Concours d'admission à la section du chemin de fer, session du 14 Juin 1927 Procès Verbal in ANM 1 G 121 fonds recents.
	© 1999 by Jim Jones, Ph.D.

Five graduates of the École Primaire Supérieur de Bamako were allowed to test for entrance into the railroad professional course. The test was administered by French officials named Marchi, Letin, Morot and Lhez.

There are "Certificat d'Identité Tenant Lieu d'Acte de Naissance" for each candidate.

Each file contains the "Certificat d'Identité," a "Certificat Medical," a letter requesting permission from the Gouverneur du Soudan Français to take the examination, and compositions written as part of the examination. The test areas were Orthographé, Géographie, Français, et Calcul (handwriting, geography, French and arithmetic).

The instruction for the French composition examination was "Decrivez l'arrivée d'un train en gare de Bamako" (Describe the arrival of a train at the Bamako station).

• Djibril Diawara's essay is missing from the file.

• Bakary Konaté described the arrival of the Dakar Express. "Dans le ville regne un grand animation. Partout on entend des cris de joie et contentement" (The town is very lively and everywhere, one hears cries of joy and contentment). The train station is full of people "coquettement habillée (sharply dressed). Young men in good cloths strut about with cane and pipe.

  Suddenly, in the distance, they hear a long whistle. "Avec une rapidité prodigeuse et surprenante, une longue serie de wagons interminables entrainés par un grosse machine qui vomit la fumée s'elance vers nous" (With surpising speed, a long series of rail cars pulled by a large engine which vomits smoke rushes towards us.) After the train halts, people appear everywhere with their baggage. There are constant cries for "manoeuvre, manoeuvre" to come handle baggage. Within a few minutes, all of this activity raises a large column of dust, but the station empties quickly and calm is restored. The essay concludes "L'arrivée de l'Express est trés agréable … Bamako" (The arrival of the Express is very agreeable in Bamako.)

• Ibrahim N'Diaye wrote that the Dakar Express arrives on Thursday. At 10am, I go to the gare and buy a ticket de quai for 50 centimes. The station is filled with people, some who press close to the tracks; others who stand and converse in small groups. Sudddenly a bell sounds in the telegraph office to announce the departure of the train from Kati. The chef de gare orders two switch operators to take their position. The hirondelles (storks) are scared off by the noise of approaching train. As the train approaches, I notice jets of vapor on either side of the heavy engine. The engineer and the fireman wear black suits. The tender is full of wood and coal. The railcars are painted different colors and the passengers are visible behind glass windows.

  The engineer blows the whistle while the fireman brakes. Once the train halts, the passengers quickly leave the train and shake hands with their parents who have come to greet them. Then everyone pushes out of the station "comme un troupeau de moutons qui part pour le prairie" (like a herd of sheep headed towards the prairie.) Quickly, the station empties. The police and gendarmes push everyone out.

  After things calm down, the locomotive emits black smoke from the smokestack and pulls off to the depot, leaving the rest of the train behind. It smells of oil. Laborers bustle about, unloading the freight and sweating in the hot sun."

  NOTE: In his geography essay, N'Diaye mentioned the Segou- Bani Railroad.

• Bouillé Koité wrote that once a week, the Dakar Express arrives in Bamako. There is a huge crowd at the station and many "vehicules" (carts, pous-pousses, etc) circulate noisily. Merchants set up their goods to sell. The first alert is a whistle and loud noise (NOTE: everyone mentions this in their essays). Next, you make out a small spot in the distance. As it gets closer, the train looks like "une longue succession de petites maisons diversement colorées" (a long line of small houses painted in various colors.) Passengers and mechaniciens wave to everyone. When the train stops, everyone crowds around, but 15 minutes later, the station is empty.

• François Etienne wrote about the Sunday night train from Kayes to Bamako. The train station fills slowly to capacity. The first clue is the whistle, then the noise of the approaching train. Two switch operators take up positions; one across the tracks from the gare, the other at the road crossing Avenue William Ponty (just north of the modern Place de la Liberté), using a copper horn to communicate. When the locomotive appears, it's crowned on all sides by jets of vapor, with black smoke and sparks shooting out of the stack. A watchman or switch operator stops traffic with a small red or green flag.

  We see the well-lit train compartments, with passengers looking out the window. At the station, the conductor blows his horn, the whistle blows and it comes to a halt. People greet passengers. There is a lot of noise - people calling names, calling for porters, etc. A ticket collector ("precepteur") collects tickets from passengers as they leave. In 15 minutes, the station starts to empty.