An Empire's folly: The Transsaharian railway is built in the 1880's

[Driftless]

There was something about this photo of the McKeen railmotor that made me think of the classic 1939 movie "Stagecoach". I could see a 1930's or 1950's French movie using a railmotor (with it's smaller number of passengers) as a stand in for the stagecoach and the Tuaregs standing in for the Apaches.

 

[TFSmith121]

Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara is a pretty

Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara is a pretty approachable synthesis in English of French policy and experience in the region in this era; it includes some discussion of the railway project, including the economics. Very much a prestige project that was not expected to be in the black, unlike the canals.

Best,

 

[fasquardon]

Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara is a pretty approachable synthesis in English of French policy and experience in the region in this era; it includes some discussion of the railway project, including the economics. Very much a prestige project that was not expected to be in the black, unlike the canals.

Best,

Which canals were these?

fasquardon

 

[BlondieBC]

What were the French going to use for sleepers/ties for the track bed, and where were they brought from? I'm assuming the rails themselves were being imported, and carried along as the route grows.

Based on Ottoman experiences of the Arabs using ties as firewood, I bet you would end up with metal or perhaps concrete crossties.

 

[TFSmith121]

Suez and Panama.

Which canals were these?

fasquardon

Suez and Panama.

Best,

 

[Polish Eagle]

What about railroad electrification? It's a bit out-there, but given the difficulty of supplying water to steam engines, would it be possible at all? It might be a bit early (not too early, though--electric DC rail was in use in New York before 1910), and poses its own issues (could you run power from the coasts deep into the heart of the Sahara, or would you need to build power plants in the middle of the desert?).

 

[Bureaucromancer]

With early electrification tech and the traffic levels involved on this line you would end up hauling huge amounts of coal to very little benefit if you electrified this. The early diesel angle really does seem the most reasonable and likely option.

 

[Tanc49]

What about railroad electrification? It's a bit out-there, but given the difficulty of supplying water to steam engines, would it be possible at all? It might be a bit early (not too early, though--electric DC rail was in use in New York before 1910), and poses its own issues (could you run power from the coasts deep into the heart of the Sahara, or would you need to build power plants in the middle of the desert?).

And lo, France invented the solar panel. This thread only gets better and better ^^

Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara is a pretty approachable synthesis in English of French policy and experience in the region in this era; it includes some discussion of the railway project, including the economics. Very much a prestige project that was not expected to be in the black, unlike the canals.

Yup, prestige and long term investment. Also for military projection, so really not just short term profits. Something like that would have to be backed by the state at some level which is the French way anyway. State capitalism is how it's done

 

[TFSmith121]

Except the difference with the canal projects is this

Would be in recognized French territory, so - considering there's support in Paris in spite of the expected changes in government, it may actually go all the way through with public/government funds...

There is the possibility it ends like some of the non-commercial roads elsewhere in the world at this time, however; there's only so long any economy can carry such things running at a loss.

Best,

 

[Tanc49]

There is the possibility it ends like some of the non-commercial roads elsewhere in the world at this time, however; there's only so long any economy can carry such things running at a loss.

It would be an initial loss but with potential huge economic windfall. As pointed in the colonial congress summed up in page 1, it would allow to develop much further the Deep south and the Sahel region (southern marshes of the Sahara, Mali to Senegal basically) with settlers, industry, commerce... Lots of taxes!

 

[Driftless]

While looking up other info, I came across this site, which discusses the Trans-sahara railroad. Basically, they identify more problems than opportunities.

 

[Tanc49]

Oh, thanks for thinking of my thread! This is indeed interesting, although from what I could read, it was known that the trade at the time was not enormous, but that precisely this line could increase it.

Basically by settling the basin of Niger with continental settlers and agriculture, you could increase the exchanges and the hold of France on these regions.

 

[Tanc49]

In light of the quite active thread about the best outcome for Africa in the post-1900 board, I shall hereby resurrect this thread.

Do you think this infrastructure project would have been beneficial to the local inhabitants of these regions rather than just for resource extraction?

 

[zeppelinair]

In light of the quite active thread about the best outcome for Africa in the post-1900 board, I shall hereby resurrect this thread.

Do you think this infrastructure project would have been beneficial to the local inhabitants of these regions rather than just for resource extraction?

Not really, it costs 1 gold per tile. Unless you have plenty of gold-producing resources in the city I wouldn't want to waste it.

(didn't have a good answer for it so here you go.)