Sandstone featured on Kwela Programme
DSTV recently featured Sandstone in their Kwela programme on Kyknet Channel 144. On the 30th December 2015 at 20:00 Sandstone will once more be featured in their 2015 round up of most popular inserts. The programme will be repeated on the following days. Be sure not to miss it!
Thursday 14:30
Friday 10:00
Saturday 18:00
Sunday 13:00
Monday 08:30
http://kyknet.dstv.com/2016/01/12/kwela-sandstone-estate/
Sandstone Steam Railway Week Report
We have inaugurated a new report on our Narrow Gauge running shop activities. The first report by Gert Jubileus appears below.
Tuesday 17th November saw the Cape Explorer Steam Safari pass Sandstone Estates on the last day of their tour on the Bloemfontein to Bethlehem line. With no water facilities on the line, Sandstone installed a water pump at the Vailima Dam to pump water into the tender of 15F 3046 and the three water tankers on the train. The train stopped next to the dam and while the train guests departed for a tour of Sandstone and its collection the water was fully replenished for the last leg of the journey to Bethlehem and then back to Johannesburg. The pictures show the train arriving at the dam, the 400 metre pipe from the dam to the locomotive and the sturdy Lister diesel engined pump.
The annual Cherry Festival takes place in Ficksburg from Thursday 19th November to Saturday 21st November 2015 and Sandstone will be offering steam train rides and walking tours of the Sandstone collection of steam locomotives, vintage tractors, military vehicles, classic cars and trucks and traction engines over the three days of the festival.
Please note, booking is essential!
Sandstone’s NG 4 locomotive built in 1913 will be in action at the Cherry Festival
Sandstone’s ex Rhodesia and now Zimbabwe Railways DE2 diesel electric No. 1207 is being considered for restoration over the next 12 months. Originally acquired from a scrap dealer in Mutare in 1998, No. 1207 was withdrawn from service in April 1992 in Bulawayo where the loco served as the loco works shunter and carried an additional number, 3517, until finally being set aside in December 1995. The locomotive had covered 2,506,938 miles in service up until withdrawal.
Although not the first class of diesel on RR, the DE2 type was the first large main line diesel locomotive in Southern Africa, with the first example entering service in 1955. The first main line diesel in South Africa only entered service in 1958. In total 35 examples of the DE2 were built between 1955 and 1958.
The DE2’s were built by English Electric at the Dick Kerr works in Preston, UK, and RR remained faithful to English builders for a long time until UDI, whereas South Africa took the US based GE and GM route.
DE2 production at the Dick Kerr Works in Preston in 1955. An SAR 5E electric can be seen in the centre
Although Sandstone is well known for its locomotive restorations, the workshop at Hoekfontein has produced a number of coaches converted from goods wagons to the style originally used at the now defunct Ratanga Junction in Cape Town. A recent restoration of a V16 type guards van (No. 3181) has been completed but with the goods storage area towards the front of the van has been converted to a “Ratanga” style passenger compartment and the original guards area repanelled in the same style. The guards area has been retained internally. No. 3181 will be a unique vehicle on the Sandstone system.
The modified V16 ready for service
Sandstone was featured recently on a programme called Kwela which appears on Channel 144, Kyknet, in South Africa. Although it's in Afrikaans subtitles do appear so everyone can enjoy the feature.
Wheat Crop Progress Report
This is the third report on the progress of the wheat crop since planting.
Firstly we have had 21mm rain on average on the farm since we planted the wheat and even though the recent rains are a blessing we are not out of the woods yet.
The rains have a double effect when planting late as we did. Firstly, while it will boost the growth of the wheat plants, it also causes weeds to germinate – for example ‘wild oats’, ‘soet gras’ and broad leaf weeds.
In a ‘conventional’ or ‘normal’ wheat planting season the wheat would have canopied (covered the soil so as to speak) and with no or very little sunlight reaching the soil, the weeds would not germinate as easily as in our case.
Trying to take the best possible advantage of late or abnormal rains has its pros and cons – pro being that later rains would come at a time when ears are filling and would boost our yield, cons being that the wheat has not canopied and thus the sun reaches the soil and the weeds germinate.
However, as we have seen in the past when we planted in excess of 2000 hectares of wheat we still spray for broad leaf weeds and grasses, so it is not uncommon.
This report will demonstrate how far the wheat has come in the last 20 day (since my previous report) and shows some signs of the weeds that we will have to spray for in a week or two’s time.
Firstly we look at the first cultivar planted, the all rounder ‘elands’.
