Johann Marsbar Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 16 minutes ago, jamie92208 said: Has Spencer Street become Southern Cross now? Jamie Yes - It was renamed in 2005 after they constructed a new station complex on the site which was in the course of being built the last time I was there which was in 2003/4. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted May 23, 2023 Author Share Posted May 23, 2023 One of the attractions visited whilst we were in Melbourne was the narrow-gauge Puffing Billy Railway, this view being taken at their Belgrave terminus where the line connects with the broad gauge electrified suburban network.... At that time the line only ran as far as Emerald Lake, where the loco off our train is seen taking on water......... Whilst exploring the Melbourne suburban rail network we came across an isolated diesel worked line which runs from Frankston to Stony Point. The station at Stony Point was literally the end of the line - and there wasn't even a buffer stop! The station building there wouldn't look out of place on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway....... We covered most of the Melbourne tram network during the time we were there and even managed to see some of the works cars as well. The first photo also shows the Restaurant car that operates around the system.......... Another place visited was the Newport Railway Museum which contained a very interesting selection of preserved VR rolling stock..... More from Newport in the next post.... 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted May 23, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 23, 2023 Resturant tramcar - brilliant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted May 26, 2023 Author Share Posted May 26, 2023 The last selection of photos from this particular Australian trip continue our look at some of the wide range of exhibits at the Newport Railway Workshops museum..... I'd certainly found Australia to be an interesting place, particularly on the transport side, but it would be another 11 years before I got back there again. Having been to the "West Island", the following year a visit had to be made to the nearby North and South Islands................. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 Looking at the trip options for 1993, I'd spotted that Festiniog Travel were advertising a railway enthusiasts trip to New Zealand in March for what seemed a very competitive price given the amount of coverage of both the main line and preserved operations there so after mentioning it to my Father we duly booked to go on it. The tour itself was run by a NZ based company and was led by a well known individual from the Preservation scene over there, who happened to have recently retired from a position within NZR, which enabled some "additional" attractions to be put into the tour programme as we went along. The strangest thing about the trip though was the fact that most of the participants were actually elderly Americans, mainly from California, who had obviously been sold the trip on the basis of a tour of New Zealand with no mention of the railway aspects of the tour! From memory the enthusiast proportion was about 15% of the group, a handful of those being from the US, one Australian and about half a dozen from the UK. Some of the US "Tourists" were interesting people to talk to though as a couple were ex USAAF veterans from WW2, one at least being a bomber pilot based at Attleborough in Norfolk during that time. It was very noticeable that as the tour progressed, less and less of the Americans got off the coach when we made railway related visits though....... Unforunately I can't find the tour itinerary at the moment so am trying to remember what we did based on my photo records. Certainly, after arriving in Auckand and meeting up at the hotel, the first full day of the tour was a free day in that City so we headed off to the Museum of Transport & Technology (MOTAT) where this former Auckland tram was operating the shuttle to the entrance... Unfortunately, not all of the collection there was on view, some of the buildings with the transport related exhibits being closed on that particular day, though, luckilly, the air museum section was open. For the rest of the items we had to content ourselves with what was parked outside, such as this K class 4-8-4 of 1932....... ....along with a couple of Bedford products....... An exploration of the City Centre later on in the day included a visit to the station where this DC class loco was parked up at the head of a short commuter service....... The next day we had all been booked on an enthusiasts railtour out of Auckland which travelled to Tauranga for the day. Our group only travelled one way on it, the tour being seen here at Hamilton behind DC 4438............ Five of the seven passenger cars used on the trip were preserved wooden bodied stock...... Once we arrived at Tauranga, we were picked up by a coach and, after a stop off for fish & chips (!), we headed off to the Goldfields Railway at Waihi for a visit. Main motive power for the train there was this 1938 built Peckett 0-4-2T........ ...though this Baguely-Drewry 0-6-0 of 1968 may have been involved at some point.... Our return to Auckland then being made by road after an encouraging start to the tour. 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 15, 2023 Author Share Posted June 15, 2023 The main attraction the following day was a visit to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway where our train was hauled by Ww 4-6-4T 480, built in 1910........ Whilst by 1993, the type of lorry shown above was well into the "vintage vehicle" category in the UK, we did observe several commercial vehicles from the 1950's, such as Bedford O series lorries, still in regular daily use in New Zealand during this trip, along with cars of a similar vintage - ie Vauxhall Velox & Cresta models! This class TR diesel shunter was built by Price, with a Gardner engine, around 1960 and had only recently been withdrawn from NZR stock....... This former NZR class Dsa was built by Drewry in 1953...... From the Glenbrook line we continued on our coach to Rotorua for an overnight stay, along with the statutory (for any NZ Tour Group), rather commercialised, Maori Hangi and concert/cultural event, followed the next morning to a visit to the Thermal Reserve, after which we headed off to Hamilton, where we would be staying overnight. En route, we paused at Te Kuiti where this NZR built DSC class Bo-Bo dating from the mid 1960's passed through on a trip freight...... The elderly transport still in use theme also applied to some of the buses in use in NZ as well, this couple of Bedford examples being seen whilst we were in Te Kuiti...... 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 16, 2023 Author Share Posted June 16, 2023 When we arrived in Hamilton, first point of call was an unscheduled visit to the Loco Depot before heading to the hotel, which certainly confused the "Tourists" on the trip! DC 427(7) - the last number actually being a computer check-digit on the NZR TMS (Traffic Monitoring System) - a Clyde Engineering/NZR product from around 1980. A pair of the Brush built electrics of class EF which entered service on the North Island Main Trunk in 1988...... One of the Toshiba/NZR built heavy shunting DSJ class locos of the late 1980's...... An NZR built class DSC shunter, built in the mid 1960's...... On the way to the hotel, we passed the local bus station and noted it was full of buses, so decided to walk there once we had checked in for the overnight stay. When we got to the Bus Station - just after 18.00 - we discovered that all the buses had left and that was the end of service for the day! NZ had followed the path of "deregulation" set out in Britain a few years earlier, with the net result that bus services in the Country had evaporated with hardly anything running in the evenings or on Sundays and this was most apparent in Hamilton. Even the "normal" daytime services in the urban areas there left a lot to be desired at that stage. Given the lack of buses that evening, we ventured outside the hotel the following morning after an early breakfast and saw quite a lot of activity passing by, helped by all the school trips at that time of day...... Once again, Bedfords of various types were predominant and even when we arrived at Hamilton station to catch our train south to Wellington, this Bedford SB was making its way out of the forecourt...... Whilst waiting for our train, this DF class loco (GM Canada, 1980) on a train of steel coils went through on the Tauranga line...... 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 17, 2023 Author Share Posted June 17, 2023 The train to Wellington duly arrived and was actually diesel worked throughout which came as a surprise to me as I had expected it to be electrically hauled from Hamilton to Palmerston North. Certainly when I photographed the train from the lineside on a later trip in 2000 it had an electric loco hauling it on the electrified section. Our group were all seated in an observation car at the rear of the train which had end windows to provide a view out of the back, as I took this rather poor shot as we were crossing one of the modern viadicts en-route..... Arrival in Wellington was late evening, so we didn't see much of the place that day, other than from our coach transfer to the hotel located on Oriental Bay. We'd hoped that the Hotel would have been located on a trolleybus route, but it wasn't, so it was a fair walk to reach the nearest wiring. The first full day in Wellington was spent visiting various museums and preservation sites in the area with some free time in the City later in the day. First line visited was the Silverstream Railway in the Upper Hutt Valley, this English Electric (Dick Kerr Works, Preston) loco, Ed101, built in 1937, was used on Wellington area local passenger and goods services until 1984...... NZR Ww class 4-6-4T of 1914.... o NZR L class 2-4-0T, built by Avonside in 1877...... NZR class Ka 4-8-4 of 1941....... NZR Railmotor of 1938........ From looking at railways, our next visit was to the Southward car museum which had a fairly impresssive collection of cars from a wide range of manufacturers, along with a few commercial vehicles and a couple of aircraft...... 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted June 17, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 17, 2023 For those interested in learning more about Kb locos and Ww 480, this long video is worth a watch. Produced by the NZ National Film Unit, it has production values that exceed most of those we enthusiasts might manage. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 From the car museum, we then moved on to the Wellington Tramway Museum in Queen Elizabeth Park, Paekakariki. They have a collection of 11 cars from the Wellington system which closed in 1964. Car 239, dating from 1939........ Car 159, dating from 1925...... This former NZR Thornycroft single deck bus was parked in the depot at the time of our visit but doesn't seem to be mentioned on the Museum website nowadays..... We then called in at the nearby depot of Steam Incorporated where their Ka class 4-8-4 of 1939 was parked outside the shed....... Their Mitsubishi 0-6-0 diesel shunter dating from 1967 was also parked near to the shed...... From there it was back into Wellington and the hotel, with the remainder of the day free, so we walked along the road leading to Oriental Bay until we reached the junction where the troleybuses were running, from where we were able to at least get a (short) ride into the City Centre. Before catching the bus, some photos were taken in that area, including this Eastbourne Ford single decker...... A pair of "Big Red" (formerly known as Wellington City Transport) Leyland Leopards..... ...and a Volvo trolleybus, still in WCT livery (with their inverted GMPTE W logo!)..... 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) Continuing into the City, this line up was photographed at the main bus terminal by the railway station...... Not many of the trolleybuses (or even the other vehicles in the fleet) had received the dreaded Stagecoach stripes at that time. Walking onto the station, a couple of views of stabled electric units there, firstly the 1949 English Electric stock, still in the NZR red livery........ A pair of the Ganz/Mavag units of 1982 in the more recent Cityrail two-tone livery....... The next day we had a limited amount of free time first thing in the morning which enabled some more bus photography near the hotel before this Leyland coach (think it was a Leopard) turned up to transfer us to the ferry terminal...... ...and we took the Interislander ferry across to Picton on the South Island......... It was quite a smooth crossing on this occasion, that crossing being renowned for being quite rough at times - which was the case when I did it again in 2000 ! From Picton, we caught the "Pacific Coastal Express" to Christchurch where one of the bus groups from the museum at Ferrymead provided the transport to our hotel with an interesting selection of vehicles. As most of the Tour Group were Americans, they, of course, piled straight on board this...... ...whilst my Father and I were the only ones to get on board this 1964 AEC Reliance, though the chap driving it didn't seem to be too au fait with how to drive a vehicle with a semi-automatic gearbox! The luggage transportation was entrusted to this 1979 Hess bodied Bristol RE....... At that time the original Christchurch station was in use, replaced a few years later by a new station at Addington, a mile or two to the west of the original. . Edited June 20, 2023 by Johann Marsbar 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 21, 2023 Author Share Posted June 21, 2023 The tour had only one full day in Christchurch and this wasn't really enough given what had been crammed into the day. Following a quite extensive City tour in a coach, we headed off to the north of Christchurch for a visit to the Weka Pass Railway at Waipara where a special train had been arranged for us. The train was headed by one of their pair of English Electric built Dg class locos of 1956 - the number of this one being Dg 791....... At least one photo run-past took place en-route...... ...and given the general lack of enthusiasm from most of the tour group, I spent the outward trip up the line in the cab and even had a short drive of it - a common occurence on this particular trip...... At the end of the line we found their Dsa class shunter (Mitsubishi, 1967) on a PW train...... Back at Waipara, their ex NZR A Class 4-6-2 of 1909 was undergoing restoration...... ...and this Wickham railcar and a Ransomes & Rapier diesel crane of 1943 were on display...... We had spent longer there than anticipated, so then ran late for the rest of the day which unfortunately reduced the amount of time left for the main event, which was a visit to the large museum complex at Ferrymead. To make things worse, we didn't go straight there, but diverted via Littleton (the port for Christchurch) en route to view the docks & harbour there! Eventually we arrived at Ferrymead, where a lot of effort had been put into activities for the group, including a BBQ, which could really have done with a good couple of hours more to appreciate. First off was a charter on their tram route, using 3 of the trailer cars from their collection, such as this former 1895 horse tram from New Brighton (The NZ one)....... ...and Christchurch Tramway Board trailer 115 of 1908........ ...all 3 being hauled by their 1881 Kitson built steam tram locomotive...... We didn't actually travel on any of the trailer cars during the trip as we rode on the steam tram instead! 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 22, 2023 Author Share Posted June 22, 2023 Ferrymead is a huge site with a variety of different historical and preservation groups based there and the railway there is even electrified so main line EMUs/locos can be operated as well as the usual steam and diesel traction. One of the electric locos was giving cab rides (and driving sessions) whilst we were there as well as a tank engine hauling a couple of coaches. In addition to the steam tram, a few electric ones were giving rides and having driving sessions as well, though most of the tour group just decended on the BBQ ! We managed to get a quick look in the trolleybus depot as well whilst we were there, though at that stage nothing was operational. Vulcan built NZR RM56 of 1939....... English Electric built NZR Ec7 of 1928...... Neilson 0-6-0ST "Peveril", NZR F13 of 1872....... English Electric built NZR De511 of 1951........ Dunedin tram 11built by Brill in 1903........ Christchurch Horse Tram 43 - built in 1887 by Stephensons of New York...... Christchurch 178, built by Boon & Co in 1922....... There were lots of other buildings to explore on the site, but we were running out of time. The aviation collection wasn't open - not that we would have had the time to look in there, and the limit of studying the fire engine collection was just a quick photo...... The rest of the collection would have to wait until I had rather more time there in 2000 ! 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted June 23, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 23, 2023 That Stephenson horse car looks so like the Roundhay Electrics of 1891 which were also Stephenson built. Lovely to see. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 24, 2023 Author Share Posted June 24, 2023 The following morning our group was collected fairly early by another vehicle from the Ferrymead fleet - This time a 1958 AEC Reliance - for a tour of the City centre. It's seen standing on recently laid tram tracks which were being laid at that time for a proposed heritage tramway operation that was to open in 1995........ After the tour, the bus dropped off at the railway station where we boarded The Tranz-Alpine Express for the trip over to the West Coast of the South Island, hauled by Dx class 5385 of 1975... seen here after arrival at Greymouth....... At that point the line through the Otira Tunnel was still electrified but the locos were all shut up in their shed being a Sunday with no freights scheduled. From Greymouth we boarded a coach and headed off to the "Shantytown" museum where they have a 1913 built Climax...... ..before heading off to our overnight stop location near the Franz Josef Glacier. The next day we moved on to Queenstown, this Willowbrook bodied Bedford with a rather elaborate paint job (long before fancy vinyls became the norm) being seen at Fox Glacier.... Queenstown is a rather Tourist orientated place and needless to say they have one of these there....... ....but rather of more interest, they have a 1912 built steamer, the TS Earnslaw which operates cruises on Lake Wakatipu, and we had a trip on the lake that afternoon onboard it...... 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 25, 2023 Author Share Posted June 25, 2023 The next morning we headed south to Kingston for a run on the "Kingston Flyer" train which runs from there to Fairlight. At Kingston we were greeted by this rather familiar looking object, albeit to 3'6" gauge......... The train was composed of this wooden bodied stock, the run being made with 4 coaches behind the loco........ The loco being an Ab class Pacific, one of two nominally based on the line...... At least one of the carriages had this rather interesting side-corridor arrangement..... The loco at the Fairlight terminus..... I think our group were the only people on the train that morning and I made the return trip to KIngston in the cab as nobody else seemed to want to take up the crews offer! After the run on the railway we headed back to Queenstown on the coach, the trip back being considerably delayed by someone moving house (literally!)...... One for the Basil Fawlty school of "Stating the bleedin' obvious"...... The next day was a visit to and a cruise down Milford Sound, a rather spectacular fiord on the West Coast of the South Island and one which is on every tour operators itinerary - though it turned out to be a bit different on the day we went! It was raining when we left Queenstown and the weather deteriorated further as we headed west, along with the wind picking up into the bargain. The Tour Guide, who had been there many times, commented that he'd never seen weather like it on any of his visits, particularly the number of waterfalls visible on the road journey there - which actually turned out to be insignificant compared with the deluges we observed from the cruise! We duly boarded our boat, and it was choppy to say the least, our party sharing a boat with a couple of coach loads of Japanese tourists. Once we got to the end of the Sound it looked like this..... North Sea style vigourous swell and awful visibility - You can only see 1 of the 2 vessels that followed us in that shot due to the amount of rain. I don't think I've ever seen so many seasick people on a boat! It did clear a bit on the way back, and the sheer quantity of water running off the mountains had to be seen to be believed...... Normally that one is just a trickle according to our guide! 18 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted June 25, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 25, 2023 Thanks for the prod to look here - great stuff. Your Ferrymead visit looks to be about the time we were last there, by the level of restoration of certain items. Mrs NHN ended up driving the Climax at Shantytown (she's a competent large scale miniature driver) they were overjoyed to have a woman who knew what to do! I got a go with treble headed DJ's at Taieri Gorge to get my own back. I'd love to go back, but the thought of the long flights versus my knackered hips and foot now fills me with dread. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 27, 2023 Author Share Posted June 27, 2023 (edited) The following morning we left Queenstown by coach and headed south to Gore where we caught the former "Southerner" passenger train north to Dunedin, where we would be spending the night. The "Southerner" appears to have stopped running in 2002, so it's a shame we didn't travel on more of its route between Christchurch and Invercargill on that 1993 trip. Least expected thing to seen out of the train window was this former Dunedin BUT trolleybus dumped next to the railway line at Milton..... After arriving in Dunedin, where the weather was rather damp, our afternoon was taken up by a lengthy trip on the Taieri Gorge Railway - a couple of their former NZR clas DJ locos, built by Mitsubishi in the late 1960's, being parked in the yard opposite the station.... The loco hauling our train was 3228, seen with the Dunedin station building in the background.... Thankfully, once out of the City, the weather improved considerably and a number of photostops were made en-route, mainly at some of the viaducts crossed along the line..... I can't remember just how far we travelled along the line that afternoon, but I think we terminated before reaching the end of track at Middlemarch. We only stopped in Dunedin the one night, so the following morning was a bit of a rush with an early start. Again the weather was indifferent to start with though this was mainly during our visit to the Ocean Beach Railway where a charter had been arranged using Dubs built 0-4-0T A67 of 1873...... They also had this TR class 0-4-0 diesel, which I think was a pre-war Drewry product.... After the railway visit we had a City tour during which we noticed the location of the local bus garage which wasn't that far out of the City Centre. As we then had some free time bfore heading north up the coast, we wandered back to the bus depot, where this Citibus Leyland Leopard of the early 1970's was parked outside..... Of more interest was this rather ancient Leyland in use as a cafe by the bus depot....... It was obviously a permanent fixture there as it appeared to be plumbed into the utility networks! EDIT: Apparently the "meals" vehicle was an Ex Dunedin Corporation Leyland Cub new to them in the 1930's. It later became a mobile library before ending up as a "pie cart". I found it mentioned on this website... https://www.classicbuses.co.uk/NZbus2.html . Edited June 27, 2023 by Johann Marsbar extra text added 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 From Dunedin the coach headed north up the coast to Timaru where we would be staying overnight. After checking in to the hotel, this former Dunedin Leyland Panther drove past before we headed off for an evening visit to another preservation site..... The visit was to the rather immaculately presented Pleasant Point Railway. I don't think I've been to another rail line anywhere where all the stock is in such pristine condition, even the freight stock! D class 2-4-0T No.16, built by Neilson in 1878...... This appears to be Tr cass shunter 16, built by Price in 1936. My NZ Loco stock book actually shows it as being on another line! A 1955 built Ruston & Hornsby..... ...and out in passenger service for us on the line was this Ab 4-6-2 of 1922....... I did have a drive of that loco along the line whist we were there. The following morning, this was parked in the Hotel car park, apparently still in daily use..... We headed for Christchurch that day, where the tour was scheduled to finish that evening. En route we called in at the Plains Railway at Tinwald (Ashburton) where A64, built by Dubs in 1873, was in steam for our group. We had extended our stay in Christchurch for an extra night, which gave a full day to visit the RNZAF museum out at Wigram and a bit of free time in the City. This Hess bodied Bristol RE (ex Christchurch Transport Board) was in use with Silver Star on a City route....... ...and this elderly Bedford SB - apparently with an Isuzu engine, judging by the badge on the grille - was parked outside the station...... I'd thoroughly enjoyed visiting New Zealand and we had managed to cover a considerable amount of what was of interest on the rail front whilst we were there. I was to return again in 2000, though that time it was on an Aviation themed tour, but did fit in some rail interest on the way. That was it for trips abroad in 1993 and the next year we were to head off to the Southern Hemisphere again, but to a couple of countries I've not had the urge to return to again since!! 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 Time to kick this thread back into life again.... In 1994 we saw a trip advertised, run by the same organisation as the New Zealand trip the previous year which was heading off to South Africa and Zimbabwe, and as things were by then changing in SA we thought that it would be an interesting trip to go on. It certainly turned out that way, though not in the way we were expecting.... It was their first venture to those Countries and, TBH showed it by the actual lack of planning beforehand for the trip. You know it's gone rather awry when the coach driver ends up organising impromptu shed visits rather than the Tour operator! We duly flew out on an overnight SAL 747 from Heathrow that September to Jan Smuts (as it was then) Airport in Johannesburg, arriving the following morning, from whence we were taken to our hotel and then out on a City tour. First shock of the trip was basically being told that it wasn't deemed safe to leave the hotel compound on your own, despite it being walking distance from the Central area - something that was starting to be the case in some of the other Cities we visited at that stage. Just to add to the experience, Kodak managed to loose a couple of my slide films from the trip, so I have some significant gaps inmy photographic record, though some of the missing sections were covered by my Fathers prints. The downtown area was rather dead anyway as it was a Sunday, but the coach tour did include a visit to the top of the main skyscraper where a panoramic view was available of a bus garage as well as other sights.... We were rather surprised to find this Fowler steamroller in the City Centre giving rides though..... After the proper coach tour, some hasty arrangements were made for some optional minibus trips from the Hotel over the remainder of our time in Johannesburg to make up for the safety concerns, given that most of the next day was free in the City due to our train not leaving until the evening. We did go on one of these which covered some of the rather less salubrious parts of the City, the driver commenting as we drove through Hillbrow - where quite a few sections of trolleybus overhead were still in situ - that they had been left up as it wasn't safe for the crews to dismantle them! This loco was plinthed outside Park Station......... I knew there was a transport museum in Johannesburg - The James Hall Museum of Transportation - so enquires were made at the Hotel as to the best way to get to it (pre-internet days...) and the staff denied its existence, saying they had never heard of the place! I'd picked up a map the previous day which did show it however, so they arranged for a minibus taxi to take us and a few of the other tour participants there. On arrival we duly found the place was shut (!) and were just about to leave when my Father spotted someone moving about inside the building and we managed to get his attention. When he found out who we were, the place was specially opened up for us to have a look round. Most of my photos were lost and I cant find my Fathers photos from there, but amongst the exhibits were this Johannesburg BUT trolleybus..... ...and a Garrett steam lorry, still on solid tyres...... On the Monday evening we caught the overnight train from Johannesburg to Durban behind a pair of electric locos..... En route to Durban the following morning....... 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 Having now managed to locate our tour itinerary from the trip, the train we caught from Johannesburg to Durban was the Trans Natal Express departing J'burg at 18.30 and arriving in Durban at 08.00 the following morning. At that stage the normal long distance trains still had good quality passenger accommodation and we were in 1st Class sleepers with a full dining car provided on the service. We did several long distance/overnight trips during this tour and I'm particularly glad I went on the trip to cover some of the routes as I'm not even sure what is left there nowadays in the way of long-distance trains. We actually had the best part of 2.5 days free in Durban and, certainly at that time, it was somewhat of a contrast to Johannesburg as it was "safe" to walk more or less anywhere and there was certainly plenty to see there. I can't remember how we filled the time there, but certainly took a rather extensive boat tour around the docks at one point, which was a very interesting excursion. A couple of shots of some of the local buses in the area, this one possibly being a Leyland Tiger Cub (they had some Worldmasters as well, but I don't think it's one of those)...... ...and a MAN used for long distance trips seen at the main bus station with an interesting exhortation on the side....... The buses there seemed a right mixture and ages from a variety of operators, and it was annoying, whilst on the coach from the hotel to the station, to observe a Leyland half-cab single decker still in public service down one of the sidestreets! I did manage to find a photo of the bus in question from December 1994 online yesterday so at least I know what it was now. After our stay in Durban we then caught the late afternoon departure (17.30) of the Orange Express which would take us overnight to Bloemfontein where we were to stay for a couple of nights. As we left Durban I was able to get a photo of one of the suburban EMU's that operated the local services there out of the train window in the fading light..... We had a coach tour of the City of Bloemfontein on the first day we were there (a Friday) and this included a visit to the Anglo-Boer War Museum where this train of the period is on display..... The Saturday was taken up with a full day trip to Kimberley by coach with a visit to the open air museum in that City. A tramway operates between Kimberley City Hall and the museum via the "Big Hole" mine, which, as it's name suggests, is a big hole...... It's actually 1.5 km in diameter and 2722 kg of diamonds were extracted from it between 1871 and 1914. The tram in use on the line was built by John Stephenson of New York in 1905........ ...and another of the fleet was displayed at the open-air museum...... Other static exhibits scattered around the included this NG loco....... ...and a rather substantial (Fowler?) Traction Engine..... 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted July 25, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2023 23 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said: I'm intrigued as to what that is between the two Locos and the train. Is it some kind of steam heating boiler vehicle. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, jamie92208 said: I'm intrigued as to what that is between the two Locos and the train. Is it some kind of steam heating boiler vehicle. Jamie Yes - Steam heating boiler wagon, used to steam heat carriages on electrified routes (and diesel operations as well). They certainly featured on a few of the trains we travelled on during this trip. I just noticed that my Father took a photo of one of the things at Bloemfontein shed.... Someone even produces a model of one of them... https://www.sarmodel.com/sar-nse-vapor-clarkson-steam-heat-wagon-p-72.html 8 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted July 26, 2023 Author Share Posted July 26, 2023 The next day - a Sunday - was free in Bloemfontein and we very quickly discovered that there wasn't a lot to do there as all the shops were shut along with everything else! Some time was spent at the station, though there wasn't a great deal happening there either. This CFB (Benguela Railway) coach looked a bit lost in the carriage sidings adjacent to the station...... ...with the only train seen there being this apparent "Gamblers Special" heading to a Casino/Resort town about 30 miles from Bloemfontein..... The only other attraction was the loco depot..... ....which was littered with withdrawn steam locos....... Steam on the National Network in ZA had finished two years earlier - other than for some special workings and the George-Knysna branch which had been designated a "museum line", but very little effort seemed to have been made to scrap locos at that stage..... A foreign visitor on shed there was this BR (Botswana Railways) GM (Canada) built GT22...... Spoornet motive power on shed (other than the dumped steam) was all of GM or GE origin...... Wandering around the dead steam on shed, it certainly made me wish I'd bothered to go there about 10 years earlier, but it wasn't a destination that I thought I'd ever go to at that time. I'd certainly seen lots of photos/film from people who I knew who had been going there since the 1970's but was never spurred on to actually book on a trip. That evening we departed on the Algoa Express from Bloemfontein for the overnight rail trip to Port Elizabeth....... 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann Marsbar Posted July 27, 2023 Author Share Posted July 27, 2023 A couple of shots out of the carriage window the following morning as we continued on our way to Port Elizabeth.......... Our electric loco was still in the old SAR maroon livery and there were also a couple of coaches in the rake in the old maroon/grey colour scheme. On arrival at Port Elizabeth (generally just referred to as "P.E." by the locals) we boarded a coach to commence our multi-day trip along the "Garden Route" from there to Cape Town which only included a couple of rail interest items on the way. The first of these was a visit to the Humewood Road terminus of the Avontuur Railway - a 2' gauge line that was still open for freight traffic at that point. They also operated a tourist train called the Apple Express at that time that lasted until 2011. One of the class 91 diesels is seen at Humewood Road...... ...with one of the servicable NG15 2-8-2's used on the Apple Express is in the shed..... ...with a line of others dumped outside....... Somewhere in the vicinity we found this saddle tank plinthed, presumably a 3'6" gauge one from an industrial user..... We did have a short break in PE before leaving for the west and a couple of local buses are seen at a beachside bus station...... 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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