Some African Scenes

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
In 1992 I did six weeks of fieldwork in Tunisia, mostly in the Sahel region, but later nearer to the Sahara desert. In the Sahel there is one single track secondary line which runs from Tunis to Le Kef. It is meter gauge. My old maps showed the route somewhat differently from what is there now. I finally worked out that a lot of straightening had been done. The passenger train (I think there was only one a day each way) crossed the road near Pont du Fahs. This time I do know the make of the locomotive, a Hungarian Ganz:

95149208_1a20befd89_o.jpg

Further south there is a second narrow gauge line to Tozeur, near a large salt flat bordered by many date palms. Just before Tozeur the railway passes by Metlaoui which is well known for several reasons:
  • The Metlaoui Gorge is a scenic attraction
  • A tourist train, the Lezard Rouge (Red Lizard)
  • The site for several scenes from the movie "English Patient".
The tourist trains runs through a tunnel bypassing the gorge itself (you will see why in a moment!) and then stops above the gorge. We were working down there at the time the train stopped. I imagine the passengers wondered why we were there. Three photos.

The Metlaoui Gorge. The following photos show the train on the far side of the gorge from where I took this photo, the tunnel is to the right:

95150030_d8b918dfd1_o.jpg

The tunnel portal is just visible on the right:

95149550_9a375689fa_o.jpg

The carriages were once owned by the Bey of Tunis as his royal train.

95149810_7834bf0ddc_o.jpg

While in Tunisia I did take a local commuter train from Tunis to Sidi Bou Said but no more photos.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
One more from Africa. This time during a visit to Senegal we drove past the main railway station in Dakar and I asked the driver to stop. I managed just the one photo of the outside of the station before I was approached by two policemen who told me that photography was not allowed.

175736603_cbe70a9f94_o.jpg
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
One more from Africa. This time during a visit to Senegal we drove past the main railway station in Dakar and I asked the driver to stop. I managed just the one photo of the outside of the station before I was approached by two policemen who told me that photography was not allowed.

View attachment 104795

Any idea why the clock face is about fifteen degrees out of true? :)

Jim.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
The clock time index marks are outside the ‘face’ and are spot on!
Dave

I noticed that but I've never seen indexing outside the chapter ring before. If I glanced at that clock to read the time, I would read the chapter ring markings.

Jim.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
When I worked in Africa we had two expressions that summed up the frustration of time.

"Hurry up and wait" and "Wait and hurry up". I don't think the clock would help much in either case!
 
Last edited:
Top