See Who Declared Lagos To Ibadan Railway Open

The construction of the Lagos railway began in March 1896. The “standard Colonial Gauge’ of 42 inches and a speed limit of 15 miles per hour was considered suitable for curves and gradients. The terminus of the railway line began at Iddo , not Lagos Island, because at Iddo the water channel was better suited to navigate for ocean steamers. In September 1895, two road bridges were constructed—Carter-Denton Road bridges—to connect Lagos and Iddo island with the mainland. The bridges were actually foot passages for horsemen, pedestrians, and vehicles. Construction of the Lagos railway connected Otta (20 miles) to Lagos by September 1897, Abeokuta (60 miles) in 1899, Ibadan (125 miles) in December 1900.

During the inaugural ceremonies at Iddo and Ibadan between March 4 and 7, 1901, the Governor of Lagos, Sir William MacGregor, stressed the importance of railway extension beyond Ibadan. He urged such extension partly as an instrument for the political ‘union’ of Lagos and Northern Nigeria, partly for strategical reasons in view of parallel railway development in French Conakry (now Guinea-Conakry) and Dahomey (now Republic of Benin), and partly for the commercial development of Lagos and Northern Nigeria.

With these objectives in mind MacGregor on the same occasion, called upon all Yoruba to ‘push on the railway stage by stage, and never rest satisfied till your iron horse drinks of the waters of Tchad……Seê _ Morê