Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

58 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. passengers not to get out here, and to be careful when coming into office.” It was after the line had passed Nairobi that the real engineering troubles began, and it is doubtful if a line was ever carried through Engineering- Difficulties. a more difficult country, or one worse adapted to railway construction. Thirty-four miles beyond Nairobi the country falls sheer away A TEMPORARY WOODEN TRESTLE OVER THE MAU ESCARPMENT. over a natural escarpment, at the foot of which, runs the valley of the Great Rift. This Ki- kuyu Escarpment, as it is named, is one of the many natural wonders with, which the continent of Africa is so bountifully endowed. The summit of the escarpment is 7,830 feet above the sea-level, and some 2,000 feet below it lies the Rift Valley. This valley, by the way, can be distinctly traced from the Zam- besi northwards to Palestine. As might be imagined, the view from the summit of the escarpment is one of the most magnificent that could possibly be obtained, the clear atmosphere making distant mountains and other natural features appear quite close to the observer. When the summit of this escarpment was reached it was found that some expedient for lowering the necessary plant and equipment to its foot would have to be devised until Climbing down the Escarpment. such, time as the line itself should have been completed. After some consideration, a rope railway was built to convey tSe trucks up and down the hillside. This device was found to work very satisfactorily, except for one or two minor mishaps. It was quite out of the question to carry this line straight over the escarpment, so it had to climb diagonally down the slope through thick forests, and pass in places over some very fine steel viaducts. The Rift Valley is also crossed diagonally, and the line then winds up the hills on the farther side of the depression towards the Mau summit. This, some 8,350 feet above sea-level, is the highest point reached by the line. By its extraordinary rises and falls the Uganda Railway is made one of the most won- derful in the world. There are, of course, many railways in other places that attain greater altitudes, notably in the Rocky Moun- ROPE INCLINE ON KIKUYU ESCARPMENT. tains and the Andes, but on no other line is the ascent so steep as on the Uganda Railway, which rises nearly 8,000 feet in the course of about 500 miles. Its descent from the Mau summit to the terminus at Port Florence is even more remarkable, with its drop of 4,700 feet in 91 miles. It was originally proposed that the terminus of the line should be at Port Victoria, on the