2ft Narrow Gauge

Construction at Sandstone is moving ahead of the new line designed primarily for our younger visitors (although our adult visitors will love it too!) that runs from the grain silos and along by the loco workshop to a large loop around the dam in the south east of the Sandstone complex. After last year’s drought, Sandstone has been experiencing exceptionally heavy rain which has slowed progress but the line is till on target for a grand opening at the Stars of Sandstone 2017 event at the end of March. The line is to be named Seb’s Railway after the grandson of one of Sandstone’s directors. The map below shows the layout of the new line and ongoing progress can be followed in the weekly steam reports via the regular links published on this page

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Sandstone’s 91 Class diesel moved under its own power after many years of standing idle and did some test runs in the loco shed yard. After the fitment of 32 new batteries and some close attention by Pieter and Dean from Genrail she fired up in 2 seconds.

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After an extensive overhaul by the Sandstone team at Bloemfontein under Lukas Nel, NGG11 Garratt No: 52 has completed its first run on the Sandstone system after being moved there in the last week. Apart from a short steam test in 2016 in Bloemfontein this is its first steaming since being retired from Rustenberg Platinum Mines around 1972 where she was their No: 7. The locomotive will undergo more loaded commissioning trials over the next few days.

Our picture gallery shows her in the Hoekfontein Station area.

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Here is our latest steam report, a mega edition for December!

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Some new drawings and information.

The Transnet Library with kind assistance from Yolanda Meyer has been extremely helpful to Sandstone over the years we have been restoring locos. They recently assisted us with some drawings of the 91 Class and a short article on the units by Leith Paxton originally published in SA Rail in 2000.

Class 91 Diesel Eelectric Locomotives of the SAR PDF

Drawings

With the number plates fitted, number 52 is almost complete but work is still required to rectify some excessive side play and misalignment of the connecting rods close to the piston heads. Both steam brake cylinders for number 52 have been sent out for a total overhaul and once all these items are returned the locomotive will be complete. This is expected towards the end of January 2017 when number 52 will transported to Sandstone for final steam testing and certification. Number 52 will undergo a number of load trials at Sandstone prior to the Stars event in April 2017.

Although much effort is concentrated on completing NGG11 number 52, the Bloemfontein team under Lukas Nel has been hard at work with the NG10 locomotive. Almost 200 boiler tubes have been prepared and swaged prior to delivery to Keith Steven’s KZN workshop where the boiler is undergoing major repairs. The pictures show the tube ends after swaging and the tubes being worked on in the swaging machine.

A complete tender tank has been fabricated and work will soon begin on the tender frames and the locomotive frames once the NGG11 has been despatched to Sandstone for commissioning.

Our pictures from Lukas Nel show the completed tender tank with full length side rails as per the original design, the tender frames and bogies and the locomotive frames.

Last week we again had our annual Cherry Festival event and have used two class NGG 16”s numbers 153 and 88 To haul the Cherry Express trains over the entire Railway line of the Sandstone Steam Railway.

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NGG11 No 52 is now undergoing its final painting. There is still some mechanical work to be done but everything is on target for a final steam test by December.

The tender tank is nearly complete and has been built in the original style as it left the Baldwin Works in Pennsylvania in 1915. This was possible using the original drawings kindly supplied by the Transnet Library. The original tool boxes on the tender have also been recreated by Lukas Nel and his team. Our black and white picture, courtesy of Leith Paxton, is the original Baldwin Works portrait showing the style of the tender.