Historedia
AfricaEvent

Randtram, first railway in the Transvaal, opens

When
1890
Where
Johannesburg to Boksburg line
Episodes
1

The Randtram, the first working railway line in the Transvaal, opened on 17 March 1890 between Johannesburg and Boksburg. Constructed by the Netherlands–South African Railway Company, it served the goldfields and was hauled by a 14 Tonner locomotive, despite its tramway designation.

Episodes

  1. 17 March 1890 · Johannesburg to Boksburg lineOpening of the Randtram

    The first working railway line in the Transvaal opened between Johannesburg and Boksburg, hauled by locomotive Transvaal.

Background and detail

Background. The Netherlands–South African Railway Company, established in 1887, operated in the South African Republic. In 1888, the ZAR government granted a concession to construct a 16-mile railway line from Johannesburg to Boksburg. This concession responded to the rapid development of the Witwatersrand goldfields and the growing industry's demand for coal, leading to the creation of the Randtram.

Opening. The line was officially opened on 17 March 1890. The first train was hauled by a 14 Tonner locomotive, specifically locomotive No. 1 named Transvaal, which had entered service in July 1889. Although the line was a railway in every aspect, it became known as the Randtram, marking the first working railway line in the Transvaal.

People involved

Sources

  1. Netherlands–South African Railway Company Wikipedia, revision of 2025-07-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.