Railway Historian, John Middleton, is well known to South African railway enthusiasts for his numerous books on South African Railways main line  and Industrial locomotives over the last 30 years or so. His latest book, Industrial Locomotives of South Africa (Volume 1) has been published. This covers the three Cape provinces, Free State (including a Sandstone entry), Kwa-Zulu Natal and North West provinces. It is available as a hardback book (B5 size) has 496 pages, almost 300 photographs (158 in colour) and 40 maps. Volume 2 which should be ready in 2024 (its already in draft form) will cover the rest of the former Transvaal plus Swaziland and Lesotho.The book is a magnificent work of reference and has obviously been part of the author’s life for some time.

The jewel of the Sandstone 2ft Narrow gauge collection is, without doubt, the small Decauville 0-4-0T locomotive, works number 302, built in 1899 in France. Since its discovery at the Dombe Grande sugar estate in Benguela Province, Angola, in 2003 we have believed the name to be “BATHALA”. Some research by railway historian, John Middleton has unearthed the attached picture of the locomotive at the Dombe Grande Museum in 1970 where Sandstone ultimately found it some 33 years later.

The cosmetic restoration has begun of NGG16A 141, which donated it’s power bogies to NGG16A 155 in 2021 so that 155 could be finally restored to working order.  Our pictures show the engine units and part of the wheelsets after cleaning and painting.

Working the train at our Easter Steam and Cosmos Festival.

Mark Ruddy together with his brother Gary are two of our most dedicated footplate volunteers and worked a number of trains at the recent Easter event. Here is a short video shot by Gary and Mark’s daughter, Ta-Nika, of the preparation and working of NGG11 number 52. Enjoy the experience!

Click on the link to view: https://youtu.be/6Lz84s0UZRM

The Sandstone Steam Railway Stock List March 23.

With our Easter steam event just a few weeks away, NGG16, number 113, is having its front pony wheels replaced on each engine unit as they have developed sharp flanges, which are out of official specification.

We are often asked for information on the locomotives and rolling stock at Sandstone. We have published regular stock lists for the last few years and now that we have moved all our 3’6” gauge locomotives to Sandstone we have put together a picture gallery of all our locomotives and rolling stock. 3’6” gauge wagons and coaches is still in production and will be posted soon.

The stock list has been updated to reflect operational loco changes after the boiler inspections of January 2023.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

10CR number 771 is one of the main 3’6” gauge displays next to Hoekfontein Station. Built in 1910, by North British of Glasgow, the loco spent its early life working commuter passenger trains between Johannesburg and Springs before being transferred to main line work at Kimberley. The locomotive ended its days at Lorraine Gold Mine before being purchased by Sandstone  in the late 90s. Having spent some its life at Sandstone in a non-original red livery the locomotive is now receiving a coat of black paint while its accompanying caboose is repainted in red.

Leon Hugo is a professional photographer based in Gqeberha. You will remember his excellent pictures from the rather wet 2022 Easter Festival but Leon had visited us before. Here is a small selection of some quite different images of the Sandstone Steam Railway and its locomotives  to enjoy.

You can contact Leon on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Some changes at Sandstone Steam Railway

The very heavy rains experienced during the latter part of 2021 and into 2022 severely damaged the Mountain Section of the railway. This is the section from Vailima Siding which looped around the area of the Farm School below the Sandstone mountain and re-joined  the line at Pandora Junction. As this section sees very limited use and suffered damage on a regular basis from inclement weather, it was decided to lift the section from Vailima Siding around to Pandora Junction. As much as we regret having to do doing this the constant repairs required from weather damage were excessive.

As the Cherry Steam Festival approaches in November our Oxen span have been out in training with NGG16A number 155! Click here for a short video.

Maintaining the permanent way is one of the key elements in running a railway and Sandstone is no exception. It is an ongoing task that sometimes seems to be never ending. It also falls under the scrutiny of the South African Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) and is one of the major elements in their regular inspections. Of course as we are 2ft Narrow Gauge which does not really feature on the South African railway system any more, apart from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), although there no trains have run for a very long time. This often raises questions of specifications for track standards. We have had much debate with the RSR to explain that we do not run at normal Transnet speeds but at a much lower speed! We have established, after much discussion, that we maintain our track to Transnet branch line standards.

Three locomotives, originally from Sandstone’s Bloemfontein facility, are now under cover. From left to right, 11 Class 929, 19D 2654 and 24 Class 3688.

All the locomotives and rolling stock moved from Bloemfontein and Germiston are now in a covered facility at Sandstone.