Sandstone Estates 2018 Wheat crop.
Our crop was planted in June and will be due for Harvesting in late December 2018 or early January 2019.
Our pictures this week shows the NG10 moving towards a finished state with most of the external piping in place, the chimney fitted together with the safety valves on the dome. Attention now moves to completing the tender with its new tank and rebuilt frame and completing the cab on the locomotive.
SAR Class NGG13 Garratt locomotive number 49 has now been returned to Sandstone after a full retube at Reefsteamers in Germiston. Number 49 passed its hydraulic test last week and has returned to Sandstone for the final assembly of the boiler for an upcoming steam test and re uniting the boiler section with the engine units. Our pictures show the firebox tube plate after completion and the final expanding of the tubes and the loading of the accommodation bogies and the boiler at Germiston on to the Sandstone low bed for the 400km journey home.
The Goldsmith Gazette from the Lake Goldsmith Steam Preservation Association Inc in Victoria, Australia is well known for its in depth articles on various heritage subjects. Editor Brian Smith has done an excellent article on the building of roads over time. With our Earthmoving Displays planned for Stars of Sandstone 2019 this article makes relevant and interesting reading. The Newsletter also includes Military Vehicles and Land Rover pieces. Have a look and enjoy the read.
After many years of service, with many replacement fittings being added, the remaining NG10’s at Humewood Road in Port Elizabeth were fitted with a less than inspiring stovepipe chimney for practical reasons as remanufacturing the original style would have been quite a process,. Number 61 also gained one of these chimneys during its life but with the mastery of Lukas Nel and his team in Bloemfontein, 61 has been fitted with a newly manufactured original style chimney. Our pictures show the chimney after manufacture and then fitted to the locomotive. For reference we have included a picture from Leith Paxton of number 61 with the stovepipe version. No contest really!
We have been a little quiet lately but some major progress has been made as our pictures from Lukas Nel show. The whistle has now been fitted at the front of the cab, this is a modified version of an SAR type to produce a more “American” style sound. The new chimney is also well under way to being finished in the original style of the NG10 as it was delivered from Baldwin. Our general pictures show the clack boxes that have been fitted to the boiler and work continues with piping. The lubricator feed piping to the cylinders has also been installed.
A lot of detail work is still needed before the first steam test expected in December plus the final assembly of the tender with the fitment of the tank to the newly built tender frame.
Some excellent coverage in Volksblad on the 14th September edition for Stars of Sandstone and our upcoming Open Days: Click here to view