The bittersweet story of South African sugar

AT 3.40am on February 27, 1906, train number 306 made its routine early-morning commute from central Durban to Verulam – then the epicentre of sugar production in colonial Natal. From drivers’ logs of the journey we know that the freight train was travelling uphill at a sluggish 20km/h, arriving at the station – and on schedule – just before sunrise. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary on that fateful Tuesday morning, driver A. Spencer, guard J. Hutchinson and fireman WE. Schill would later report to authorities.

In the twilight haze the train’s headlight would have cast a single blinding beam into the horizon, illuminating the locomotive’s journey through the landscape of sprawling cane fields to highlight any obstructions on the tracks. But as records show, that wasn’t the case. Less than 10km from central Durban, near Storms Brick kiln,