Introduction, Part 2

Please note: All photographs, maps and text in Soul of A Railway are protected by copyright and may not be copied or reproduced in any way for further use without prior permission in writing from the authors.

1. We finished off last week illustrating a typical outer-suburban train of the fifties when nearly all such workings were still steam hauled (the exceptions were Pietermaritzburg-Howick, a few locals around Durban and, from 1953 onwards, the Stellenbosch and some of the Wellington turns out of Cape Town). On the same tack, here is a superb study of a famous outer-suburban working: 208-up, the 07:00 Somerset Strand - Cape Town, popularly known as the "Strand Express" drawing into Eersterivier on 27 January 1960. Almost invariably hauled by No 781, the solitary class 5R, her regular driver (by this time probably driver du Toit) is leaning out of the cab in the traditional manner of enginemen everywhere.

2. Taking the crossover directing trains off platforms 1-3 and the parcels sidings onto the Southern Suburbs line is a standard suburban set with 4M steel-clad motor coaches - a typical Cape suburban scene recorded by Les on 26th January 1960. The 4Ms were similar to the earlier 2M2 steel motor coaches standard on the Reef suburbans. The formation was standard for the 3000V dc era post April 1956: four match-boarded swing-door suburban carriages topped and tailed by either 4M or 1M1 motor coaches towing another plain carriage and driving trailer. Off-peak the rear plain coach and driving trailer were parked off at the concourse end of the platforms with little notices clipped onto the drop-window sills saying "Not going" and "Loop Nie". Thanks to Rollo Dickson for jolting old memories and for pointing out that the letter "Q" on the black disc is the coach-set identification. More, much more, about the Cape Suburban service in Parts 5 & 6.

3. From 1960 the new Commonwealth-designed steel 5M2A sliding-door trainsets rapidly replaced the old wooden swing-door stock. For some this wasn't an improvement. They looked smart but didn’t have the character of the original match-boarded teak 1928 trains in their Imperial-brown livery. Shot taken 2nd January 1965.

4. Hard to imagine today, but steam continued to work the intensive and fast PE suburban service until 1984 when about 80% of the trains were summarily cancelled. For more than 80 years this was a typical scene during the evening rush hour. An interesting aspect of the pruning of the PE timetable was that only the two morning inbound and evening outbound trains were retained (and dieselised). These mainly served railwaymen proceeding to or from work from the predominantly Afrikaans-speaking (and government supporting!) towns of Despatch and Uitenhage.

5. Bloemfontein too had a useful steam suburban service but even though they were well patronised these got the chop in December 1972 (note the subbie patrons watching the parallel action). Before that there were several simultaneous departures each week involving both suburban and main-line workings, in this case the 11:25 twice-weekly departure of the westbound Orange Express and a Melorane all-stations. On 209-down (sans headboard) is Kallie Ludick’s 3235, while on the stopper is immaculate 16DA 843.

6. Moving on to mixed trains, here is GCA 2605 working the short (7 mile) Kelso-Umzinto shuttle in 1965. The train is curving away from the new South Coast main line completed in 1959. The original alignment is at the bottom of the picture - only a truncated piece long enough to use as a head shunt for Kelso’s goods yard was retained.

7. The daily mixed on its 89-mile journey from Ladismith to Touws River, in charge of 984 class 7. SAR didn’t always treat its customers with the respect they deserved – those are five loads of manure ahead of the passenger saloons, a regular consignment on this train. Agricultural aromas would waft rearwards, quite ruining the potential pleasures of six hours behind an 80-year old warhorse. When we said SAR was excellent, we didn’t say it was perfect!

8. Carrying on with the theme of excellent but not perfect, this is 627-down mixed negotiating Loerie bank on the Port Elizabeth narrow gauge. Nothing out of the ordinary, a typical SAR mixed. Only one thing: after the 1940 timetable announced that henceforth Langkloof passengers would be conveyed by Road Motor, these narrow-gauge mixeds continued to run for another 40 years unadvertised. Only the locals knew about them but they used them in numbers. How this was justified is a mystery but it could have something to do with avoiding responsibility for providing customers with a reliable service. From c 1946 the coaches were attached to “transship and pick-up” (T&P) wayside freights which, as might be imagined, were rather erratic when it came to timekeeping. There are other interesting things here: note the driver sitting precariously on his outside perch to avoid the heat – definitely wouldn’t be allowed today! He has stowed his trommel (lunch box) in the opening in the front tank (on ACR we filled up those holes to provide extra capacity thereby eliminating two water stops). Behind the engine: a low-sided bogie loaded with agricultural implements; a covered van for parcels and packages; six loads of fruit; an mt DZ with raised sides for loco coal; a domestic water tank wagon (mt in this direction – the other way it would have been full to serve lineside ganger’s cottages); three more fruit trucks with vegetables from the Gamtoos valley; 3rd class coach; 1st class coach (both ex CGR); guards van with compartment for the post bags. Note also the inch-perfect ballast profile and weed-free railway reserve – prerequisite for a steam railway. These were the days when length gangers took pride in their work.

9. The next category was fast goods, which on the Cape Main Line especially meant No’s 55 and 401. The former was dubbed “die vis” (“the fish”) by railwaymen for the obvious reason that you could smell it a mile away. 55-down undertook to deliver the catches of Table Bay to the markets of Johannesburg overnight but you’ll have to wait for a picture of this all-reefer block set that ran to passenger timings because it hasn't been scanned yet. 401-down also was scheduled at passenger timings and carried high-rated expedited general traffic such as parcels, post and periodicals, tourist motor cars, livestock, perishables, bulk wine and bulk beer – the latter was discontinued when it was found that the chemicals used to extend the life of a well-known RSA brand were eating through the lining of the tanks*. In this shot of 401-down the two condensers are approaching Biesiespoort on a 1942 deviation which eased the gradient to 1-in-80 through Mannetjies Roux’s farm (for o’seas readers a famous Springbok rugby player). The original 1-in-66 alignment is in the foreground.

* Don't quote us but this might be an urban myth put out by railwaymen to explain why they lost the business to road hauliers!

10. No 251 class 4E on a typical Cape Main Line freight beneath the DuToits Kloof mountains. These were not the most attractive SAR electric locomotives but they were very effective, especially in drag service. The Operating Department loved them because they could shift traffic better than they had ever known in steam days. This would explain why they (Operating) didn’t kick up too much of a fuss when, soon after their arrival in 1953, the CME imposed a 45mph speed limit on the 4Es thus precluding regular use on the Blue Train for the first few years of their service in the Cape. This was said to be due to a fault in the Metro-Vick designed bogies with their nose-mounted traction motors, which led to severe hunting at speed and cracking of the frames. The fault took a combination of SAR and Metro-Vick brainpower to be resolved. I remember clearly the latter’s engineer, Mr Stephen Hiley, who was sent to Cape Town to supervise the tests and assist with corrective measures.

11. No 198 class 3E on up coal mts. The 1Es and 3Es were the most attractive of SAR’s electric fleet. When settled into regular service on the Western Transvaal System after a brief spell in Natal they were each allocated two sets of men – effectively mimicking the steam side with regular crews on certain locos. This resulted in super-shine 3Es competing with each other for the title of cleanest 3E at Braamfontein ERS. Their polished brass window frames matched very well with the plain Brunswick green livery. The 3Es were used on all classes of traffic – from coal trains to the illustrious Blue Train – the latter between Johannesburg and Welverdiend. They had a very good turn of speed (geared for 65mph) and showed this to good effect when hauling main line passenger trains.

12. Special trains were a feature of SAR operations from early on. During the twenties the “Round in Nine” tours became especially popular with foreign tourists but these came to an end with the outbreak of WWII. After the war specials were relatively scarce, one of the first being the Cape Town Society of Model Engineer’s sixth-class excursion to Franschhoek in 1963. There could hardly be a better way to illustrate the category than Les’s photo, taken from the train, of 2567 class 23 bringing the 700-ton Blue Train 30th Anniversary special cautiously down Hex River Pass in April 1969, with the mighty massif of Matroosberg dominating the horizon.

13. From the mid sixties until 1984 SAR (and the Eastern Province Cement Company) spent more than R1 billion (in 2010 money) on improvements to the 206-mile Port Elizabeth narrow gauge network. There will be more about this in the section dealing with System 3 but this scene from 1973 epitomizes the "Departmental Train" category, showing yet another delivery of ballast for the upgrading of the railway into the Langkloof.