Sightings - Part 1

Hi Guys.

Got the car train heading towards Kroonstad at Kalkvlakte, hoots from the crew. Oddly this train had a marker on the front unit! Just like Transnet - they don't know if they are coming or going!

RRL was busy at the Welkom showgrounds exchange yard.

I received a call from my buddy to inform me he was on the Virginia ballast shunt. Had a quick trip with him from there to Whites. For reasons only known to Kroonstad diesel depot there were two 34's booked on this train of 5 ballast hoppers? At Hennenman another 13 mielie trucks were added to the load. I was told that on the days they need two locos, only one is given...

The photo of the stop block is part of the old coal stage. In June 1989 we had a footplate trip from here to Glen Harmony and back with driver Hannes Coetzee on 15F 2996. Now there is nothing left of anything... The old Glen Harmony line's bridge can be seen as well as the new one. All the hand railings have been liberated for scrap on the new bridge and I would not venture on to that bridge.

The ruined station is Kalkvlakte.

At Whites we got the return working of the Friedesheim shunt waiting to follow the ballast train.

There are talks of "new" diesels for the Kroonstad depot. Now new as in old SAR diesels transferred from other depots of new as in newly built we don't know as yet, our guess is the first option. Also it seems like the conversion to CS 90 operating is gathering speed and soon all the cabins between Kroonstad and Bloemfontein are going to close. We reckon it will only be a couple of days after the cabins close that they will be destroyed... There are some nice items at Whites cabin for preservation. Hopefully these can be obtained before they are lost forever.

Cheers.
J & J.

Some Sightings - Part 2

Some Sightings - Part 1

Hi Guys.

A couple of trains were missed, the timing was just not right...

A northbound load of containers was caught just before the Sand River bridge at Virginia, hoots from the crew. This was last week. Virginia station has been closed quite often since the last week.

34 406 was returning light loco from the branch, this was at Hennenman.

34 031 was standing at the ballast siding at Virginia with a load of empty hoppers, a front-end loader was busy loading the trucks.

Another container train at Virginia, greetings from the crew. This train had to stop at the signal cabin as the signal was red, no idea why? Then 34 031's assistant came walking from the ballast siding also towards the cabin. Where was the TCO??

One of Sheltam's 31 classes at the ore tip at Central Plant Harmony. We did not know that something was still happening here but it seems there is quite a lot of work being done here? The rest of the line has been uplifted from here down to Glen Harmony station as has the entire mine system. In the first photo of the 31 you can see uplifted sleepers, this is the line that used to pass behind Sheltam's depot to the gold plant - this is also now no more. It seems this ore is from the rock waste dump at 4 shaft. 5 Shaft's ore goes down to Harmony Surface Rail.

A southbound load of mielies between Hennenman and Whites, "Captain Ford" on the footplate - plenty of waving and hooting. The wagons near the end are "FKMJ", the first time we see them down here. Our diagram book states these wagons were originally built for iron ore but modified for granular loads. Our guess is that they are being used for some sort of grain.

At Hennenman we got the return working of 34 031 from the ballast siding, this time with mielies added after doing the Hennenman pick-up work.

Lastly RRL's 31 class heading to the showground's exchange yard , here seen just past the State way crossing.

Cheers.
J & J.

Rooiwal - Easter weekend.

This was Easter Weekend, a special working down to the Eastern Cape and the Northbound car train.

The last shot is just before Geneva after a crew change at Kroonstad.

Sightings

Empty container train heading towards Kroonstad at Virginia.

Uplifted Glen Harmony branch.

Sheltam depot.

J&J

Sightings

Hi Guys.

Not much this week.

34 039 was shunting the ballast siding at Virginia, the sleepers are now also being removed on the uplifted Glen Harmony line.

RRL's 31 class was spotted crossing State Way with a load of ore for the gold plant, again the 31 class heading through Friedesheim en-route to Odendaalsrus.

The 2x 36 classes are shunting the petrol sidings at Hamilton. Have a look if you zoom into the photo of Hamilton station's name board on the left...

The railway line behind Sheltam's depot to the old Gold plant is being uplifted, the waste rock dump at old Saaiplaas 4 shaft is being reworked, so Sheltam has got some more work - they are not very busy.

An old "sparky" from Anglo Gold told us that before the railway line was built between Saaiplaas 4 & 5 shafts they had an underground electrical railway between the two shafts running on 250V DC. They used a modified
battery loco for this. Don't know how true this is...

Cheers.
J & J.