Some new drawings and information.
The Transnet Library with kind assistance from Yolanda Meyer has been extremely helpful to Sandstone over the years we have been restoring locos. They recently assisted us with some drawings of the 91 Class and a short article on the units by Leith Paxton originally published in SA Rail in 2000.
With the number plates fitted, number 52 is almost complete but work is still required to rectify some excessive side play and misalignment of the connecting rods close to the piston heads. Both steam brake cylinders for number 52 have been sent out for a total overhaul and once all these items are returned the locomotive will be complete. This is expected towards the end of January 2017 when number 52 will transported to Sandstone for final steam testing and certification. Number 52 will undergo a number of load trials at Sandstone prior to the Stars event in April 2017.
Although much effort is concentrated on completing NGG11 number 52, the Bloemfontein team under Lukas Nel has been hard at work with the NG10 locomotive. Almost 200 boiler tubes have been prepared and swaged prior to delivery to Keith Steven’s KZN workshop where the boiler is undergoing major repairs. The pictures show the tube ends after swaging and the tubes being worked on in the swaging machine.
A complete tender tank has been fabricated and work will soon begin on the tender frames and the locomotive frames once the NGG11 has been despatched to Sandstone for commissioning.
Our pictures from Lukas Nel show the completed tender tank with full length side rails as per the original design, the tender frames and bogies and the locomotive frames.
Last week we again had our annual Cherry Festival event and have used two class NGG 16”s numbers 153 and 88 To haul the Cherry Express trains over the entire Railway line of the Sandstone Steam Railway.
NGG11 No 52 is now undergoing its final painting. There is still some mechanical work to be done but everything is on target for a final steam test by December.
The tender tank is nearly complete and has been built in the original style as it left the Baldwin Works in Pennsylvania in 1915. This was possible using the original drawings kindly supplied by the Transnet Library. The original tool boxes on the tender have also been recreated by Lukas Nel and his team. Our black and white picture, courtesy of Leith Paxton, is the original Baldwin Works portrait showing the style of the tender.
The past week we have attended to the cosmetic upgrading of the Sandstone Estates Class 91 Diesel Locomotive. Minor repairs are being done to have her back in Spoornet livery for now.
Wolfgang Schumacher and Joachim Smit visited Stars of Sandstone in 2015 and produced this programme for German TV.
Click here to see the programme.
Sandstone Estates own Class 91 Diesel Locomotive was delivered by Transcor this week.
Arachnophobia is not for the faint hearted!
91 010 is now being cleaned having been moved to the loco depot at Sandstone and it appears it has half the spider population of Port Elizabeth inside it. Gert Jubileus and his team are now cleaning the loco in time for its inspection by the Sandstone diesel fitter next week. Lukas Nel reports that the passenger steam heating vans from Port Elizabeth which were serviced at Bloemfontein often contained hordes of spiders of a particularly aggressive nature. Take care Gert and team!
91 010 is now on Sandstone’s rails having been unloaded late evening on October 31st. Our pictures show it approaching the farm, preparation for unloading and on Sandstone’s rails.
Lukas Nel and his team at Bloemfontein have completed a new tender tank for Class NG10 number 61. The boiler for the locomotive is also under repair with new tubes having been obtained.
Sandstone’s newly acquired 91 class diesel electric locomotive, 91 010, has been collected from Swartkops Diesel Depot in Port Elizabeth where it was in use as the depot shunter having been fitted with “Bigfoot” 3’6” bogies in 2012. Now surplus to requirements it is heading for a new life at Sandstone. The original 2ft bogies were obtained with the locomotive. A quite complex operation was required to access the depot due to the 25Kv overhead wires for the adjacent electric depot. The 2ft bogies were first placed on the lowbed transporter and then the 3’6” bogies were disconnected and the loco lifted off them and placed on the new bogies in place on the lowbed trailer. Safely secured the loco has begun the 1000km journey to its new home.
At Sandstone 91 010 will be examined for some minor repairs required and then fully serviced before its first run in the Eastern Free State.
The Fouriesburg Country Tours have booked 2 trains, one on Thursday and the next one this coming Thursday. We use our Hunslet Diesel Locomotive to haul the train to Grootdraai and back.
Two weeks ago we had the 702 Radio Station with us on a short train to Grootdraai. We have steamed our special Class NG 6 number 106 for this day and was accompanied by one of our VIP’s Mr.Myers on this trip.