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South African Narrow Gauge Tour 2009

Report

South Africa has three two foot gauge railways. They are delightfully different, but when grouped together create a special, possibly unique, narrow
gauge experience. In May, 2009, Geoff’s Trains included all three in their South African Narrow Gauge tour.

The 2009 tour started at midday at Johannesburg
Airport on 02 May, but some of the group had arrived
early to ride from Pretoria to Cullinan behind the
Friends of the Rail’s newly restored Class 15F. Our
coach met the train at Cullinan before swinging past
the airport to collect the rest of the tour participants.

Reefsteamers were not about to be left out of this,
the only international tour to visit South Africa this
year. Although most of their supporters were either
on a special train to Magaliesburg or at Sandstone
waiting for us the next day, they organised a warm
welcome and lunch at their depot before we drove to
Ficksburg for the night.

Both Friends of the Rail and Reefsteamers were
disappointed by the recent cancellation of the only
Cape Gauge tour of the year. They were ready to
perform and the last minute withdrawal left them
frustrated and financially prejudiced. We sat around
a table and can confidently announce that we plan to
run a Cape Gauge tour in 2010 that will not be
cancelled – that is, of course, providing adequate
bookings are received. More of that later.

Our first Narrow Gauge visit was to the Sandstone
Steam Railroad. As in previous years we spent three
days there, allowing for three morning sessions and
two in the afternoon. Different locomotives were
turned out for each session, resulting in eight
different locomotives from seven different classes.
The first morning saw NGG13 and NGG16 Garratts
performing with a lengthy freight train. Double head,
banking and single Garratts filled the viewfinder for
the morning, occasionally accompanied by Wilf Mole
driving a Sherman Tank.

The afternoon session featured NG15 number 17.
Clouds built up during the day, challenging the
photographers at run-pasts as we waited for the sun
to appear. In the end good photographs were taken
of this locomotive that seems to fit so well into the
Sandstone landscape. Wilf Mole, covered in red dust
from his tank experience, appeared again – this time
driving a vintage tractor. It was good to see Wilf, who
has done so much to further South Africa
preservation, having so much fun.

The second morning session saw two NG6 Lawleys
producing fine silhouettes in a rather grey dawn. The
clouds dispersed through the morning and we were
treated to some good performances that included
photographs at a newly erected water tank where a
span of oxen and a vintage wagon added colour to
the scene. This afternoon NG4 number 16 was
centre stage. A regulator problem reduced her
efficiency, and we watched the sun set as she split
her load to climb the bank near the school.

With cloud chasing us for the past two days, we
were pleased to see a clearer dawn on the third
morning. The Barclay and Hunslet Tanks performed
the silhouette sunrise shots, but then the clouds
closed in and good photography was limited. The
rest of the morning was spent riding the train to
Grootvlei and back and photographing some
industrial action around the farm silos. The last trip
to Groodvlei arrived back in the rain and made
history by driving straight into the locomotive depot,
coaches and all, so that the passengers could alight
for the farewell speeches in the dry. For one train
only, Sandstone boasted a fully roofed terminal
station.

The Sandstone trains were operated by two
Sandstone employees and a team from
Reefsteamers. They were an exceptionally
professional group and we look forward to working
with them again next year.

Our next visit was to Creighton in Natal. This Cape
Gauge service is supported by the local council who
have confirmed their commitment to rail by building
an impressive office block on the Creighton station
platform. Operated by the Paton’s Country Railway
team, 19th Class number 2669 took us to Riverside
in the morning, and to Donnybrook in the afternoon.
Always industrious, Julian Pereira dominated the
footplate as fireman and occasional driver in both
the morning and afternoon, and still found time to
cook a lunchtime barbecue for the group. For much
of the time he could be found with a mobile phone to
his ear running his computer business. Julian is a
human steam turbine, a great character and an
asset to steam preservation. We were still plagued
by clouds, but some good photographs were made
in the morning, and later in the afternoon once we
reached the well known horseshoe curve near
Donnybrook.

Our day with Paton Country’s NGG11 was not
without incident. We started out in fine style, fitting in
a number of good runpasts en-route to Ncalu. A
memorable sight was the three assistants
employed by Julien to clear grass and bushes for
photography. They attacked the landscape with great
relish and a petrol driven strimmer, clearing runpast
locations in astonishing haste. Our return to Ixopo
was disturbed when the locomotive’s leading wheel
derailed at the main road level crossing. We
returned to Woodburn Station by road for lunch, soon
to be joined by the NGG11 ready for our second run
of the day to Stainton and back.

Our second morning on the Patons Country Railway
saw Avonside tank UVE 2 working through the sugar
cane fields. Once more we waited for the sun, finally
rewarded with views across the Umzimkuku Valley.
The rest of that day was spent driving to East
London where we spent the night.

We drove from East London to Port Elizabeth,
stopping at Port Alfred for refreshments and to
inspect the station and now defunct railcar service,
operated with equipment that would have made
Heath Robinson proud. Our last stop before the
hotel was the Humewood Road Depot. This is an
impressive facility that was built to manage 20
diesel locomotives. Of these two have been
damaged, one is re-gauged to shunt on the Cape
Gauge and four are in service. The rest of the fleet
stood around, creating interesting photographs and
a rather poor return on investment.

The Port Elizabeth based Apple Express was unable
to offer steam for the trip up the Gamtoos and
Langkloof valleys in 2008. The tour used Class 91
diesel – electric number 91-007 instead. We
promised to return in 2009, and Apple Express
promised to have steam waiting for us. Both
promises were fulfilled when we headed out of
Humewood Road Station behind NG15 number 119
on 09 May.

The first of our three days on the Avontuur Line
started well, if a little late, with NG15 number 119
heading our lengthy train out of the old Humewood
Road Station. We soon came to a halt as damp
rails, steep gradients and a heavy load took their toll.
We ran backwards and forwards past an old
cemetery countless times, each time getting a little
further up the grade until number 119 topped the
bank and we were on our way to lunch at Lourie. Our
overnight stop was at Patensie, at the end of the
officially abandoned branch. There was speculation
whether we would be the last train over this line – I
hope not.

Our second day saw a repeat battle with damp and
overgrown rails as we climbed out of Patensie, this
time past the local gaol with inmates waving hands
and feet through heavily barred windows and
shouting ‘welcome to Patensie’. More animated than
yesterday’s graveyard, but we were all relieved when
we eventually found level track and rolled on to
Gamtoos Junction. The train reached
Assegaaibosch soon after dark. Late departures
and slow running had bitten deep into the time
available for runpasts, and we all looked forward to
the third day, when we would take a goods train with
a burgundy painted van on a photographic special to
Humansdorp. This proved that there are a number of
excellent photographic locations on the line and in
future we will operate a more relaxed timetable,
giving a better chance to enjoy them.

The Apple Express team should be proud of their
achievements. They have shown perseverance and
determination as they refurbished their NG15. The
locomotive did what was asked of it, running for
three days without major fault. We got as far as we
could up the line and then enjoyed a photo special.
Hats off to everyone involved.

The tour ended at George the following morning, but
over half of the group chose to stay on an extra day to
join a Powervan charter. In the morning we travelled
from George to Voorbaai depot at Mossel Bay, and in
the afternoon we rode up the Montague Pass. Lunch
was in the restaurant at Groot Brak Rivier, and diner
was at the Stimela Restaurant in the Outeniqua
Transport Museum. A memorable day before we
headed home.

15F # 3117 at Capital Park

Reefsteamers clubhouse at Germiston

NGG16 # 153 waits whilst NGG13 # 49 steams
ahead at Grootdraai. Sandstone.

NGG13 # 49 at Grootdraai.

NGG13 # 49 and NGG16 # 153 double headed.

NG15 # 17.

NG15 # 17 at Mooihoek Tank.

NG6 # 97.

NG6 # 97 and NG6 # 106 at Mooihoek Tank.

NG4 # 16 at sunset.

Barclay and Hunslet tanks at sunrise.

19th Class #2669 makes and early morning
departure from Creighton.

19th Class #2669 in the gorge en route to Riverside.

19th Class #2669 near Donneybrook.

NGG11 # 55 en route to Stainton.

19th Class #2669 in the gorge en route to Riverside.

NGG11 # 55 at Stainton.

UVE 2 near Ncalu.

Port Alfred.

NG15 # 119 leaving Humewood Road Statiom.

NG15 # 119.

NG15 # 119 in the Gamtoos Valley.

NG15 # 119 at Hankey.

NG15 # 119 arriving at Gamtoos Station.

NG15 # 119 on the goods train bound for
Humansdorp.

NG15 # 119.

NG15 # 119 on the goods train bound for
Humansdorp.

Powervan at Power on the Montague Pass.

See more photographs
from this tour
Click here

To see the entries for the
tour photographic
competition
Click here

For a report on Sandstone,
written by Michael
Bleckman and published in
the August 2009 issue of
Lok Report (German
language magazine)
Click Here