The exotism of
the unknown railroads of the former Spanish colonies in the African
continent, as well as a certain sentimental link of the authors
towards this zone, they ended in the work that,
after remaining outlined in a web
page, saw finally the light in the shape of book. As the authors
explain, the central topic of the book includes a great number of
railway nets with many peculiar characteristics. This owed to the
conjunction of many factors, since they are the warlike,
 political
and social situation of the narrated territories, a motive power and
mobile known enough in Spain, a slightly common architecture inside
the set of the Spanish railroads and a strange landscape for the
common thing in Spain, between others.
The book is divided into three
parts. The first one of them, the most extensive, includes all the
nets and railroads of the former Spanish protectorate in Morocco,
with special attention to the Spanish Company of the
Rif
Mines. The chapter examines at detail the railroads of Melilla's
environment, which from Ceuta were entering the continent
towards the south, the peculiar lines
of the Tractocarril, as well as a revision to the current importance
of the Moroccan railroad, clearly influenced by the French railroad.
This part completes a study of the lines of Melilla's streetcar and
Ceuta, and the railroad projects
that did not manage to see the light.
The
second part approaches a dream, of joining ferroviariamente Spain (And
consequently Europe) with the African continent, with the aim to
join all the European colonies in this continent with the colonizing
countries. Of this form, the explanations happen to the different
projects throughout last decades to realize this connection across
the strait of Gibraltar, as well as the big bets for the railroad
construction transafricanos.
The last part takes charge of the systems of railway transport in
other Spanish colonies of the African continent. This way, there
appear the railroads of Equatorial Guinea and of the region of Ifni.
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