Sightings

Hi all.

Orange 34 031 was caught at Odendaalsrus with the return working of the Bothaville pick-up, the petrol tankers were the giveaway.

Near Bloemhof we missed a Northbound ore train behind 4x 10E’s. The only other movement on this line was a Northbound inspection trolley, plenty of hooting from the driver. This was near Leeudoringstad.

At Hennenman we got the Welgelee and Glen Harmony pick-up behind blue 34 093, running backside first. Here we found passengers on the platform. After inquiring from operating we were told that the Amatola had not even arrived at Bloemfontein yet and they could not give an arrival time for Hennenman.

At Kroonstad blue 35 259 was at the head of the petrol shunt. Blue 35 257 was the shunting locomotive at Gunhill. Both locos had orange shunting vans attached. A while later 34 093 headed through with her load.

Later in the day back at Virginia we got the Amatola standing at Virginia station. We headed towards the Sand River bridge to wait for her there. Here we waited and waited – to no avail. Finally a train came along, not the Amatola though. The Northbound car train came past behind orange E 1415 & E 1343. Greetings from the crew. Still no Amatola, then we noticed several luxury busses heading towards Virginia station. Again we contacted our connections. They told us that the busses were called because the train was running so late. Also, we were told that some of the passengers refused to take the busses and demanded to stay on the train to Johannesburg. A short while later the busses passed us all empty… Now it was time to go to the station, to see for ourselves. Luckily no smoke was coming from the station area ! On arrival at the station we found a train manager hoarding the passengers back onto the train. (They were sitting under the trees in front of Virginia station). The loco was SAR Maroon E 1510, the crew were with the TCO at the cabin. As far as we heard the busses were run for mahala, no passengers took them.

While inquiring about the Amatola we came across one of the rudest persons at Transnet in Bloemfontein, he actually put the phone down in our ears. Shosholoza Meyl however were very friendly and helpful, thanks guys !

At Whites we saw the signals from the Welkom branch were yellow. This turned out to be maroon 34 067 from Wesselsbron, she was kept for the Amatola which sped past us at full speed only at 1415, by now 6 hours late (traction problems in the Eastern Cape), and even more guaranteed delays when they reach the Metros on the reef... 34 067 left Whites with plenty of smoke and not sounding healthy at all.

A while later we got blue 34 409 coming in from the section with a load of mielies, this was near Mooiveld.

As we stated before the line to St Helena has had a stop block erected, the rails have now been uplifted beyond the stop block.

We have seen the YQ's for the Holiday Peak Period trains for 2010/12/22 - 26, the only specials were:

CTN - ELN - CTN

CTN - QTN - CTN

JHB - DNP - JHB

JHB - ELN - JHB.

Near Allanridge 34 093 came past heading towards Whites with a load of mielies.

On inquiring about the Cape Town bound Trans Orange we were told, already 5 hours late, not even at Harrismith yet, locomotives problems from Durban... Eventually we got the Orange running 4.5 hours late between Houtenbeck and Brandfort. Up front was orange E 1423 OFS and orange E xxxx, the twin diner was still in BJ's green livery. If the trains stays late the passengers will at least enjoy the Western Cape scenery and the Hexton tunnels in day light !

Ore haulages were almost non existent this week, due to the mines being closed.

The last sighting for 2010 was near Kalkvlakte, SAR Maroon E 1537 Kaap (still with number plates) and orange E 1343 OFS headed light locos towards Kroonstad, hoots from the crew.

New years greetings.

J & J.