Danie van der Merwe

Valentine's Day Steam Trip in Cape Town

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 11:52:58 -0300

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Atlantic Rail organised various steam train trips out of Cape Town, including an annual Valentine's Day trip down to Fish Hoek (or Simon's Town), depending on availability of the line. I think Atlantic Rail has now been amalgamated with Ceres Rail so it is best to check for availability with them.

If you ever visit Cape Town in the future and are interested in steam trips, it is best to book long before the time, to ensure availability. Bookings are all handled online.

Watch at

Valentine's Day Steam Trip - Cape Town to Fish Hoek
by Danie van der Merwe on YouTube
#southafrica #capetown #steamtrain #steamlocomotive

capetown southafrica steamtrain steamlocomotive

A South African Class 15F Steam Locomotive rescued back to Glasgow from where it was originally built

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:23:47 -0300

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

An interesting story and such a pity that South Africa could not restore more of these locos locally but good to see it going back to where it originally came from.

Another interesting point is that road transporting in SA was going to be cheaper than taking it by rail, but I suspect it's easier to contract with a private trucking company than state owned Spoornet. I do know from heavy load road permits that part of the checking is the height of all bridges along the route so does sound like this one was a bit rushed as height should never have been guesswork.

Watch How To Dismantle A South African Class 15F Steam Locomotive | Huge Moves | Spark

#southafrica #steamlocomotive #vintage #Steam

This week on Huge Moves S3 - Britain’s leading heavy haulier Andrew Goodman embarks on an epic one hundred day journey on the road, rail and ocean to move a ...

technology steam steamlocomotive vintage

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 19:45:02 -0300

Karl Auerbach

karlauerbach@pluspora.com

We've had to move a couple of small-to-medium size steam locomotives by truck. The larger of the two had to be hauled over the Sierra Nevada mountains (California) on back roads because it would not fit under the major highway bridges. It took two trucks - one with the trailer on which the locomotive was carried and the other to push the first up the very steep grades of those smaller roads over the mountain passes.

The other locomotive was smaller and was moved from the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento. One of the big problem moving that one was that as it was being hauled every SUV with a soccer-mom and kids would pull up alongside for a long, close look.

Both of these locomotives are cosmetically restored. (We have a larger one, a 1923 Pacific mainline locomotive) that is undergoing a very long term restoration to operating condition.

California Trolley and Railroad

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 03:38:50 -0300

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

That is incredible as I know railroad gradients are so much less than roads and can just imagine the effort to pull something as heavy as this over mountain passes by road. Yes as the guy says in this video everyone, everyone stops to smile and wave at a locomotive going past.

That's a great job you guys are doing and it is so important to preserve history, not only to learn from the good and bad, but also from a tourism perspective, and if these assets disappear they are gone forever. Tourists travel all around the world essentially looking at history, culture and beauty. These embody all of that.

It is such a pity that in my country the restoration especially of steam locos is left in private hands with little official support. We lost the famed railway between George and Knysna in the Souther Cape of South Africa due to a storm that destroyed a bridge and now 10+ years later that bridge has never been rebuilt. It's tragic as that stretch of railway was preserved for steam and had some of the most beautiful views along the ocean. It actually appears in one of the well-known train sim games. Still we do have a few steam locos operating private runs and good to see some of the younger folk also involved in their maintenance and operations.