Prestigious visit to Sandstone Estates by German Museum officials
Mr. Ruediger Fach and Mr. Klaus Rohrwild, a member of Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum and chief of the Nuernberg Feldbahnmuseum, recently visited Sandstone Estates. They specifically asked that the diminutive French manufactured Decauville from 1899 be steamed for the occasion. This loco originated from the Dombe Grande Sugar Mill in Southern Angola.
A rare O&K locomotive also from Angola, which is 500-cm gauge (and therefore not useable on our 600-cm gauge railway) was restored and then sold to the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum. It will be shipped later this month.
Ruediger sent us the following e-mail:
"We just came back a few hours ago - tired but happy. Everything is perfect in Bloemfontein. Lucas did a great job and we are totally satisfied with the loco.
I must say SA is a great and beautiful country with nice people. I have never been guided so friendly like Hester at Sandstone did. She is am real gem, like your railway is. Sure it is the most ambitious and most interesting museum railway worldwide. We still cannot believe what we saw at Sandstone and all the collections of tractors, military equipment, steam machinery, and all the immaculate locos – congratulations! I will come back to the place.
- Really good meal
- impressive line
- Decauville working perfect
- All of the green nice garden
- Scenery landscape around
- Super clean and well maintained farm area
- Motivated loco drivers."
Ruediger also sent us the following photographs.
Although in reality we receive very few visits from interested parties we are always gratified to deliver on our promise of providing a good day out on the railway.
To Ruediger and Klaus, thank you for coming.
Ruediger Fach has kindly sent us copies of two articles on the O&K recently published in German Rail magazines.
Click here to view the article - 2.9MB PDF (opens in new window)
Click here to view the article - 1.8MB PDF (opens in new window)
Click here to view the article - 2MB PDF (opens in new window)