Some African Milestones. HF Varian. First edition

George Ronald, 1953, First edition. Hard cover with dust cover, 271 pages. Good condition. Tightly bound and clean text. The dust cover is worn and torn. Hard cover has partially lost some colour. Some foxing. Under 1kg.

A story of railway development in southern and east Africa, notable for its fluency, humour and human interest. Rhodes's visionary Cape-to-Cairo scheme had given birth to a sophisticated network of railway lines linking Botswana, Rhodesia, Zambia and the Congo with the southern and eastern seaports of the continent by the early years of this century. The contribution made to the development of these countries by those who planned, built and worked the communications system can never be over-estimated; indeed, the railways was the major civilizing factor in Africa.

H. F. Varian was one such pioneer he spent some 50 years on projects in Mocambique, Rhodesia, Angola and in East Africa. African Milestones is a personal description of the day-to-day business of railway construction in the early and middle years.