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Why hemp rope?
I speculate that hemp was super cheap and super fibrous, so it would make a decent armor akin to lining the train with sandbags.
And abundant.
Some even say it grows like a weed
That's a good question, and I'm not entirely sure why. I read it was hemp rope from the Royal Navy, so it may have been a bit of an ad-hoc/improvised armor for lack of better options.
2nd Boer War was 1899, so there wouldn't be any synthetic fibers. Steamships were in wide use, but there were still a decent number of sailing ships, especially for local/coastal trade. Essentially all marine cordage at the time would have been hemp or Manila (banana), alternatives being cotton or linen, which aren't very durable. Manila rope is often called "Manila hemp," even though it's a different plant, and I can see soldiers not bothering to make clear distinction. True hemp is somewhat stiffer.
Either way - hemp or Manila - would have been plentiful, dense, and pretty effective at slowing projectiles & shrapnel. The image looks like those ropes are probably 2-3" diameter. Heavy stuff. Probably much easier to drape a bunch of 3" rope over your locomotive than to build a 3" timber frame around it. Nevermind the equivalent iron armor.
Hemp fibers are really strong - that's why they're used to make rope.
Not quite Kevlar, but apparently helpful against bullets.
Especially since there's still the metal of the train itself. Don't necessarily even have to stop the bullet, just slow it enough/cause it to hit at an unfavorable angle