Many years ago a wonderful retired farmer Jannie du Toit from the Western Cape gifted his collection to the Sandstone Heritage Trust. Sandstone already had a reasonable cross section of International Harvester products and so we decided to consolidate all International Harvester products into one facility. A special building was designated for the purpose and today it houses a wide variety of International Harvester products. These include tractors going back as far as the Mogul, the first tractor produced by International Harvester. The tractor range is considerable and is representative of probably 90% of the tractor types made by this company. It is complimented by a wide variety of implements including balers, reapers, mowers, etc., in additional we have an International Harvester service truck which came from a genuine International Harvester dealer in Natal. We compliment this with a grader. All in all it does provide a very excellent representation of the products supplied by this wonderful company.
We produce so much publicity material at Sandstone that we sometimes tend to forget what is in our archives. Some years ago we produced this introductory video on our Sherman which also includes archive footage of World War 2 etc. It was designed to be informative and will provide most people with an understanding of the importance of the Sherman.
The spectacular closing scene is the demolition of a house that we no longer required at Sandstone Estates in the Eastern Free State.
The UK magazine, Tractor and Farming Heritage, has run two articles on Sandstone using classic tractors in an everyday environment.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 from the August 2021 and September 2021 editions.
Sadly we heard the news that the driving force behind the Apple Express and Editor of SA Rail magazine passed way. Wilfred Mole, from Sandstone Estates, posted this tribute, via her husband Hilton, to Nerina.
Dear Hilton,
I am currently in the UK but I received a message to say that Nerina had passed away.
Although I have not seen her for many years, I of course dealt with her over an extensive period probably 10-years ago or more.
She was definitely a champion of the Narrow Gauge and was very committed to her cause.
Lyndie and I would like to extend our condolences to yourself and the family on her passing. I feel that she was taken from you early because I thought she was always a very youthful and vibrant person.
She will be sorely missed, not the least of all by the Narrow Gauge Railway which she did so much to keep alive.
Yours sincerely,
Wilfred E. Mole
Sandstone Estates (Pty) Ltd
This recently acquired item was subject to a search by the Dennis Society in the UK and we thank Tim Stubbs for his efforts. The details of the pump were provided by Laurence Spring at the Surrey Heritage Centre in the UK who hold all the records of Dennis who were based in Guildford in Surrey in the UK. The company, famous for its fire engines, closed in 2007.