former narrow gauge railway in the Belgium Congo

Of all the colonial powers in Africa, the Belgians were the most exploitative of the native people. In the 1880s the exploration and exploitation of the Congo territory was carried out. This had the water network provided by the Congo River, but between Matadi and Kinshasa (formerly known as Léopoldville), the river was not navigable because of the Livingstone Falls which follow one another for 300 km. Transport was done by native carriers, but which was not very efficient and often fatal. So the decision was made to build a railway line along this route.

The Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI) was founded on 31 July 1887 as was the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Congo (CCFC). Work on the railway was directed by Albert Thys, who would give his name to one of the stations, Thysville (now Mbanza-Ngungu). The completion of the railway cost the lives of 1,932 people (1,800 blacks and 132 whites).

The main difficulty was in making it possible for the railway to leave the gorges of the Congo River, through the canyon the M'pozo River and a passage along the Monts de Cristal.  The hard labour on the railway line was mentioned by Joseph Conrad in his novel Heart of Darkness which he witnessed when he worked in the Congo. Started in 1890, the railway line was completed in 1898. It was built to a gauge of 750 mm (approx. 2 ft 6 in), and all rolling stock was constructed to this gauge. However, as local labour had difficulty grasping the concept of gauge widening on curves, the entire line was built to a gauge of 763 mm. Between 1923 and 1931 it was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge.  Tens of thousands of convicts and forced workers were employed for this conversion and 7,000 people lost their lives.

Despite the technical and financial difficulties in constructing the railway, it quickly proved profitable, mainly because of the transportation of ivory and rubber. In the 750 mm gauge period it operated a large fleet of 0-6-0T, 0-6-2T and 2-6-2T locomotives before turning to 32 Garratt 0-6-0+0-6-0 type and finally five outside-framed 2-8-2 locos.