The core line went from Durban to Volksrust, but reached Charlestown (4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the border of the South African Republic) in 1891 and was linked to the Witwatersrand in 1895.

The Orange Free State (OVS) line went over the Drakensberg, connecting Ladysmith to Kroonstad by its completion in 1906.

[2] Once the line from Ladysmith to Newcastle (127 km (79 mi)) was completed in 1889, coal could finally be transported economically from North Natal to the coast.

[9] On 7 November 1889, after an agreement was reached between the governments of Natal and the Orange Free State, construction began on the line from Ladysmith to Harrismith.

The line reached Newcastle on 15 May 1890, and was immediately continued on to Charlestown, the last town in Natal before the ZAR border.

Around the same time, the Hullett sugar company extended the North Coast Line 88 km (55 mi) from Verulam to the southern bank of the Tugela River.

On 25 October 1899, 13 days after the beginning of the Second Boer War, the first 48 km (30 mi) of the Pietermaritzburg-Greytown line (from Pietermaritzburg to New Hanover).

During the war, the South Coast Line was extended to North Shepstone on the northern bank of the Umzimkulu River, a distance of around 50 km (31 mi).

[12][10] Between 1904 and 1909, a 110 km (68 mi) link between the Natal portion of the NGR and the CGR lines in the Cape was built through Griqualand West.

In April 1901, the Glencoe-Dundee branch line reached the Buffels River - earlier the border of the Nieuwe Republiek.

With the opening of the Durban-Pietermaritzburg line and the decision to extend it to Ladysmith, 37 4-6-0 locomotives were ordered from Kitson & Company.

[9] The opening of the Durban-Ladysmith line and the discovery of gold that year helped the NGR become a profitable company.

To conquer the sharp switchbacks of the NGR, the front and rear wheels of the locomotive lacked flanges.

The NGR offered both passenger and freight service and also delivered letters and packages for the post office.

"[42] However, Mahatma Gandhi, as a young lawyer, was thrown off a first-class car in Pietermaritzburg in 1892 on account of his race, the turning point of his life.

After the discovery of gold, consumer goods carried between the Port of Durban and the Rand made up one of the leading uses of the NGR.

Around the same time, the transport of agricultural products, especially acacia trees shipped to the Witwatersrand mines, grew by leaps and bounds.

By then, the export trade had developed significantly - in 1908, 446,915 tons of coal were shipped out of Natal, either overseas or to neighboring states.

[46] Black wattle Acacia mearnsii is one of the main crops of the so-called "mistbelt forest" of Natal, a region lying between 1,000–1,500 m (3,300–4,900 ft) above sea level.

Initially, it was planted as a shade tree on farms, but George Sutton recognized its commercial growth potential in 1876.

[5] The Natal Agricultural Development Act of 1904 made crown lands available for purchase by farmers at favorable rates.

The legislation was geared toward promoting agriculture for food self-sufficiency in the colony as well as to grow crops for export, particularly to the Rand.

[15] One of the key goals of Natal during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) was control over the rail line between Durban and the ZAR and Orange Free State.

[51] Until 1899, the British had no experience with maintaining rail service in a war zone, especially in terms of the relationship between military planners and civilian railway personnel.

If, in October 1899, the British Army had destroyed the Laing's nek tunnel, for instance, the course of the Natal campaign would have gone quite differently.

During October, November, and December 1899, the NGR sent 43,296 soldiers, 11,479 animals, 96 cannons, and 377 vehicles together with 19,499 tons of supplies from the coast to the battlefields.

[53][52] The Boer forces, with the help of NZASM engineers, took control of the NGR line north of Ladysmith with a de facto terminus at Modderfontein (10 km (6.2 mi) north of Ladysmith),[52] while Estcourt became the de facto terminus of the British section of the line.

One of the trains was attacked by a Boer Commando unit near Chievely, in the same raid in which then-journalist Winston Churchill was taken prisoner.

[54] After Ladysmith was relieved, the Boer armies retreated over the Biggarsberg, and for two months they kept hold of the northern portion of the railway.

In 1919, the first Garratt steam locomotive went into service on the former NGR railways, and the main line began electrifying in 1923.