Mitlebahn Railway (Douala/Republic of Cameroon)

This time the Railway Heritage Blog received the collaboration of Ousmanou Zourmba. He is a Cameroonian researcher interested in issues dealing with heritage, memory, history and tourism. He specializes in developing theoretical approaches to the valorization of sensitive remains of the past, like the heritage of wars, of slavery and colonial heritage. These topics also include territorial (cultural) identity. Currently, he is enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus TPTI program coordinated by Paris 1 Sorbonne University.

We hope you enjoy his experience in the railway heritage field too!

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Douala is a Cameroonian city known for its economic importance, basically its port serves as an import/export center for many central African countries. Douala has also been the first Cameroonian city to experience railways transport in the early 20th century. Nowadays, there is an important abandoned railway heritage, which belonged to a German and a French colonial past of the city.

History

Photo of the train arrival at the « Mitlebahn » station -

Frédéric Gadmer, January 3rd, 1917.

Regarding the German railway heritage, transportation had been a key issue for Germans to explore and develop their market in Cameroon. Due to the existence of very few bridges to cross the numerous rivers, few vehicles and roads, Germans initiated a debate concerned to the importance of building infrastructures, and the railway was at the top of their list. Thus, the debates on the introduction of railways in Cameroon emerged in Germany in the early 1900s. The railway called Mitlebahn, linking Douala to Eseka (and later to the northern part of the country) began functioning few years later in 1900. At the Douala Beseke valley was the train station, along with maintenance offices and a company town. This station is called Mitlebahn and it worked as the main train station in Cameroon few years before the First World War.

When Germans left Cameroon during the First World War, France managed Douala as a part of the Eastern Cameroon. French colonial administration decided, years later to build another railway station. Therefore, the German train station was abandoned, as the same time as aforementioned infrastructures, and finally destroyed. At its place today, there is just a highway, without any sign of an old place or memory.

Main façade of the train station. La Médiathèque de

l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, http://www.culture.gouv.fr

Entrance of the French train station - photo of the author (2016)

A French railway station is located around 2 to 3 kilometers from the place of the first train station in Cameroon. Located in a marketing area, this railway heritage was also abandoned and fell into ruins as shown on the picture of one of its buildings.

The Railway and the City

German railway remains - photo of the author (2016)

In regard to this, the abandoned railway heritage in Douala involves many elements, especially buildings as well as railway lines. Around the Mitlebahn station no railway presence sign could be currently found. In fact, the German railway is very difficult to find in the city, due to its almost total destruction. Nonetheless, railway tracks have been identified between the two railways stations mentioned above, which seems to be from the German period.

Final Considerations

As a start to the protection and valorisation of Douala railway heritage, a master thesis is being developed. The first goal is to create a German Protectorate to its remains in the city. This iniciative will contribute to the Douala railway heritage fall in line and get some attention. All the examples of reuse and reintegration projects had a way to start, thus this work looks for a way of stimulating the railway heritage appreciation.