Although the global Covid 19 pandemic has slowed down international travel considerably, Steam Railway magazine in the UK has taken a proactive approach for when life returns to some form of normality, albeit probably different from what we all remember. Steam Railway has begun a series entitled “Bucket List” featuring venues around the world for rail enthusiasts to visit. The Sandstone Steam Railway is one of the first to be featured in the series and the latest edition of Steam Railway (number 522) published today, August 20th, carries the attached article. Compiled and written by Geoff Cooke, who is the international agent for Sandstone, the article will see potential visitors queueing up to head to South Africa as soon as we can open the doors. Click for PDF - Enjoy the read!
As Sandstone is not actively involved with 3’6” gauge operations it has been decided to move our 3’6” assets off Transnet property at the old Bloemfontein steam loco depot and relocate them to Sandstone Estates at Ficksburg. The first locomotive to be moved is the rather forgotten “other” GMAM, number 4114. This locomotive was purchased from Randfontein Estates Gold Mine at the same time as number 4079 “Lyndie Lou” which saw a great deal of main line use up to a few years ago.
4114 had been cared for by Lukas Nel before he retired in April 2019 and was moved on August 19, 2021, from its parking space next to the old loco shed in Bloemfontein Depot for loading on road transport to Ficksburg. It is believed that this is the largest locomotive ever moved by road in South Africa and unusually the GMAM has not been split into its component parts. Some clever logistics by Mercor Transport and Munro Transport has enabled the loco to be placed on a massive multi axle trailer in one piece. Avoiding the use of heavy and expensive cranes was key and by utilising a second gooseneck lowbed trailer as a loading ramp, 4114 was safely loaded on to the multi axle trailer without damage to any of the pivots which is always a risk when moving Garratt locomotives. 4114 weighs 160 tons devoid of coal and water and is just under 29 metres long.
There are other locomotives to be moved from Bloemfontein over the next few weeks and we will update the web site as this happens. Already there are some wonderful stories emerging about these later moves as some railway lines seem to have disappeared leaving the assets trapped. However, work is ongoing with a road construction gang to build a “highway” to their parking spot so they can be safely loaded. We must also say thank you to Transnet for their excellent cooperation and assistance at Bloemfontein Depot and at Transnet Head Office in Johannesburg for making the operation totally straightforward.
GMAM 4114 makes its first move since 2001
The expansion of our cattle herd over the last few years represents our ethos that our oxen lie at the heart of our preservation capabilities in terms of rare breeds. Maintaining teams of trained oxen has been a learning experience but has proved fulfilling and given us a unique attraction to showcase Sandstone both locally and to the world. Enjoy the short video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVyhaKqLaxc
The Sandstone Steam Railway is well served by access roads which enable photographers to get to many varied locations. Of course very often those on the road become subjects of photography from the train. In this short video clip from Stars of Sandstone 2019, with the train running alongside the airfield, we see Peter George and Susan Hesketh in their 1928 Chevrolet Coupe which they brought from Swaziland for the event. The next sequence is UK visitor, Gordon Fry, trundling along in Sandstone’s 1947 MG TC. Amazing views from a train!
In January this year we published a list of our Stationary Engine Collection, see: The_Stationary_Engine_Collection.pdf (sandstone-estates.com)
Our pride and joy is the National Engine from 1935.