36 Class locomotive engines preserved as part of the Railway Museum located at in Jinja Railway StationFor nearly five decades, Uganda has poured billions of shillings, foreign loans and donor grants into rebuilding its railway. Locomotives from Germany and France, wagons from Belgium, India and East Germany, coaches, Lake Victoria ferries, and a major workshop at Nalukolongo.But while the investments are documented, what happened to the assets is not.From the 1977 East African Community breakup to the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) concession and today’s missing wagons, Uganda’s railway records show no continuous account of where the assets ended up.The 1977 Inheritance: Uganda Got 15%When the East African Community collapsed in 1977, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) was formed by decree to take over the affairs of the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation.To establish what existed, a joint Working Party met in Kampala in December 1982, chaired by Kenya’s D.M.S. Fairweather. Uganda was represented by its Chief Mechanical Engineer, Eng. Sam Kwesiga – who later became Acting Managing Director of URC – and Chief Traffic Manager Charles Karamagi.The inventory established that the former EARC had 509 coaches and 6,354 wagons. Kenya took 402 coaches and 5,422 wagons. Uganda received only 107 coaches and 932 wagons. In total, Uganda got 1,039 pieces of rolling stock out of 6,863 – just 15%. Documents reviewed by Uganda Radio Network are silent on why the imbalance existed.Crucially, the Working Party did not account for motive power.A June 1979 Commonwealth report titled “The Rehabilitation of the Economy of Uganda” fills that gap. Authors David M. Nowlan and Donald F. Peckham noted Uganda inherited 27 steam engines – from which the name “Gari ya Moshi” was derived – and 21 diesel engines.Only four of the 27 steam engines were serviceable. The steam workshop in Kenya had closed. All 28 were later retired or lost. Former URC workers say some were parked at the Tororo locomotive shed in the 1980s, then dismantled and sold as scrap. Not a single piece was preserved for the Railway Museum in Jinja.Of the 21 diesel engines, 18 were out of service but being repaired at Tororo with German technicians. The Idi Amin regime had supplemented them with 10 short-range engines from Germany.On wagons, the report found only 47 covered and 132 open wagons in the country – far short of the 925 Uganda expected after the breakup. To fill the gap, government bought 130 covered and 20 goods wagons from Belgium, 250 covered wagons and 20 coaches from India, and ordered 50 more coaches and 34 service cars from East Germany. It also contracted a Belgian firm to assemble four wagon ferries at Port Bell, each with 800-ton capacity.Billions in New Fleet and a WorkshopAn October 1983 World Bank memo shows the fleet had grown to 62 diesel locomotives. All 28 steam locomotives were now retired. The fleet was described as adequate because it was less than five years old, with 25 tank wagons financed by the European Development Fund on the way.By 1989, another World Bank appraisal put URC’s fleet at 60 locomotives, with 13 more Class 73 units ordered from German manufacturer Thyssen-Henschel. The breakdown was 48 mainline locomotives and 12 shunters, about 1,500 wagons and 104 coaches. Half the wagons were relatively new, post-1977 purchases. The inherited coaches had been withdrawn.The appraisal also confirmed the biggest investment after rolling stock: the Nalukolongo Railway Workshop. With EARC’s main workshops in Nairobi now belonging to Kenya Railways, Uganda was left with only two depots in Kampala and Tororo. Tororo was converted from a steam shed for diesel maintenance until Nalukolongo was built.Commissioned in 1987 with German and French experts, Nalukolongo was designed to handle 150 locomotives. The Commonwealth put its cost at Shs 216 million in 1979 prices – a huge sum then. It included specialised machinery and training to make Uganda self-sufficient in locomotive maintenance.The Trail Goes ColdThe paper trail becomes fragmented after this point.When RVR took over on November 1, 2006, IFC documents recorded URC’s assets as 44 locomotives and 1,433 wagons – 16 locomotives short of the 1989 figure. Some had been involved in accidents, others retired.Under KfW-supported programmes, 562 freight wagons were overhauled in two phases, including 197 wagons between May 2002 and June 2003. But former Nalukolongo workers told URN the workshop suffered severe stripping in the late 1990s and early 2000s as its management changed from URC to Adtranz, to Bombardier, and later RVR. The emerging steel mills created a market for scrap. URC lost the entire Busoga railway line through Iganga, Mbulamuti, Kaliro and Jinja to scrap dealers. Sources say wagons and engine parts were sold as scrap.At concession start, RVR was given 43 locomotives: six Class 36, six Class 62, two Class 71, 24 Class 73 and five Class 82. Only 16 were operational.A joint verification by URC and RVR in June 2012 found 1,321 wagons: 21 high-open, 473 covered, 200 fuel-tank, 513 flatbed-container, 34 low-open, 51 ballast-hopper and 29 others. By October 2014, 365 had been rehabilitated under KfW funding, while RVR acquired four Class 96 locomotives in 2014 and 240 new flat wagons in 2015/16.But there is no public, asset-by-asset bridge showing which individual wagons and locomotives were returned to URC when the concession ended. The 2006 documents give a number, not a register with wagon numbers, types, condition and disposition.The Works and Transport Sector Development Plan 2015/16-2019/20 provides snapshots, but not a continuous ledger from purchase to retirement, disposal or sale as scrap. URN also failed to trace two motor vessels for Lake Victoria island services that were listed as refurbished in 1989.Why It Matters NowThe gap is now a parliamentary issue. The Physical Infrastructure Committee has raised questions about the whereabouts and disposal of railway wagons, including allegations that wagons were routed through a “virtual station” in Nyahururu, Kenya.The history is not simply one of wagons disappearing. It is a story of massive public investment followed by ageing, rehabilitation, retirement, concessioning, transfer and incomplete documentation.The unanswered question for our readers is not just where the wagons went. It is what happened to the billions invested over 50 years – in locomotives, wagons, ferries, workshops and technical assistance – and why Uganda Railways Corporation cannot produce a continuous ledger to account for them.-URNThe post The Ghost Fleet: How Uganda Bought 1,500 Wagons and 60 Locomotives But Can’t Account For Them appeared first on Business Focus.