It promises to be the single biggest opportunity for this country to promote itself to the world as a fantastic holiday destination. There will not be another opportunity like it for the forseeable future. Tourism is currently the second biggest industry in South Africa and an important avenue for foreign income into the coffers of the nation. 2010 is not a showcase for sport - it is the culmination of what SA tourism can offer. For South Africa, it is our one-in-a-lifetime chance.

Reading excerpts from journalists covering the soccer (football) matches in Germany one gains an insight into how the rail passenger services are a major component of the well-oiled transportation system that is helping to keep a million fans and families hopping around the country supporting their team and spending their Euros on everything from German beer to cultural trips to places of interest.
Good for the Germans. But what of us here in South Africa? That is the question. Shosholoza Meyl have just launched their new Premier Classe service (which will be profiled in the next issue of SA Rail). Of course there is the luxurious Blue Train, whose future is often the subject of a variety of rumours. The Department of Transport too, with Metrorail under the banner now, have a tremendous amount of work to be done if they anticipate foreigners used to fast, clean, reliable and safe European train services to consider using commuter trains to get to the respective stadia.

And then there are the tourism opportunities for those seeking solice and the opportunity to explore this great land before or after their home nation has suffered defeat and elimination from the tournament. Start planning your reservations now, because you won’t be able to move during those four weeks.

What of rail tourism?

The rail tourism industry in this country has grown into a multi-million Rand industry. In fact the six members of SARTAG (SA Rail Tourism Action Group) who operate tourist trains contracted from Spoornet through Shosholoza Meyl currently generate R26-million annually into the coffers of the parastatel. That’s not including the revenue brought to suppliers, National Parks, museums, places of interest, hotels, various airways etc. and providing employment. And don’t overlook the impact that these organisations have made to a variety of institutions such as schools and associations through their sponsorship programs and donations.
So could somebody (anybody?) from Spoornet please answer and explain to the general public, our readers, and me, if any thought has been given to the ramifications that the recent announcement that no special trains (under which contract passenger trains fall) will be considered from 2007?

These same train operators have been advised that confirmation of whether their trains, booked up to eighteen months in advance, have been approved to run will only be granted THREE days before the scheduled date. Recently some trips have been cancelled at similar short notice, forcing operators to apologise to angry customers, many of whom had made arrangements including travelling, accommodation etc. and booking leave for these week long family excursions. Take pity of these operators who now have to suffer the financial burden that this short cancellation causes and the loss of reputation within the tourism industry. It is claimed that shortage of locomotives and drivers are the reasons behind some of the cancellations, yet Spoornet continues to send locomotives out of the country on lease. Is providing a service to these countries more important than ensuring that we have capacity within our own?

However the media is starting to get wind of these developments and hopefully can help create enough hype for the decision-makers to become aware of the repercussions that are bound to occur. However - do they care? And what of the Government? Will the desire to increase Tourism as a major means to help create employment force the Tourism Ministry to tackle Spoornet head-on? Will the Ministers of Public Enterprise and Tourism stand their ground and resolve this matter with the Minister of Transport? Or will rail tourism be red-carded before the 2010 kick-off and Spoornet be in danger of not qualifying to participate?

I sincerely hope so, because if not rail tourism will fail - and if so I expect the Ministers to be standing at the platform - to thank the Last Passenger.

Charlie Lewis, a well known steam enthusiast and someone who has travelled the world photographing and studying different steam railway operations, commented recently no the Feldbahn restoration. He has also supplied excellent pictures of Feldbahns working in Eastern Europe.

RN 199 - First World War German Imperial Eagle flies again in preservation

RN 193 -Lest we forget, this is what the Feldbahn looked like when it arrived from the UK

RN 192 - Feldbahn locos working in Eastern Europe

RN 176 - Bloemfontein. Brigade (Feldbahn) Locomotive

RN 163 - Our Brigade (Feldbahn) restoration proceeds apace.

RN 148 - The Brigade Loco (Feldbahn) makes more steady progress

RN 132 - The Feldbahn being restored by Sandstone Bloemfontein workshops is proceeding steadily

RN 84 - Work continues on Feldbahn locomotive boiler

RN 72 - Work continues on Feldbahn locomotive

7th June 2006

Related articles at the bottom of page >>

RN 193 -Lest we forget, this is what the Feldbahn looked like when it arrived from the UK

RN 192 - Feldbahn locos working in Eastern Europe

RN 176 - Bloemfontein. Brigade (Feldbahn) Locomotive

RN 163 - Our Brigade (Feldbahn) restoration proceeds apace.

RN 148 - The Brigade Loco (Feldbahn) makes more steady progress

RN 132 - The Feldbahn being restored by Sandstone Bloemfontein workshops is proceeding steadily

RN 84 - Work continues on Feldbahn locomotive boiler

June 2006

B Wagon 2968 This B wagon was shunted to the put this week, the braking gears and vacuum cylinder was removed, de-scaled and painted with Red Oxide paint. The vacuum cylinder was overhauled which includes, roll ring, nylon bush, neck ring and cylinder cover joint ring. The wagon then was shunted outside and was sandblasted and spray-painted with Copper-berry paint and afterwards bearings were fitted and the boxes were packed with axle wool soaked in oil. This wagon awaits further restoration and will be finish by the end of next week.
DZ Wagon number 1405 This Dz wagon was shunted to the put inside the Workshop. The braking gears were fitted back and the brakes were adjusted. The handbrakes were stuck and were loosened. Henkie went on with building the wooden floor of this Dz wagon and is almost finished.
The Details on the axle
Petrus and Jacob fitted the vacuum cylinder back and a new release valve was fitted. Both Dz wagons will receive a second coat of paint in next week and will be stencilled.
G Wagon Number 3210 This Cattle wagon was shunted from the back of the Wagon Shed this week and was shunted to the put to receive a full under frame restoration. This wagon will be restored to its full glory in the original silver coating. (Above left).
The brake gears were stripped of and de-scaled. The vacuum cylinder was overhauled. Petrus cleaned the inside of the wagon and stripped all the rotten planks that will be replace with new ones. Below are some photos of the restoration in progress.
The Ratanga Wagon The restoration of this wagon will be complete early in next week. The inside of the wagon received a coat of Brown paint inside. Four new wagon doors were made and were fitted to this wagon. The seats for the Ratanga wagon will be finish by next Monday and will be fitted inside the wagon. THE SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE REPORT: The Douglas Locomotive Derick went on with the building of the new cab and coalbunker for this Locomotive. He also built an appropriate cowcatcher for the Locomotive. The steelwork that was needed on this Locomotive is almost complete, however we still needs to do the following to complete this restoration: 1.) Fit handrails 2.) Fit headlights 3.) Build footplate (Wood) 4.) Fit Cowcatcher 5.) Fit seats 6.) Fit Handbrake 7.) Fit cladding inside the cab 8.) Fit gauges 9.) Fit dome and Dome cover 10.) Spray with spray filler 11.) Paint locomotive Below are photos taken this week of the restoration of the Douglas Locomotive: The building of the footplate commences Derrick doing some rail maintenance RAIL MAINTENANCE: Oupa is still busy with track maintenance on the section between Hoekfontein and Grootdraai and this action proves to be just what was needed. He found a lot of stripped nuts on the fishplates and on T-bolts and is replaced with new bolts and nuts. He will be finish with this section in mid next week and will then proceed to the section between Hoekfontein and Mooihoek. KM POSTS: The km posts were fitted to one-metre poles this week. They were stencilled and will be planted halve a km apart. The Station building in Hoekfontein will be the beginning point to measure the distances to both directions. These poles will be planted in the following week. The Station name boards were fitted to tar poles this week and will be planted in the next week. SIGNS AND DECALS: A new Safety sign board was stencilled this week and was fitted to the “ Overhead”. From the Past... A Class 25Nc in the early 1980’s on the Bethlehem to Bloemfontein line with Bethlehem’s prestige locomotive 3401. PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK: 1.) To finish both Dz wagons 2.) To go on with the restoration of the G wagon 3.) To be almost finish with the restoration of the Douglas locomotive 4.) To wash out Kalahari 5.) To wash out Fowler B5 6.) To rectify play on 153 pivot. 7.) To plant km posts 8.) To make 10 more km posts 9.) To fit floor of coal extractor. 10.) To cut plates for road sign decals 11.) To fit more signboards 12.) To plant Station Name boards 13.) To finish track maintenance on section Hoekfontein to Grootdraai 14.) To start with track maintenance on the Hoekfontein Mooihoek section. 15.) To collect Semaphore signal at Pandora and to start to restore it.

The Ratanga Wagon The restoration of this wagon will be complete early in next week. The inside of the wagon received a coat of Brown paint inside. Four new wagon doors were made and were fitted to this wagon. The seats for the Ratanga wagon will be finish by next Monday and will be fitted inside the wagon.
THE SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE REPORT:
The Douglas Locomotive
Derick went on with the building of the new cab and coalbunker for this Locomotive. He also built an appropriate cowcatcher for the Locomotive. The steelwork that was needed on this Locomotive is almost complete, however we still needs to do the following to complete this restoration: 1.) Fit handrails 2.) Fit headlights 3.) Build footplate (Wood) 4.) Fit Cowcatcher 5.) Fit seats 6.) Fit Handbrake 7.) Fit cladding inside the cab 8.) Fit gauges 9.) Fit dome and Dome cover 10.) Spray with spray filler 11.) Paint locomotive Below are photos taken this week of the restoration of the Douglas Locomotive:
The building of the footplate commences	Derrick doing some rail maintenance
Rounding off the sides of the Douglas' cab plates with flat bar.
RAIL MAINTENANCE: Oupa is still busy with track maintenance on the section between Hoekfontein and Grootdraai and this action proves to be just what was needed. He found a lot of stripped nuts on the fishplates and on T-bolts and is replaced with new bolts and nuts. He will be finish with this section in mid next week and will then proceed to the section between Hoekfontein and Mooihoek. KM POSTS: The km posts were fitted to one-metre poles this week. They were stencilled and will be planted halve a km apart. The Station building in Hoekfontein will be the beginning point to measure the distances to both directions. These poles will be planted in the following week. The Station name boards were fitted to tar poles this week and will be planted in the next week.
SIGNS AND DECALS: A new Safety sign board was stencilled this week and was fitted to the “ Overhead”.
From the Past...
A Class 25Nc in the early 1980’s on the Bethlehem to Bloemfontein line with Bethlehem’s prestige locomotive 3401.
PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK:
1.) To finish both Dz wagons 2.) To go on with the restoration of the G wagon 3.) To be almost finish with the restoration of the Douglas locomotive 4.) To wash out Kalahari 5.) To wash out Fowler B5 6.) To rectify play on 153 pivot. 7.) To plant km posts 8.) To make 10 more km posts 9.) To fit floor of coal extractor. 10.) To cut plates for road sign decals 11.) To fit more signboards 12.) To plant Station Name boards 13.) To finish track maintenance on section Hoekfontein to Grootdraai 14.) To start with track maintenance on the Hoekfontein Mooihoek section. 15.) To collect Semaphore signal at Pandora and to start to restore it.

SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT

SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE REPORT: THE DOUGLAS LOCOMOTIVE: This week Derrick finished the cladding inside the cab and welded the handrails onto the Douglas cab. He also made a shovel plate and did some fine-tuning to the cowcatcher. Henry made brackets for the headlights and fitted the front and the rear headlights to the locomotive. Henk made a gauge plate and weld it inside the cab just above the tarot. He cleaned the pressure and vacuum gauge and fitted pipes to them. As soon as the paintwork inside the cab is done, the gauges will be fitted to the gauge plate. Henk made lamp brackets and welded them onto the Douglas and fitted a vacuum gooseneck and vacuum steel pipe to the rear end of the Douglas locomotive. In next week we shall build wood roof for the inside of the cab and will fit the seats for this locomotive. The side tanks will be spray with spray filler and then with 2K paint. By the end of next week, we shall have a complete new picture of this locomotive in her new livery. Below are the photos of the almost complete picture of the Douglas Locomotive.
The shovel plate in the Bunker.	The construction of the cladding.
Below: Derrick busy with the fitting of the cowcatcher and fixing the buffer beam. The new plates that were used to build the cab and coalbunker were painted with Admiral Grey paint to prevent them from rust. The original colour will be sprayed on in next week.
Below left: Henry grinding the handrails. Below right: Derrick welding the handrails to the cab.
Below: The front and rear headlights
Below Right: Derrick cutting out new side steps for the Douglas.
Below Left: The two new steps and on the right: Derrick securing them to the Locomotive.
Below Left: The building of the footplate. Below Right: Henry fitted a handbrake for the Douglas before he could finish the footplate.
Below Left: The Gauge plate just above the Tarot. Below Right: Henk fit the gooseneck and vacuum pipe
Below: Henkie bending the pipes for the gauges.	Below: The lamp brackets for the Douglas Locomotive.
THE O&K LOCOMOTIVE: The regulator was removed from the O&K locomotive this week. The regulator bolts to the side of the dome and the packing blew out the last time we steamed her. The steam pipes was removed for this operation and new gasket was fitted to the regulator joint on the dome. Below are photos of the regulator.
SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT This week we finish the restoration of three wagons, the Ratanga wagon and both DZ wagons. THE RATANGA WAGON: Henry finished with the doors of the Ratanga while Ben painted the inside and outside of this wagon. Below are photos of the Ratanga Wagon. Ben painted the handrails and the steps with yellow paint and also sprayed the bogeys with PWD brown. I can’t decide which one of the two restored Ratanga wagons are the most impressive; we need to shunt the two together in next week. The varnished wood really makes them special. THE DZ WAGONS 1405 AND 1746 Henk finished the wood floor of 1405 and both the DZ’s were spray painted this week. Below are the photos of the last two Dz wagons fully restored. G WAGON NUMBER 3210: The restoration on this wagon went on this week. The braking gears were fitted back this week and the vacuum cylinder was overhauled and was fitted back. New brake blocks were fitted and the brakes were adjusted. The handbrakes were made workable again and the under frame restoration is complete. The floor of this wagon was taken apart and were removed to. Both the doors were removed and needs replacement with new ones at Pandora. Below are photos of this very special wagon: Below: Jacob overhauling the vacuum cylinder of 3210. Below Left: Petrus sanding the wooden sides of this wagon Below Right: Jacob and Petrus battling to get the vacuum cylinder back. THE SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY TRACK MAINTENANCE: Oupa finished the section between Hoekfontein and Grootdraai this week and I used him to assist me to plant all the km posts as well as the new Station name boards. The complete Railway now have km posts halve a km apart. Below are photos of the km posts and the new Station names: A Railway with personality! A photo of the wagon-shed sign Signs and Decals This week a new Wagon Shed sign was fitted to the wagon shed. In next week we are going to make new safety notice signboards that will hang from beams of the shed roof to a height just above the locomotive windows on both sides of the shed in a neat line from the front to the rear of the shed. SEMAPHORE SIGNALS: The first two Semaphore Signals were offloaded on Friday. Both of them will undergo upgrading and will be put up in the section between Mooihoek approaching Hoekfontein Station. From the Past... This photo was taken this week when I visited Oom Lukas Nel in Bloemfontein Station. In time, taking photos of our loved ones will be of the past. They will be gone, gone forever. All over South Africa they are cutting up these Giant machines of my heart without knowing that each of them has a personality, a soul and I can hear them cry for help. They were the pride of the Railway, the pride of long gone drivers, now they are abandoned and they are falling like all the Heroes of yesterday. I met the guys who cut them up the other day in Welkom, they have no respect, no regret and even showed me a photo of 15F 3026, my regular locomotive on which I was a fireman in 1990, that they have cut up into pieces. I was so emotional, I had to leave the site before I lost control, but I will never forget. PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK: 1.) To finish the refurbishing of the Douglas Locomotive 2.) To finish the refurbishing of the two Semaphore Signals 3.) To wash out the Kalahari and Fowler B 5 and to prepare for Boiler Inspection. 4.) To do Track Maintenance on the Hoekfontein to Mooihoek section. 5.) To move trolleys and spares from Pandora (Home Signal Semaphore) 6.) To go on with the restoration of 3210. 7.) To go on with the restoration of B 2968. 8.) To make Mooihoek Station Name board 9.) To make Safety signs for the Steam Shed.

The Sandstone Heritage Trust is committed to the preservation of Southern Africa’s 2-ft narrow gauge heritage. In this regard every attempt has been made to monitor the fate of locomotives, rolling stock and other items relating to narrow gauge railways that existed in the past 150-years in Southern Africa. When the Angolan War came to an end 4-years ago the Sandstone Heritage Trust focussed on a number of narrow gauge railways in Angola. These narrow gauge railways either served big sugar plantations in bringing sugar cane to the mills or operated into the hinterland small, select feeder lines bringing crops like coffee from the mountainous regions down to the coast.

Research indicated that the Dombe Grande Sugar Mill in the southern part of the country had acquired an interesting cross-section of diminutive steam locomotives in the 1800’s. In order to investigate this matter further an expedition was mounted to visit all the narrow gauge railways, including Dombe Grande, to see what had survived the 30-year Guerrilla War that has ravaged the country from the early 1970’s.

The visit to Dombe Grande Sugar Mill, which was completely derelict, was productive. There were signs of the remains of a number of early diesel powered locomotives but no sign of any track whatsoever. Most of the buildings had been badly damaged as a result of time, vandalism and military onslaughts. However, through the help of the local people, we were led to a building that was in the process of falling down but which still had a roof over it. This building was completely overgrown with vegetation and one could have walked past it without even realising there was even a building there. Inside this building we found Bathala, the 1899 French manufactured Decauville locomotive which was built for the Dombe Grande Sugar Mill. The locomotive would have arrived late in 1899, early 1900, and been put to work straight away hauling sugar cane from the extensive lands to the steam operated sugar refinery. We have no pictures of the locomotive in use but we do know that it was withdrawn from service in 1993 and placed in a museum dedicated to the Sugar Mill. It occupied centre stage amongst agricultural portable engines and very early sugar processing machinery. Most of the other items were still in the museum and were still intact.

Sandstone Heritage Trust - Rail News RN 199 - First World War German Imperial Eagle flies again in preservation The Feldbahn is now complete and ready to move to the Sandstone Heritage Trust private railway at Sandstone Estates in the Eastern Free State. Attention to detail is once again evident from these photographs.

RN 210 - Feldbahn returns to Africa

RN 199 - First World War German Imperial Eagle flies again in preservation

RN 193 -Lest we forget, this is what the Feldbahn looked like when it arrived from the UK

RN 192 - Feldbahn locos working in Eastern Europe

RN 176 - Bloemfontein. Brigade (Feldbahn) Locomotive

RN 163 - Our Brigade (Feldbahn) restoration proceeds apace.

RN 148 - The Brigade Loco (Feldbahn) makes more steady progress

RN 132 - The Feldbahn being restored by Sandstone Bloemfontein workshops is proceeding steadily

RN 84 - Work continues on Feldbahn locomotive boiler

RN 72 - Work continues on Feldbahn locomotive