International Railroad Discussion > Zimbabwe: Thomson Junction to Lukosi

After a day off in which we moved our operation from Bulawayo to Old Hwange Town and took an afternoon Safari in Hwange National Park, we started off at Thomson Junction and took Class 15A #464 "UBHEJANE" (Black Rhino) on the old line to Hwange, which has the only tunnel on the entire rail network. We then proceeded to Lukosi.

First a few pictures from back in Bulawayo, first one is with both engines, the second is the front of UBHEJANE.

The 15A class is a 4-6-4+4-6-4 configuration, everything bigger and heavier than the last.

The third photo is at Thomson Junction at dawn doing a little shunting.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/17 17:16 by Harlock.

---

---

---

The backhead. No aesthetic consideration for tube bending at this point, we are just glad it is still functional.

As I rode in the cab for a while I noticed something strange and a newspaper headline began running in front of my eyes. "Rail photographer dies in boiler explosion."

I could not see where the water was in the glass. I pointed and said "Where's the water?" It turns out that the water was kept at the top of the glass as a matter of routine. The brown sludge in the glass was the water.

Separately, Our tour organizer Bernd had complained that none of the cylinder cocks were operational and were permanently open. They had told him that they had too many water hammer blowouts so they just left them open all the time.

Now if you put two and two together, my guess is that by running at the top of the glass, they increased their chances of carryover and that's why they hammered so many cylinders. Or the engineeers simply forgot about when and how to operate the cylinder cocks.

Our crew was very hardworking and put in long days along with us. Some snapshots. The fireman is Zivanayi Chiriga “Dreadman” and the boiler attendant in the window is "Crocodile" Thanisani Ngwenya.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/17 17:18 by Harlock.

---

---

---

1: a very glinty tender shot.
2: exiting the tunnel late morning.
3: Etched Rhodesian Railways logo in our passenger carriage.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

---

---

---

#1: a view at Thomson Junction with a coal breaker on the top. Reminds me of the B-Class locomotives in India.

2: en route to Lukosi, a nice overview of the unending Savannah, which the Brits referred to as "MBA" (Miles and miles of bloody Africa).

3: A view with a Baobab tree, giving it a good sense of place.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

---

---

---

Our day ended with a splendid sunset shot at the Lukosi River Bridge. Jake Birkinshaw and I dashed down to the bottom of the ravine from a large fill to grab the silhouette shot, dodging baboons and some elephants I think we gave a scare to.

Just up the track is the actual Lukosi stop, which is a coal mine yard. We suffered some airbrake problems and ended up not returning till later in the evening, but the view of the southern sky was splendid and the weather cool.

Thanks for looking, I'll post another few days' entries tomorrow.

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/17 15:45 by Harlock.

---

Awesome way to finish a memorable day!

Our day ended with a splendid sunset shot at the Lukosi River Bridge.

I'll say!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/17 17:45 by cozephyr.

Looks like they finally closed the cocks in the last pictures. I sure don't like the idea of brown water in the water glass. Boiler would have to have a lot of mud in it. Hope they blew it down a lot.

Why didn't I go on this? :( Last time there was 2001. I had wrongly concluded going back now wouldn't be worth it. Based on your excellent photos, guess I was wrong even though Bulawayo is a shadow of it's former self.

Many thanks for all the photos. I worked at Hwange during the 1980s and steam was still going strong. I returned a few years ago and was horrified at the decline! Full marks to the NZR staff who keep the locos going today, not an easy task considering the currency situation. When I worked at Hwange power station, spares were difficult to obtain and corruption at all levels was rife and didn't help matters. Here's Bulawayo in 1986. Chris uk

---

Wow, thanks for the amazing 1986 picture from Bulawayo. A very stark constrat.

Would love to see more sometime.

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Thanks for posting these photos.

55002 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Many thanks for all the photos. I worked at Hwange
> during the 1980s and steam was still going strong.
> I returned a few years ago and was horrified at
> the decline! Full marks to the NZR staff who keep
> the locos going today, not an easy task
> considering the currency situation. When I worked
> at Hwange power station, spares were difficult to
> obtain and corruption at all levels was rife and
> didn't help matters. Here's Bulawayo in 1986.
> Chris uk


Also, the two locos in front in your photo are two that we used! The 525 in my photos is actually the 519 with 525's plates on it.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Fascinating photos, and thanks for including the photos of the crews. One would imagine it isn't easy to keep things working. Thinking of that, I have Cuba pictures I need to post...

The pictures of the crew are the icing on a very tasty cake. Thanks.

PS: the boiler attendant appears to be a Gooner.