One of our directors went on a 4 hour walk around the farm the other day, in the evening, and took these photographs which will give people who have never been to Sandstone some idea of the topography through which the railway line runs.
Wondering what Stars of Sandstone 2019 will be like? Take a look at the example videos below.
Watch a flight over Sandstone
Sandstone's Kalahari Locomotive video
The Sandstone Heritage Trust in the Eastern Free State enjoys an excellent formal working relationship with the SA Armour Museum in Bloemfontein regarding the saving, restoring and displaying of classic military vehicles, which reflect South Africa’s long military history. Items in the collection go as far back as the Anglo-Boer War.
Sandstone will be holding a special Public Day in association with the Armour Museum at Bloemfontein during Stars of Sandstone this year.
Click here to view the flyer - PDF
Sandstone is involved in quite a number of charitable initiatives. Here is one which involves the Stars of Sandstone - in this case we used it as a contribution to a very worthy fundraising operation. See www.jhbchildwelfare.org.za.
Below is a letter we received from Jo'burg Child Welfare:
In line with our commitment to our staff and in keeping with our philosophy of remaining traditional we are building a sandstone house for one of our senior personnel at Sekonyela. This will be in the classic sandstone Eastern Free State style.
Len Huxham, our trusty building contractor with many years' experience, is making good headway.
The first of two productions from Stars 2014 is now available on the market. This double-disk set including a video DVD and a photo DVD is available to buy for R240 / £15.00. A Blu-ray set is available for R260 / £16.00.
Sandstone Estates shares joy doing something good for the community.
On Friday 8th August 2014 Kindi Pre-Primary School visited Sandstone Estates for a train ride and picnic. 36 very excited children aged 5-6 arrived on Sandstone Estates at 8:30am, gathering round old steam train Garratt nr. 153 which was carrying 2 open Ratanga wagons, 2 closed passenger coaches and the guards van. They had a quick lesson on the Garratt from Mrs Barrett, teacher and principal, who explained to them how the locomotive works and steams before the children were split up into groups (each group with an adult to supervise). The train left for Grootdraai and you could hear the children screaming and singing with excitement. As the train stopped at Grootdraai, the kids ran around, some dancing and shouting “this is the best day of my life”. After 10 minutes the train went back to Hoekfontein Station.
Following this they all sat down for their picnic. Sandstone handed them each a packet of chips and they enjoyed their sandwiches and a cold drink, also celebrating a little boy’s sixth birthday. After eating birthday cake the children stepped forward and thanked Sandstone Estates for the wonderful train trip. They broke up into groups, each group singing a song to the Sandstone staff at the Waenhuis.
After a walk through the Steam sheds, they lined up for a lollipop and with hugs they left Sandstone to go back to school.
One of our regular visitors to Sandstone has aerial surveillance capability and he took these photographs for us.
For those who have never been to Sandstone it provides an interesting view of the main complex.
