Sandstone Main Line locomotive move complete

A recent article showcased in the Steam Railway Magazine on Sandstone as a premier destination for Rail Tourism is where our journey began.

Perhaps because we carried on more or less as normal through the Covid pandemic, we have drawn attention to ourselves in a positive way.

Being relatively remote from civilisation and having a lot of staff who live on the property has made a big difference for us to be able to continue to restore locomotives and remain open for visitors and tourist groups subject to current Covid protocols here in South Africa.

For those of you that have not seen the feature, we trust you will find the article of interest and we look forward to welcoming you in the near future.  Please click here to view.

Another major news article involved the move of all our heavy Cape Gauge locomotives to safety from various locations where we could no longer guarantee their security.
 
A glimpse of what we were doing and for more photos and information please click here.

We prepared to move all our big 3’6″ locos from Germiston to Sandstone Estates in the Eastern Free State.

The items include the following:

Class 25NC 3488 NBL 27348/1954
Class 15F 3052 “Avril” – was David Shepherd’s loco NBL 25591/1944
Class GMAM 4079 – the first loco acquired by Sandstone in 1997 BP 7677/1956
Rhodesia Railways DE2 Diesel Electric RR No. 1207 English Electric 2238/1955
Cowans and Sheldon steam crane 355/1965 SAR No. 578

Because of the magnitude of the move from Bloemfontein, Gert Jubileus has prepared a detailed report for posterity which you can view by clicking here.

John Titlow of Heritage Railway Magazine in the UK also commented on the move in some detail which may be of interest to you also.  Please click here to view.

After the ground-breaking road movements of Sandstone 3’6” gauge locomotives from Bloemfontein in August (see Heritage Railway UK Issue 285. The story of the recent loco moves to Sandstone), preparations had begun to move the Sandstone 3’6” gauge locomotives and other assets from storage at the old Germiston Steam Depot for their 400km journey to Sandstone Estates in the eastern Free State of South Africa.

The locomotives moved are Class 15F 3052, “Avril”, previously owned by the late David Shepherd, Class 25NC 3488, GMAM Garratt 4079, ex-Rhodesia Railways Class DE2 diesel electric 1207 and ex SAR steam crane number 578.

Apart from our big Cowans Sheldon Steam Crane, which is currently in Heidelburg waiting for a permit, the move of all our Main Line locomotives is now complete.

Dave Richardson has prepared a detailed report on this which you may find of interest.  Please click here to view it.

This was a major logistical exercise carried out with great skill by the contractors.  What is interesting is the fact the road network in the Free State Province is deteriorating badly and these trucks had to cope with some difficult conditions en route.