Sightings

Hi all.

Not much this week, movement wise.

Blue 34 409 was caught between Hennenman and Holfontein on a short load of mielies bound for Kroonstad, greetings from the crew. Blue 34 xxx was seen heading through Mothusi with the timber train for Friedesheim.

Nothing is left at Ferreira station, not even a name, just the rails remain. At least the tracks looked shiny.

Orange 34 052 was shunting the sidings at Hamilton with plenty of hooting for the busy level crossings. Hamilton had no traffic at all.

A quick visit was paid to Bloemfontein loco sheds. The guys from Sandstone were busy on the NG locos in the shed. Once again we missed Lucas Nel. Not much has changed 3'6 steam wise since our last visit. All the locos are still there, secure and locked up. Even the scrapped ones are still as we saw them last year. On the diesel side however, the rows of serviceable locos has disappeared and the rows of scrapped unserviceable locos has grown. TFR are soon going to run out of locos if they carry on like this... Blue 35 224 was standing totally destroyed, either a head on or a rear end at speed - if the crew did not manage to jump... On the scrap line we found, orange ST 34 697 LOG Tracao, orange 35 282, SAR Maroon 35 471, orange 37 xxx, blue 35 301 and other blue 35's in various states of disrepair. Maybe this line is the - "I have friends at TFR and can buy working locos at scrapped loco prices line". Also idling away in front of these locos, looking very smart, we found RRL 32 02, so they now have two 33's. Remember these "scrapped" loco numbers as they might be seen again in a different livery somewhere near you quite soon... Plenty of steam cars are also here on the scrap line, mostly in blue, one orange and a distance further, all on its own, a Gulf Red "Bellville steam car stands rusting. A Gulf red and Quaker Grey baggage van "Breakdown Train De Aar" is also staged here. Further down two diesel hulks are being reclaimed by nature. In the Shosholoza meyl part of the loco we found purple 34 102 & 34 108. Another two purple 34's were standing in the shed. Here too are several blue steam cars awaiting their fate as the passenger trains get less and the generator cars take over. 3x 34's, orange and maroon were shunted for refueling. Orange 36 068 was idling away at the other end of the loco.

Near Kerelaw station we just missed a Bloemfontein bound goods train. Kerelaw's name and two overgrown platforms still stand. Only one line remains and a short piece at the old goods platform. All buildings have been destroyed / flattened. Track looks shiny. The next stop was at Bloemspruit, basically the same story as above except both platforms and the loop at the old goods shed are still intact. The footbridge is being carted away as scrap.

Shannon still has a very overgrown platform but the steel name boards are long gone, only one line remains. At De Bloem we got the northbound car train behind 2x orange 6E's. The rain started coming down quite hard here. Here too the name boards are missing. Only the overgrown platform remains. The colour light signals still stand but with white crosses on them - not in use any more.

Back on the N1 the endless procession of trucks carried on...

Greetings.

J & J.