Sandstone Heritage Trust - News

HTN 134 - ""Grumpy old men"

1st September 2006

While many of the individuals who restore and drive our traction engines and related items fall into the category of "grumpy old men" we have exceptions. One of these is Shawn Spaan who is a regular visitor to Sandstone Estates. This is what he has to say about himself:

"Eversince I was very young, steam engines, whether trains or traction, have fasinated me. I spent many a Sunday, after cycling about 28kms at Roodepoort miniture steam train club eventually getting my miniture train licence to take people aroung the club. This has been my 4th visit to Sandstone Estate, this time bringing my own traction engine a 3" scale Allchin , called Thor NU7483 - to be part of the show. I love being involved with these magnificent machines that bring a taste of the old-world into my young 21 years of life. I will keep up with being involved so that the next generation will have the chance to experience the joy of precision and energy these engines give." - Shawn Spaan

Around the world in heritage circles the older generation are always highly appreciative of people who are not only interested in what they do but also technically competent to participate. Shawn is extremely knowledgable and has built his own scale model traction engine which is illustrated in the photograph below.