The Neptune trams – 10 Cairo trams of 1899 found under the sea !
Since 1870, Belgians have financed, equipped and/or operated 450 tramway and secondary railway networks on 5 continents. Among the forty specialized holdings, we will retain the “Société Générale de Chemins de fer Economiques” and the nebula of the Empain group, without forgetting the “Compagnie Mutuelle de Tramways”.
The two partners inaugurated their Cairo network on August 12, 1896; it will reach 69.6 km of extension in 1930, served in 1938 by 383 motorcars and 289 trailers, all built in Belgium. Only a few electrical equipment of German or American design are exceptions to the Belgium preference, at the very beginning of operation. This network remained in Belgian hands until 1960. From 1895 to 1913, the “Tramways du Caire” ordered only open trams, with «harem» compartments (for ladies) and sometimes first class, located either at the ends of the car or in the centre. Only the Pyramids line, exposed to desert winds, is equipped with closed motor cars.
On November 18, 1898, the “Tramways du Caire” decided to order 10 motor cars to “La Métallurgique” (factory of Nivelles) with “Thomson Houston” controllers and GE800 motors, for 12.700 BEF piece, to be delivered in Alexandria, customs duties not included. These cars will never get to Cairo…
YouTube video of the wreck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6BtpZICeyk
(video made by TRAMANIA using a photogrammetry tool)
The steamer “Belgique” of the company “Armement Adolf Deppe”, with 10 trams on board, left Antwerp and sank in the night of November 10, 1899 off the Casquets, a group of rocks 13 km northwest of the Channel island of Alderney. The 2560-ton boat, built in 1889, could not withstand a terrible storm. Only 8 of the 26 crew members survived being picked up by the St Kilda.
The Cairo Trams did not take much notice of this sinking: the responsibility for transport fell to “Thomson Houston”, which supplied 10 other engines in 1901.
3D reconstruction of the wreck: see https://skfb.ly/oM9O8
(model made by TRAMANIA using a photogrammetry tool)
A group of friends from Britain and Germany has rediscovered this wreck. They share an interest in the exploration and conservation of deep shipwrecks, caves and/or mines. Their diving takes them all over the world. Our group includes technical divers, instructors and instructor evaluators trained by various technical diving agencies including Global Underwater Explorers (https://www.gue.com)
The Belgium club TRAMANIA immediately took contact with this team and especially Leo Fielding. The photos were taken by Guy Trees, a professional diver and photographer. Top of Form
TRAMANIA has provided to the diving team various information, drawings and photographs that allowed to identify the wreck and the vehicles whose tragic disappearance was already mentioned on page 42 of his book «Les tramways belges en Egypte», under the title «The trams of Neptune».
Link to our site: http://www.tramania.com
The non-profit organisation TRAMANIA, established in 1993, played a leading role in the design, financing and construction of the tramway museum called “Centre de Découverte du Vicinal” in Thuin (Belgium, Hainaut).
TRAMANIA has also restored in running order the SNCV tram trailer A.1584 (dating from 1893) and the motor car 57 of the “Tramways de Verviers” at the MTCW museum in Liège. TRAMANIA publishes a quarterly periodical devoted to the history of Belgian trams, both in Belgium and abroad.
TRAMANIA has also published several books on Belgian trams in Tientsin, Russia, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire.
In 2023/2024 a new book on the Tramways of Julien Dulait (founder of “Electricité and Hydraulique”) and in 2024 the history of the trams of Shanghai as well as the notebooks of Julie Jacquemin, relating her life as wife of the director of the trams of Kischineff (Chisinau today)
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