Only the first of the batch was named Madaiki, applied after the first was retired in 1940.

According to Moore, the BLR "was the only means of communication at that time." John Raphael's cheery review acknowledged the defects of a low-cost, narrow-gauge railway, but, in its defense, conceded "You may rate me too ecstatic" and offered the alternative"[T]rek 90 miles along unmade paths in the extreme hot season or in the excessively wet season. Then say what you would give for a railway lift from starting-point to finish."

Passenger service Zaria and Jos continued until 1957 (Jos to Bukuru had been widened to the Cape gauge (3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm) in 1927-1926).

The first three locomotives were written off in November 1940. Naraguta went next in August 1952, 58 in September 1957, 56 in May 1958. Womba, Madaiki, and 59-60 met the ferro-knacker in October 1960.