tion 47 m. north of Kimberley, a line goes via Klerksdorp to
Johannesburg and Pretoria, this being the most direct route between Cape
Town and the Transvaal. (Distance from Cape Town to Johannesburg, 955
m.)

The Midland system starts from Port Elizabeth, and the main line runs by
Cradock and Naauwpoort to Norval's Pont on the Orange river, whence it
is continued through the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal by
Bloemfontein to Johannesburg (714 m. from Port Elizabeth) and Pretoria
(741 m.). From Kroonstad, a station midway between Bloemfontein and
Johannesburg, a railway, opened in 1906, goes via Ladysmith to Durban,
and provides the shortest railway route between Cape Town and Port
Elizabeth and Natal. From Port Elizabeth a second line (186 m.) runs by
Uitenhage and Graaff Reinet, rejoining the main line at Rosmead, from
which a junction line (83 m.) runs eastwards, connecting with the
Eastern system at Stormberg. From Naauwpoort another junction line (69
m.) runs north-west, connecting the Midland with the Western system at
De Aar, and affords an alternative route to that via Kimberley from Cape
Town to the Transvaal. (Distance from Cape Town to Johannesburg via
Naauwpoort, 1012 m.)

The Eastern system starts from East London, and the principal line runs
to Springfontein (314 m.) in the Orange River Colony, where it joins the
line to Bloemfontein and the Transvaal. (Distance from East London to
Johannesburg, 665 m.) From Albert junction (246 m. from East London) a
branch, originally the main line, goes east to Aliwal North (280 m.).

The west to east connexion is made by a series of railways running for
the most part parallel with the coast. Starting from Worcester, 109 m.
from Cape Town on the western main line a railway runs to Mossel Bay via
Swellendair and Riversdale. From Mossel Bay another line runs by George,
Oudtshoorn and Willowmore to Klipplaat, a station on the line from
Graaff Reinet to Port Elizabeth. (Distance from Cape Town 666 m.) From
Somerset East a line (164 m.) goes via King William's Town to Blaney
junction on the eastern main line and 31 m. from East London. The
Somerset East line crosses, at Cookhouse station, the Midland main line
from Port Elizabeth to the north, and by this route the distance between
Port Elizabeth and East London is 307 m. Before the completion in 1905
of the Somerset East-King William's Town line, the nearest railway
connexion between the two seaports was via Rosmead