Steam & Excursion > South Africa Steam 3

Here is the final installment of South African Steam. Sadly, all were taken on photo charters...I was a bit too late for the real thing.  First: 19D No. 2749 with GMAM No. 4122 on a Union Limited tour in September 1998 near Riverside on the Garden Route. Second: 19D No. 2698 on a Derrick Phillips Steam and Safaris tour near Snyberg, May, 2003.  Third: Privately owned Reef steamers 12AR No. 1535 and 15F No. 3016 storm out of Roves Rail's Capital Park headquarters on the July, 2001 tour to Victoria Falls. 

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More: The famous Class 26 "Red Devil" is seen near Ashton in May, 2002. This was the last appearance of the loco for many years as it sat lifeless at Cape Town with some vandalism for many years. It has been recently restored to operation and is scheduled to make it's first charter appearance on Far Rail's upcoming June tour. I know one participant in particular who is flying down from Netherlands for just one day of the tour to see this loco in action (hopefully).  Second: A woman and her baby watch as GF No. 2380 works its way around a curve at Mijla in Natal on a 2006 David Rodgers tour. The rest of the group had set up a photo line in a nearby field. But once I saw the woman watching the train, I asked if I could come in her yard and put her in the photo. On the second runpast she had about 40 others in her yard. We passed the hat and she probably made more money in one day than she would in a month. Third: GMAM No. 4704 at Albert Falls on the same 2006 tour. Our Spoornet pilot had failed to show up that morning so we were stuck running just a short section of line at the station. The result was probably one of the best shots of the day. 

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More: GMAM No. 4128 and GEA No. 4023 cross the Malgaaten Bridge on the Garden Route on the 2003 Steam and Safaris tour. Second: As promised for Greg Scholl, here is Class 25 No. 3472 near Sterkfontein on the Bethlehem-Bloemfontein line. This is located adjacent to the Sandstone Estates farm featured in yesterday's post. Last: Back to the narrow gauge. School was let out for the morning to watch NG 15 No. 17 on the Advontuur Adventuer Tour that cover the entire line from Port Elizabeth to Avountuur in September, 2015. Here the train is leaving Pantensie on a branch of the main line. This line has been closed on and off for many years and we were the first train then and since to cover it's entire length. The Apple Express tourist train once ran a shorter distance on the eastern end of the line out of Port Elizabeth. There have been many attempts to re start service. Most have failed.

Excepting Sandstone, almost everything in this SA series cannot be repeated. The South African Government gradually began banning steam in the early 2000's. First at night. Later on any main line track. The Union Limited was taken out of service in 2004. Most of the National Heritage Collection of steam locomotives were stored and many scrapped. I'll let readers draw their own conclusions as to the political reasons why this was done by the current ANC Government. 

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It is such a shame that this country too is ruined...    I was there 3 times for steam.  You could have a decent meal for 6.00, sleep in the car safely, anywhere, drive overnight if you had to, or,  get a good room for 10.00. Now, all of that is gone and changed....including not even much preserved steam.  Most were cut up.  I remember the Bloemfontein engine depot. Ten tracks across, and ten engines deep...all steam. Smoke so thick, that if you were down wind of the pack, you couldn’t see them clearly enough to photograph. And the SMELL of steam!   Just wonderful.       And how far we go today, for a single locomotive all tarted up with flags, chrome, signs and tin pie plates on the smoke box.  Yes, the old South Africa with charging double headed 4-8-4’s, while chasing on a paralleling dirt road at 50mph,  was pure paradise.   (I’ll save my political comments and thoughts for another web site.)

The new government considered steam locomotives, rich white men’s toys.  And that is the truth.

I didn't want to start a flame war but my South African friends would totally concur with your statement. Two of them live in a nice middle class Cape Town neighborhood and are forced to have not only a security system, but bars on the windows. That said, steam locomotives were cut up all over the world. It just happened in SA much later. Look at China. How many QJ's remain? Only two that I'm aware of were kept by the JiTong Railway. The difference is that in SA, many steam locomotives of various classes were kept for preservation and operation....and did so successfully for many years after steam ended. But  it was partly political reasons that they were scrapped.  What the government is missing is the tremendous tourism value these locomotives brought. We spent many thousands of dollars in the country, not just on the tours, but on hotels (which have become expensive), transport including flying down on SAA, and meals....including in many cases, lots of beer.  Things seem now to be improving a bit. Steam has run from Cape Town to Simonstown until the line was blocked. There is a group running tourist steam up Michell's Pass. But just as you think things are getting better, some idiots steal ties in the middle of the night on the Cullen Branch resulting in a locomotive's derailment with a loaded train of happy passengers. Fortunately no one  was killed but they easly could have been. That loco still hasn't been repaired. On our last tour, we were stuck for hours while using electric traction as the wires had been stolen during the night. Who does that? And how can it be done without being electricuted? There must be a way.

Bruce, I enjoyed the SA stuff.  I never got to see the NG, as we were always busy with the regular 3 ft 6 inch (Standard Gauge to them) steam.  I did see one or two NG engines at the Port Elizabeth Shed.  Your second scene with the sunrise or sunset is lovely, and the kind of thing one could get routinely in the steam era.  The nice thing about photo charters is things can be staged to your hearts content.  The lady with the baby is classic South Africa, and with the rondevol houses.  One place I shot locals was at the top of the grade from Fouriesburg at Sheridan.  The engines really worked hard on that whole segment.  Your shot of the 25NC  was at Seykonyela, which is on the Bethlehem side of Ficksburg(Thats the big table rock).  We shot there a few times in 1984.  Fond memories of that line.  We had some extra days left on our trip, and decided to revist the line for a second time for 2-3 days near the end of the trip.  Yes, it was sad to see they scrap dozens of 25NC(4-8-4's) as late as 2006.  I re-edited my South Africa tapes in 2009 and discovered the info on all the scrappings.  Really bad in that late in the game(only 13 years ago).
  You guys are right, in that it was a steam and photographers paradise.  Lots of hard working, American looking steam, and if you went in the summer(Their Winter), you were blessed with mild-cold temps and blue sky most days.  The two trips I made(1977, and 1984), were the best foreign steam I ever saw, and in reality the best regular service steam I could appreciate since I only saw stuff in the states as a youth.
Thanks for the pics Mr. A.
Greg

Wow, and I missed all of this.......

andersonb109 Wrote:
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 On our last
> tour, we were stuck for hours while using electric
> traction as the wires had been stolen during the
> night. Who does that? And how can it be done
> without being electricuted? There must be a way.

It happened here in the U.S., on the YVT but, in their case, the power is off when not operating.

Happens all the time all around the world. Shanty towns are famous for it.
Have personally seen it in Central and South America, South Asia and the Middle East.

#2 with the engine silouette against the sun (sunrise? sunset?) is absolutely outstanding.

I like Pic 3!!