Sightings

Hi all.

Caught a glimpse of a triple headed 34 class mielie train in Welkom station. One of the locos must have failed and was hauled back to Kroonstad dead. We do not get triple headers here.

Just South of Leeudoringstad the Spoorbaan had occupation of the down line, doing repairs with the Isuzu truck running up and down the line. This meant that all traffic had to run "wrong road" from Leeudoringstad to pass the occupation. The first train was a Southbound load of mielies behind blue E 18 382 & blue E 18 xxx. Next, a Southbound container train behind orange E 1267 & orange E 1324. Also in the consist were several stainless steel tankers, "Return to Worcester when empty". Within 10 minutes another Southbound container train came past, this time behind orange E 1682 Northern Transvaal & orange E 1476 Kaap. The Southbound signals turned green again and after a long wait, a quick call to operating confirmed our suspicions. The Blue Train was on her way. A couple of minutes later she slowly came past behind orange E 14 110 & orange E 14 xxx. The Blue Train nameboard was on the leading locomotive. She looked absolutely clean and smart heading past us. The video camera on the lead unit as well as the cables could clearly be seen. Some friendly waves from the crew and passengers.

Got orange 34 058 at Allanridge en-route to Bothaville with a load of NAY hoppers loaded with ballast.

Just South of Leeudoringstad yellow Plasserail "Dynamic Stop Fexpress" (the "F" must be there) headed North. From Orkney to Christiana the Spoorbaan are busy all along the line. At Eersteling the Spoorbaan were also busy. Here we got orange E 1554 & SAR maroon E 1613 Kaap on a Southbound load of containers. She was standing on the loop waiting to cross a Northbound train. Soon the Tourist Trans Karoo came past behind orange E 1418 Kaap. This train, already, only had Sleeper 4 / first class coaches in the consist. Only one second class coach for the staff was attached. The aroma of breakfast wafted around as the diner went past. The train looked quite full. She went over 2x detonators and the speed was reduced even further. Still the container train stood in the loop, then the Northbound signals turned green again. Then 3x blue 18E's came past on a load of tarpaulin covered Lime, leading was E 18 399, again exploding two detonators as she approached Eersteling. The tarpaulins were brand new and had Phalaborwa stencilled on them. Finally the containers headed past. South of Makwassie we got a another Northbound load of Lime in hopper wagons. This was behind 3x 6E's, 2x orange and 1x SAR maroon. At Drie Ruiters a Northbound load of mielies came past behind orange E 1476 Kaap & orange sister. Spoornet maroon E 10 016 headed past on another northbound load of lime just South of Bloemhof. Near Christiana we got an extremely long Northbound ore train behind 4x 10E's Leading was blue E 10 039 with another blue and 2x SAR maroon sisters. A whistle board still with a "W" on it survives here. Again all the crews greeted us.

Got blue 34 093 shunting the silos at Wesselsbron.

Between Odendaalsrus and Friedesheim orange 34 499 thundered past en-route to Kroonstad with a load of mielies, plenty of hooting from the driver, Next we got the Cape Town bound Economy Trans Orange at Hennenman. Plenty of passengers on the platform. This train was only made up of sleeper 6 / 2nd class coaches and a twin diner, no more sitters. Motive power was orange E 1453 CN & purple E 1657, friendly hoots. At Kroonstad we got blue 35 257 shunting the petrol sidings. The line from Kroonstad to Bethlehem has Track warrant operating. We have noticed new route indicators which we have not seen before, plenty of little lights on a flat black board, which looks completely different than normal signals. Also, yellow notices have been erected above the warning boards "Radio control points". On further enquiry we were told that the driver can change the points from the cab and after the movement the points return back to the original position after 90 seconds. We heard about this quite a while ago, as it is dangerous in some places for the female assistants to walk the length of the train after pulling into a loop for a crossing and the like. At Holfontein orange E 1370 & orange E xxxx sped past with a Southbound load of containers.

Greetings.
J & J.