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5918 - Steam Revival |
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For many years as seen elsewhere on this CD-ROM, 59 class 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 Beyer-Garratt 5918 'Mount Gelai' was the flagship of steam in East Africa, running huge freight trains between Mombasa and Nairobi. Based at Mombasa, she was the natural choice for a member of the class to be preserved at the Nairobi Railway Museum when she was finally displaced by dieselisation in 1979. For the next year or so, despite a somewhat run-down appearance she was kept in working order and used on trips in the Mombasa area, before working a final train to Nairobi in May 1980 after which she steamed into the museum on what was presumed to be her final journey. There was a first brief revival in the 1980s which involved running excursions on the Nakuru line but eventually she was returned to the museum. There she lay neglected until July 2001, when she was taken into the main workshops and rapidly returned to working order by a small group of retired loco staff enthusiastically assisted by a younger generation for some of the heavier tasks. At the time of compilation of this CD-ROM, two safaris have been run to Mombasa and the future of 5918 and occasional steam operation in Kenya has never looked brighter.
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