from
Naauw Port across the Orange River at Norvals Pont, thence to
Bloemfontein and the Vaal River at Vereeniging, where it connected with
the Netherland Company's system of the Transvaal. It was not until
September, 1892, that the first through train from the Cape reached
Pretoria, but after the essential link was constructed, the Cape Town
and Port Elizabeth lines contrived to secure the greater share of the
Transvaal traffic for the next three or four years.
While
these two lines were delayed in reaching out for the business of the
Gold Fields, a more favored competitor, the Netherlands Railway
Company, was actively building an eastern
