Sightings

Hi all.

We got the pick-up at Regina, waiting for a train to proceed south, in front of it. The loco was orange E 1349 OFS. Near Drie Ruiters we got a southbound container train going at full lick, hoots from the crew. Upfront were orange E 1554 & Spoornet maroon E xxxx. This was the train the pick-up was held back for. Then close to Kingswood we got a load of southbound ore hoppers behind 4x 10E's leading was Spoornet maroon E 10 047, blue E 10 xxx, orange E 10 xxx & blue E 10 116, greetings from the crew. This train was over a kilometer long. At Bloemhof two yellow Plasserail machines headed past, northwards bound. There are quite a number of ganger cabooses standing at Bloemhof and new sleepers have been offloaded all along the line.

Blue 34 093 headed past Welkom with a short load of mielies from the section towards Kroonstad. Later we got 34 093 at Gunhill after handing over the load to the shunt, then she headed to the loco depot. We took a stroll over the concrete bridge over the Blomspruit just south of Gunhill. 1960 is painted on one side. The signals were set up for something into the yard. Soon orange 34 043 and blue 34 037 arrived with two mielie trucks in tow. The yard shunt, strangely, was blue 35 259. Then we paid a quick visit to a lone parachute tank, close to where the Bethlehem line takes off. The petrol shunt was blue 34 409, plenty of petrol tankers were being shunted. The Bethlehem line had occupation for the entire day due to catenary maintenance. We got a yellow LRS catenary vehicle near Patrysdraai. All along the line, opposite the old catenary masts, on the other side of the line, new concrete bases have been cast. They are now erecting new catenary masts and moving the overhead wires to the new masts. The old ones are then recovered. Strangely they are steel I beams again, not concrete as on other sections of the line. At Wonderkop we stopped to have a look at the remote controlled signals. Here, in the long grass we found a semaphore signal gantry lying on its side. At Geneva a northbound petrol train, behind orange E 1356 & E 1307, slowed down almost to a crawl, they we "looped" wrong road through the station and then back onto the "right" line to Kroonstad. Probably catenary problems.

Orange 34 043 was seen near Mothusi on a short load of mining timber heading to Friedesheim. Later we got 34 043 shunting the timber sidings at Friedes. Blue 34 037 came past us at Allanridge on a short load of mielies (one truck) and an Anhydrous Ammonia tanker, greetings from the crew.

Near Makwassie we got a 110 wagon train of coking coal, behind 4x 10E's, heading north. Leading was Spoornet maroon E 10 003. Close to Drie Ruiters a northbound load of containers came past. Up front were 2x Spoornet maroon 6E's, leading was E 1671.

Greetings.

J & J.