Narrow Gauge Workshop report - 26 September 2011
By Stephan du Preez

The lounge car has been striped and will be sandblasted before repairs to the frame begin. We will start removing wood from the Vailima & Pandora houses to be used as frames & floor of the lounge car. A handbrake has been fitted to the lounge car and some of the steel for the frame has been cut to size.

Points & storage lines

It will take two days to finish the points for the storage line and we need to lay 120m of track to finish it. We will collect ballast from the 3’6” line (where the old 19D’s were standing) to complete it. The completion date will depend on the number of people I have to tamp the line. I want to finish laying the tracks on the 21/10/2011 after that the line needs to be tamped. The weights of the points still need to be fitted on the main line where the siding starts. 

It was interesting to see that the sleepers that I cut to fit to the points were laminated pine and not the traditional Rhodesian teak.

Waenhuis floor

I want to start the waenhuis floor as soon as I have installed the points at the rail gate. It should take about three weeks to complete. I will send the PR through to get the materials that are needed. The plan is to break out the concrete floor to make the wood floor the same height as the rest of the building. It will also make the process easier to get the floor level.

3’6” Coaches

We are systematically doing repairs to the coaches the biggest problem is to get the roof waterproof. The roof of the coach at the steam shed has been re-painted to stop the rust. We will continue to do these kinds of repairs to keep them in a good condition.

Water tanks

There are two water tanks in the salvage yard (see photos) the one is striped and I don’t know if it is complete.

I think it will be a good idea to put one at Groot draai to help the smaller locos. It happens often that the locos get into the station with no water at all. It is just a matter of time before somebody damages a boiler. The only concern I have is theft because it is so close to the border. There is a bore hole that used to feed the house we can put an engine there that can be removed when not in use to feed the tank. The other can be installed at the steam shed next to the caboose to give us some extra water when steaming up locos. Please give me your thoughts on this.

Bloemfontein crew

Leon and Isak are here to steam test the two locos that just arrived I will report how the two locos did. They will do a hydraulic test on the Kerr Stewart first to make sure it is fine.

2011 August the 6^th and 7^th once again saw the marquees go up at the PMES and from the Friday, a steady stream of models and machinery started to fill every last square meter. Saturdays miserable weather kept the huge crowds away, but Sunday the sun came out and the place was soon bursting at the seams. Passenger queues caused the public to wait up to 40 minutes for a ride and we soon had to reroute the track to avoid the steep inclines in order to haul longer trains. It was a mad flurry of steam and smoke as the trains rolled in with blowers blasting to raise steam as quick as possible. The watering points had to be operated with formula 1 precision, otherwise stationmaster Fred Schoon would soon be over to give the drive a talking too. 

Lukas Nel and his team have completed Miss Brakpan.  Lukas sent us the following photographs.

CREA (Cape Railway Enthusiasts Association) deals extensively with SHT matters in their latest newsletter.  See page 11 onwards.

Click here to view the newsletter - 605KB Word document (opens in new window)

Update on new storage shed

Our railway team on the farm are continuing to put the finishing touches to the 2-ft Narrow Gauge railway line which runs from the current Running Sheds around the back of the property for approximately 600 metres into the extensive new shed.  We hope to start packing to be restored items into the shed shortly.  They will also be room for wooden bodied coaches etc.

The second set of pictures show the removal of ballast on 2-ft Narrow Gauge panels comprising rail and sleepers from the mountain section at Vailima. This was very badly flood damaged and it was deemed uneconomic to repair it.

NGG11, No. 54 was moved to the Sandstone Heritage Trust for safekeeping.  We have had good support from people around the world who have previous recollections of this locomotive and who have taken photographs of it.  Here are some excellent pictures sent to us by John Middleton to whom we are indebted for his assistance.
 

Sandstone receives mention in SANRASM's latest newsletter

SANRASM’s latest newsletter covers our April event and says nice things about us...

Click here to view newsletter - 2MB Word document (opens in new window)

23 October 2011

We are able to report progress on the ground up restoration of the NGG11.  This locomotive was in an almost irreparable condition and after nearly a year it would appear on the surface that little progress was being made.  However, the work that is being done is of fundamental importance as these pictures show.

We had to lift the boiler out of the frames to do some major repairs to the outer firebox. It was possible to complete the massive task to repair the front tube plate.

NG4 archive photograph

Aidan McCarthy sent us this picture of the NG4 at De Aar which was taken by Bob Hogan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) in the 1970s when the museum collection was under Alec Watsons care.

Corporate donation

Sandstone has been privileged to receive a corporate donation of some cable drums from Kiss Logistix, which was kindly arranged through John de Jager. 

This company has generously provided us with some cable drums so that we can make up another interesting wagon load of freight for our consists. 

Please note that we have also acquired an Eland 60 for the Military Vehicle collection.

We are very fortunate in having purchased some years ago from the Bethlehem Museum  a wonderful old 6 Class locomotive dating back to 1896.  It is the only surviving Free State Government Railway locomotive that we are aware of and therefore it makes it particularly relevant to the Sandstone Heritage Trust which of course is in the Free State.

Our team of highly enterprising engineering personnel recently manoeuvred the 6 Class loco into position just near the waenhuis where it now heads an interesting line-up of rolling stock including the newly restored postal van.  We will continue to maintain this locomotive to the highest possible level.  We have every hope that one day she will be able to steam along a section of the Eastern Free State railway line.

Well done to Des, Stephan and the team for moving this without difficulty.

Gary Barnes has supplied the following pictures of what the loco was like shortly before it went to SANRASM. Like most things they touched it was all downhill from there.

We have had tremendous support from Karlheinz Rohrwild and other members of the Feldbahn Museum.  See: www.feldbahn500.de.

With respect to locomotive No. 12691, Karlheinz sent us the following information: 

From: Rohrwild, Karlheinz [mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
Sent: 29 June 2011 09:11
Subject: AW: Bloem.SANRASM O&K Locomotive 

Here are the O&K plates over the years. Take a look at the second last in the middle row.

Sandstone Steam Gala and Kalahari Centenary 2012

The first model HD locomotive built for German South-West Africa (now Namibia) and later designated NG5 developed into the NG15. These locomotives were introduced in 1912. This iconic family of 2-ft Narrow Gauge locomotives will be 100-years old next year.

To celebrate this milestone the Sandstone Heritage Trust will be holding a Steam Gala between 23rd March to 1st April 2012.

Click here to view full particulars - 432KB PDF (opens in new window)

Jenny Crwys-Williams of Radio 702 interviewed Wilfred Mole on Friday, 16^th March regarding this event.

Click here to hear the full interview – 10MB MP3 file (opens in new window)

A moment during our 2011 event.
Photo by Michael Bleckmann

The 2011 Sandstone Steam Gala DVD

The Sandstone Steam Gala 2011 twin pack is a delightful combination set of DVD Video and Photo CD.

The 50-minute DVD tells the full story of the week-long steam extravaganza held on the Sandstone Narrow Gauge Railway in April 2011.

The CD of over 100 photographs is included as a special bonus. These superb photographs are by some of the world’s most experienced railway photographers and the combination of photographic skill, hard-working locomotives and the Eastern Free State’s beautiful autumn scenery will take your breath away.

For more details click here - 3.5MB PDF (opens in new window) 

To read comments on the above see: http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11358986.htm.

A recent review appeared in the following publications:

Light Railways - Click here to view - 700KB PDF (opens in new window)

Continental Modeller - Click here to view - 3MB PDF (opens in new window)