System 5 Part 1b: Hump retarder yard, Running Sheds & Mechanical Workshops
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.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
While the bulk of the activities in this particular chapter has been handled by Les Pivnic, Bruno Martin, Peter Stow and Charlie Lewis there are many other participants to whom we are extremely grateful (alphabetical): Andrew Deacon, Johannes Haarhoff (via DRISA), Allen Jorgensen (via Dick Manton), Dick Manton, Tony Marsden, John Middleton, Transnet Heritage Library Photos (via Yolanda Meyer) and a special mention to Nils Kotze of Bloemfontein who has provided priceless historical information about the 16Es and especially concerning the regular crews.
Please note that each photographer provides his own captions. All the corny ones are Charlie's.
INTRODUCTION
Germiston was once SAR's busiest hub in terms of overall traffic i.e. local and suburban passenger, long-distance passenger and freight, amounting to >800 trains/day of which >half were suburban and local passenger. It is not widely known that if one left out the commuter traffic Bloemfontein was almost as busy as Germiston, with the added complication that as the seventies dawned it was still 100% steam. Both centres had hump yards but Bloemfontein's was the bigger by far.
Since the inception of 'Soul of A Railway' we have generally avoided introducing politics other than in a mild way (if that is possible in RSA). But politics was an unavoidable factor in Bloemfontein, especially from the onset of the 1970s when the apartheid system began to seriously impede the efficient operation of SAR. So we'll begin with an explanation for some of the incredible scenes you will be observing in this chapter (especially Tony Marsden's description of life as a fireman during the critical last few months of the administration's attempts to keep skilled work white). Photo 3 below shows where my office was situated at this time; as you see it was well situated to see what was going on. By 1970 the Yardmaster could no longer rely on the 11 shunters/shift he needed to keep the hump tracks operating efficiently. Out of the 33 white bodies he needed each day he would be lucky to get half that number, and those that did decide to come to work were mostly dropouts and drunkards. By 1973 the situation had become so bad that it was (at last) decided to employ other races. All of a sudden there were 11 shunters/shift - except they weren't called shunters (that would have been an admittance that apartheid was unravelling) - they were 'Train Marshallers'.... Have a look at photos 1 and 2; if you think that photo 1 depicts chaos you would be right. Compare it with photo 2, when the shunter crisis had been sorted.
The same applied to firemen, the least desirable job (at least for white Saffa youths) on the railway. No sooner had the uitlander [=foreigner] invasion subsided than a new invasion solved the problem; the adoption of non-white firemen. Except they weren't called 'firemen'. They were 'coalmen'.........
Today Germiston has no suburban or local trains, about three long-distance passenger trains and about two dozen freights/day. Bloemfontein sees <half-a-dozen freights/day. How are the mighty fallen, O Cyril?
Bruno's magnificent map of SAR Bloemfontein as it was in 1988. At its peak in the early 70s, when every track was humming 24/7, it was not at all different from this.
1. Bloemfontein's sorting tracks in the winter of 1973. There are more than 20 shunting movements in progress. As we mentioned at the start of the Bloemfontein chapters, except for Christmas day there was never a moment when the sound of steam locomotives working hard could not be heard in the city. Like a binary star, this yard worked in harmony with another hump yard, Kazerne, which was conveniently situated at the epicentre of SAR's main source of traffic - the Witwatersrand. All business for the Free State and the southern Cape Province was brought there by the hordes of haulers that gathered traffic day and night off private sidings throughout the reef. Here they were shunted into random consists for onward transmission to Bloemfontein where they would be made up into accurate assemblies that would not need to be disturbed before their final destinations (always remembering the costly rule that required short trucks to be at the back of the train). Looking at this scene, who could have foreseen that it would all come to an end within less than a dozen years. We were given an inkling of it the previous year........
Smuggler's Den on Point Road was the after-hours venue for the 1972 District Engineer's conference in Durban. Nadia of the Nile, the resident artiste, performed some quite remarkable feats with a large live snake while rotating her boobs; left one clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. Her not unattractive torso was adorned with strategically stuck-on stars, very shiny, many of which ended up on George's* face when she gathered the hapless fellow's head between those dreamy bosoms and hugged him tight enough to pop his eyeballs back into their sockets.
*not his real name
A couple of days previously I had set out from Bloemfontein on the Orange Express - those were the years before we were told to fly everywhere and the Express certainly set the tone for the meeting. The first day was mostly taken up with Louis Wildenboer's lecture on experiments with SA pine sleepers and a treatise on the new coal line to Richards Bay. On the second day a gent (who shall be nameless) proudly presented plans for the largest marshalling yard in the Southern Hemisphere. This was to be a mammoth project, located about half way along and 25km to the east of the Germiston-Pretoria main line. As the plans were unwrapped it turned out there were to be four hump yards inside an oval double track holding road 28km in circumference. Each hump was to have two primary and four secondary retarders. In addition, every track off the hump was to be equipped with Dowty pistons which (we were told) had the ability to slow trucks down before collisions or to move them on if they stopped short. All Witwatersrand general freight between Krugersdorp and Springs and Pretoria North and Vereeniging was to be concentrated on the new yard (named Bapsfontein at the time but later given the name Sentrarand).
This was an exceptionally long session with only a brief break for coffee and sandwiches at lunch time so by three o'clock there were a few heads nodding. Our lecturer wound up by asking if there were any questions..... silence. You could've heard a penny drop; instead it was a pencil - George's. As he bent down to pick it up it was noticed that a shiny star had stuck to the top of his bald patch. That woke up the sleepy ones all right.
When the hilarity had died down I asked how Bapsfontein would affect the Bloemfontein yard. "That will become redundant" was the casual reply.
Next questions: > how would Bapsfontein work? "All freight for East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and the southern Cape would be sent via the new yard"
> including business from Krugersdorp and the west Rand, Springs and the East Rand, Vereeniging and van der Bijl Park? "yes"
The implications of this become clear if you study Bruno's map of the Western Transvaal System: https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-7-1/soul-system-7-part-5-germiston-and-surrounds-by-les-pivnic. Bapsfontein (Sentrarand) is actually shown on this map, some 25km due north of Springs. So a customer on the west Rand would need to be patient: it could take a day (if he was lucky) for his consignment to get to the new yard and another day to get where it would have got to had it started straight out from his siding.
Phase one of Bapsfontein was to cost R500 million in 1972 money (> 50 Billion today). That included all the approach lines (some were long and all were grade-separated), the 28km oval (for stacking trains waiting for entry to an arrivals track) and only one of what originally was intended to become four hump-retarder yards.
Phase one came on stream early in 1984. There were teething problems, not least being that the locals had discovered that cutting the signal cables created havoc on the oval, and trains with high-rated traffic could be off-loaded in a flash while the driver was phoning for permission to proceed past a dead signal. Also, by this time the effects of the Road Transport Act of 1977 were increasingly being felt - customers were deciding their stuff didn't need to go to Bapsfontein before heading to their final destinations. The raison d'être for the new yard was rapidly evaporating. R500 million (or is it R50 billion) down the tubes.
The foregoing is a bit of a long-winded explanation of how and why the incredibly busy scenes in photos 1 & 2 came to nothing. OK, I know that Nadia had not much to do with all this but she probably would have found a better way of spending R500 million......
2. By 1974 most of the 23s had been reduced to shunting the hump yard and running haulers to Bloemfontein's goods shed, as with the rake of wagons behind a 23 heading off to the left of the picture. On the right a 12R is transferring cattle trucks from the livestock pens (see photos 4 & 5 below) to the arrival tracks for northbound traffic (on the right, behind those two lazy-looking 23s). I almost forgot to mention that 'Train Marshallers' had replaced 'Shunters'.
3. Only a few years earlier this was the motive power used for the haulers - it worked out well because the 16DAs would otherwise have had to cool their heels between suburban jobs. Part of the end gable of my office is just visible to the left of the level crossing sign. As you see, it was useless to try a telephone conversation when one of these haulers was coming by. Adding to that was a frequent noise intrusion from the succession of freights coming in from the north over the flyover bridge behind the engine (and my office).
4. A deceptively quiet moment looking north from the Rudolf Greylinglaan bridge (see Bruno's map). In the background a northbound goods is departing while a 12R on an inter-yard hauler and the very rare 10C 772 have a brief chat at the livestock yard throat. I took many many photos from this vantage point - it was 2 minutes walk or a 1 minute sprint from my desk and operating had been tuned to tip me off when something unusual was happening.
5. Retirement age for SAR drivers in road service was 55 years (compare this with Norfolk and Western 'engineers' who were allowed to run passenger trains up to 100mph into their 70s!). But there was at least a good practice of allowing retired drivers to work on the shunts. This was the livestock yard shunt with class-leader 3R 1446 kept immaculate by driver Hoole* (I kid you not Briggs, and no, he did not try to break the record between this yard and the abattoirs with #1446).
*Tony Marsden has reminded me that Ben (for that was his name, not 'Bill'!) Hoole drove 23cl 3300 on the 1982 Steam Safari - he would have been 70 then!
6. Chunky 0-8-0, S1 374 (the first in her class of 37 engines - 12 from Salt River works in 1947 and 25 from North British in 1954), shoving wagons over the hump. These engines spent most of their lives on the heavy grades up to the hump and as the diesels came they were retired as being worn out, c 1973. Their work was taken over by hand-me-down main-line power.
7. A smoggy day in Steamertown, looking over the yard towards the north. The 15F just in off a freight from Kroonstad is heading to loco over the flyover over the freight departure lines for the south and east. I don't know what that light 23 in the background was doing.
8. In warmer weather a southbound 23 is starting out of the down departure yard and about to duck under the loco access tracks seen in the previous photo. Some of you may remember Victor Hand's triple train shot (photo 128 in Bloemfontein Part 1a). That little cabin is where the watch-synchronising exercise was done with the down departure-yardmaster.
9. Late in 1969 GEAs released by the North Coast electrification in Natal started coming through Bloemfontein on their way to the Cape. Traffic was so heavy at that time that operating could not afford to lose a precious train path by running it light engine. So the Garratts came up from Natal via Modderpoort, hauling an extra water tank, a caboose for the crews and a B-bogie of coal (just in case), in addition to a fair load of general freight. This one, GEA 4023, was on its way to Voorbaai (Mossel Bay).
10. The main industrial sites with their private sidings were situated to the east of town (see Bruno's map). Until the end of the sixties they were served (in their re-boilered form) by ex-Natal Government Railways class 3Rs (originally a Belpaire-boilered design by DA Hendrie who became SAR's first CME in 1910). As the late, great Dusty Durrant put it:"where else in the world would one encounter a slide-valved 4-8-2 in the 1960s?" Those tiny driving wheels, designed for the NGR's 1/30 grades on 5-chain reverse curves, were 3ft-9½ins diameter.
11. The factories and warehouses generated quite a lot of business for SAR and this long end-of-shift hauler heading back to the hump yard behind 3R 1453 was no exception.
12. Included here for interest is this combination of 3R and 12R doing some double-headed carriage shunting at the south end of Bloemfontein station. Unfortunately I can't remember the circumstances but it certainly wouldn't have been that the strings of coaches being sorted by the station pilot (the 3R) were getting too heavy.
13. The north-end station pilot in those days was also a 3R - in this case #1453. It looks as if it is making up 21-down mixed for Springfontein later that afternoon.
14. Class 8D 1223 only became the Shed Foreman's pet during 1969. Until then she was anybody's dogsbody. Here she is on the Bloemfontein south end carriage shunt in February 1968. As you see, match-boarded teak passenger stock was still being turned out by the carriage shops in the late sixties. Mr Fielding, Foreman of the carriage workshop took great pride in his work.
15. Evening departure of northbound empties around the time when class 23s were taking over the bulk of traffic on the main line to Kroonstad.
16. The 16Es were undoubtedly the most spectacular engines based in Bloemfontein. There was constant jockeying among the senior drivers to have one of these queens of the main line as their regular engine. No's 859 "Bloemfontein" and 856 "Kroonstad" were heading for loco via the running shed flyover (see Bruno's map), having just arrived with 438-up, the Port Elizabeth - Johannesburg express. My late father was on this train and he told me there was a large contingent of military on board which had necessitated extra carriages - hence the double-header. The old man seemed to have a knack of experiencing such strokes of fortune.
17. Photos 17/18: These two photos were published in the SAR & H Magazine for April 1933 (page 423) and the captions read: “The old Running Shed at Bloemfontein, which will be demolished when the transfer to the new buildings is effected in the near future.”
18. “The turntable at Bloemfontein will also disappear when the change over is made.” So, one can assume that by mid-1933, the new Loco Depot was brought into use.
19. The decorative entrance to Bloemfontein Depot with dual language signage. A 19D heads for the TR point for an Aliwal North line duty passing recently plinthed 16DA 870. The illegally parked Ford was a hire car Paul McDonald I were using for a bash. September 1974. [The TR point is the Train Register point - please see photo 138 for Tony's explanation.]
20. The new-style through running shed built in 1933 would see out steam in Bloemfontein - this took just over 50 years. There were 14 roads of which two were for 15Ms (i.e. preventive maintenance), two were for washouts and running repairs, two were reserved for passenger-link engines and the remaining eight were for freight and branch-line engines. It was like having 14 conveyor belts for locomotives; all day and night they were moving through the covered areas.
21. Circa 1972 Les and Carol visited us in Bloemfontein. Les and I went down early next morning and this was the spectacular sunrise created by all the steam and smoke. Had she been born then, Greta Thunberg would not have been impressed.
22. There was continuous activity as each line of engines worked their way through the shed. Scenes like these could be photographed throughout the year although the steam effects were better on winter mornings.
23. What a contrast between this and a diesel or electric running shed......
24. A 15F moves off shed while others are chomping at the bit, ready to follow.
25. Yet more engines coming off shed for their next turn of duty. Oh to be able to breathe that smoky, steamy air once more.......
26. Photos 20 to 25 showed the departure roads, with engines about to leave for distant places or shunting turns. To the east of those tracks were the arrival roads where engines came in for refuelling or medical attention. Here drivers would check their machines for hot bearings or bushes, boiler leaks or any other faults that needed to be booked before signing off shift. 16DA 873 had just come in from daily commuter and goods turns and was being checked over by her regular driver before he booked off. The two 15Fs behind #873 had come in from Kroonstad with a double-headed southbound goods - they would just turn around and go.
27. Passenger-link 23 cl 3256, in earlier that morning from Noupoort with 438-up, the northbound Port Elizabeth - Johannesburg express (for a striking colour photo of her see Roger Perry introducing Part 1a of Steamtown RSA). Her driver will have done an all-round examination while the fireman sprayed the footplate clean and removed the kit preparatory to signing off shift.* From here shed hostlers would take the engine to the water spout then the coal bunker followed by turning on the triangle (if that was needed). From the triangle to the ashpits where the fire would be cleaned or dumped as the case may be. From the ashpits the appropriate shed road would be selected by consulting the Shed Foreman (a lower grade than Running-shed Foreman) whose duty it was to compile a diagram for each engine allocating its next turn of duty.
*On this point I stand corrected by Tony 'Ashcat' Marsden (see his thought-provoking account of the life of a fireman at Bloemfontein, further on): "On link locos [as #3256] the kit would have been locked in the tender boxes & fire-irons locked by chain to holding brackets and not removed from the engine"
28. A 24, two 23s and a 19C all lined up for breakfast at the coal bunker.
29. Bloemfontein 23 cl 3248 (the engine I fired on my last shift) has already had a coal stage breakfast whilst cleanliness-prize winning Beaconsfield 25C Condenser 3473 ‘Jafta’ has a feed. 7 July 1974
30. Beaconsfield condensers were regular visitors to Bloemfontein having hauled goods trains from Kimberley. Here 3465 is coaled prior to fire cleaning and returning to its home depot, running a round trip.
31. For a quarter century eighth classes in their various configurations were the regular coal-stage goats. Sometime in early 1969 class 8D 1223 was adopted by the Running-shed Foreman, Gert Coetzee, as his shed pilot. It too gained a regular crew, including a driver who had yet to pass his road tests so was confined to shunting. He may not yet have passed his trains-working exams but he was a genius at keeping 1223 looking like new. She was kept in show-room condition for four years until head office decided that all the eights were to be withdrawn.
32. Line-up of hungry big engines all about to be fed in readiness for their next turn of duty, sometimes within the hour.
33. In January 1969, Gert Coetzee's pet, 8D 1223, was on coal-stage duty in the Loco and she provided evidence that even the engine on shunt-duty was kept nicely polished!
34. In July 1967, 8D 1223 was looking rather weather-beaten but as the previous photo shows, she was going to look a lot better in a couple of years’ time!
35. A superb Kodachrome by Allen Jorgensen gives you an idea of how #1223 and her surroundings looked in colour. The structure on top of Naval Hill (behind the tender) is an observatory.
36. From early 1969 on 8D 1223 became Bloemfontein's official shed pilot, appointed so by Running Shed Foreman Gert Coetzee. She would be kept in this immaculate condition until the eights were withdrawn in one fell swoop in 1973. There was plenty of work. Apart from shunting dead engines all over the shed, day and night, she had to shove 1500 tons of Witbank cobbles up the 1/22 ramp to the coal bunkers. That made five trips to the top every day, only in daylight hours.
37. Before #1223 was appointed shed pilot any of Bloemfontein's class 8 allocation would be roped in - on this day it was 8A 1104 while 8D 1196 was about to return to the Theunissen-Winburg branch having been washed out, tuned up and parked ready for the firelighter. The unknown 15AR on the right was a rare visitor ex-works on her way back to Pretoria.
38. 8D 1223 in a similar pose to photo 33 but with much more clutter around the place. The main focus of interest here is the water treatment plant beyond the coal-stage ramp. You might have noticed the triangular-shaped concrete ducts across the front facade of the shed. Those were provided c 1968 to catch blow-down water and send it back to this plant for recycling.
39. Driver Koekemoer* of Beaconsfield's spotless 25NC 3439 on the triangle where she will turn before heading back to Kimberley without visiting the shed itself. Except for the pick-ups, Kimberley - Bloemfontein turns were all round trips.
*The very same one from Pietermaritzburg who was learning the road and had to fire the engine when its stoker-worm failed, as described in the introduction to "The Great Steam Trek". The name "SLEEPY HOLLOW" in brass under the headlight was the nickname of Pietermaritzburg, Koekemoer's home town.
40. After transfer from Paarden Eiland in 1967, unsuperheated 10C 772 seemed to be all over the place in Bloemfontein. Having taken on coal, here she is shoving ex-works 19D 2753 to the ashpits where the latter will have her trial-trip fire dumped to enable more adjustments to be done before entering traffic. This was the first one I saw with the ugly new stovepipe chimney.
41. My old bashmate Donald (very sadly no longer with us) had a head for heights. This view from the top of the shed's east-end floodlight tower shows the ashpits and, in the background, the Mechanical Workshops. The carriage and wagon workshops and their storage yard are in the top left-hand corner.
42. The ashpits were a constant traffic jam, especially in later years when coal quality deteriorated. An ambitious accountant and MBA graduate had calculated that cheaper coal could save SAR a lot of money. He overlooked that the mines charged per kilojoule, not per ton.
43. From 1967, after electrification of the Postmasburg branch, Condensers became frequent visitors to Bloemfontein. This one gets some dust and grime sluiced off before heading back to Kimberley.
44. At the ashpits some atmospheric pictures could be made at sunrise when, at certain times of the year, the sun shone directly down the tracks.
45. Shed pilot 8D 1223 has dumped her old fire and a new one built up. As soon as her tender has been topped up she'll again be ready to attend to her mates spotted all over the shed.
46. As this view from the light tower shows, the ashpits were probably the busiest corner of the loco. Looking smug and contented on the left is 8D 1223. Note the fireman sprinting to change the points ahead of this 19D towing a 15F off to the sheds.
47. Those big important-looking main-line engines have moved out of the way so that petite #1223 can move back to the shed yard to resume her pilot duties.
48. Bloemfontein had a lot of eights until they were done away with in 1973. Used primarily on the Theunissen-Winburg branch they also served the industrial sidings around Bloemfontein.
49. With brimming bunkers, the 19D and 15F in photo 46 are moving up to the shed for their final shower, shave and shampoo before resuming road duties. As you see, Gert Coetzee was a house-proud Locomotive Foreman.
50. How busy it all was. On the left a line-up of hungry machines at the coal stage. Then a row of 'B' bogies loaded with coal await their trip up to the bunker next to some empties that have already been there. Then piles of firewood next to the fire-lighting shelter (see next photo) and a queue of dead engines waiting to have their fires lit. In the foreground, engines coming off the ashpits. The main shed is perhaps not as full as normal; probably most of the inmates were out earning their keep. On the far right is the saw-toothed roof of the 15M shop.
51. The fire-lighter’s shelter in December 1961 with a dead 15F waiting to have her fire lit.
52 & 52a. Taken from the coal stage with Naval Hill as a backdrop, the rear of the through shed featuring the extended 15M area referred to in the next photo. It was always a busy place. Hand bomber 15F 2913 - with empty bunker - awaits a trip to the Mechanical Workshops for Heavy Repair (major overhaul). A cab crunched 12 class, sans steam dome cover, ponders its fate.* Several 23 class are ready for their next road duties as is a Bethlehem 25NC whilst a 15F pushes a rake up the hump. Slightly to the right of the picture was GEA 4045 heading for Pietermaritzburg for overhaul. By this time any locos for or ex-works usually ran as light engines. 7 July 1974
*Nils Kotze has provided the tragic story of this accident: "the engine was 12R 1937, damaged in a collision in the yard in 1973. Both the driver, At de Bruyn, and fireman Kramer lost their lives."
52a. Caption as for photo 52 above
53. This was a more typical view of the busy rear yard of the shed. The open-ended shelter on the right was a later addition when the two 15M roads and machine shop already referred to became inadequate as demand for engine power grew. There are nine different classes in this view. Can you spot them?
54. An SAR photo that reflects the variety of motive power in Bloemfontein. From the bottom-left: class 19D, 16DA, 16E, 15F and a 23.
55. Wide-firebox class 16DA No.878 was in for light-repairs in the 15M Shop some time in the 1950s – specific date not recorded.
56. Around the same time 16E 854 was also receiving attention in the 15M Shop.
57. 3R 1449 has been roped in to shove S1 375 into the new 15M shop (it concentrated on tyre turning).
58. The unsuperheated, unrebuilt 10C 772* as the CSAR designed and ordered her from North British in 1910, shunting long-travel valved 8B 1135 and standard piston-valved 8D 1196 into a washout road for minor attention before they head back to Theunissen for Winburg-branch duties.
*even in this primitive form they were extraordinarily successful engines
59. The two washout roads on a standard busy day. The waste water was directed to the recycling plant described in caption 38.
60. Another washout road scene with a 23 looking as though its front driver was receiving more than minor attention.
61. The other shed roads were generally much more peaceful......
62. ..... as you see from Dick's photo of 'activities' down at road 14.
63. 16E 859 on the passenger engine track about to work to Noupoort, Kimberley or Burgersdorp (by 1969 they had long ceased working north of Bloemfontein except on special occasions).
64. 16E 859 having some adjustment made to her rotary-cam operated poppet-valve gear.
65. In the 1950s it was possible to get three of the six class 16Es on shed waiting for their next turn of duty.
66. Having had her fortnightly washout, S1 374 was about to head out to her 'main line': the hump shunting lead. In the foreground ash is being removed from one of the passenger link roads which was unusual - a sign that an engine about to go out on its appointed duty had had a fault discovered at the last minute necessitating the dumping of the fire.
67. Oupa Thompson oiling round 16E 855 before working a southbound passenger. This was the engine that took the April 1969 anniversary run of the Blue Train from Johannesburg to Klerksdorp (thank you Tony for reminding me his name).
68. 16E 857 and a 16DA about to head off shed to work 21-down to Springfontein and 46-up to Brandfort respectively. Looks like the shed fitter is getting anxious about the time. At this time #857 carried the name "Ann Smith, Bloemfontein Queen" above her cabside number plate and "Vereeniging" on the smoke deflectors.
69. An unusual visitor to Bloemfontein in October 1971 was unrebuilt 15A 1824, seen here on a 15M road having received some attention before heading for the Eastern Cape. On the adjacent track is 16DA 870, long confined to local passengers and pick-ups to Springfontein, Brandfort and Modderpoort.
70. These two were photographed in April 1966 – 15F No.2993 “Old Smoky” and 16DA 848.
71. Back in December 1961, 16DA 872 was getting attention from her fireman, making sure that she looked good for her next turn of duty. The 15F alongside was probably thinking "what about me?"
72. In this general view of the line-up we have a class 3R, two 16DAs and the 15F who now seems to be getting some attention from her driver.
73. A 12R on transfer from the Cape Midland where it had been replaced by dieselisation during 1969, to the North Eastern Transvaal where only shunting work was available by then. The fact that she was on a 15M road indicates that some fault had developed along the way. Incidentally, these engine movements were usually made in traffic conditions, either solo or double-headed, so we were often able to photograph rare workings.
74. A majestic line-up of 23s on the passenger link roads. Kallie Ludick's 3235, the last engine at Bloemfontein to have its smokebox hinges and perimeter and all its coupling rods polished instead of painted, is second from left.
75. An impressive parade of big mechanically-stoked 4-8-2s all ready to take up their allotted turns within the hour. Note the triangular-shaped concrete ducts. They lead to a large drain that carried blow-down water to the purification plant shown in photo 38 above.
76. There were frequently interesting line-ups at Bloemfontein. In this October 1968 view from left to right: 19C 2436 (Bloemfontein had an allocation of six at this time), GDA 2255 on transfer from the Natal North Coast (Gingindhlovu) to her new base at Sydenham for working the Alicedale - Port Alfred line, 16DA 850 (a Bloemfontein suburban engine), 15A 1970 on its way to De Aar (eventually named 'Milly' by Alec Watson) and 16E 858; counting the 23, whose tender is just visible on the left, that makes six engines in six different classes.
77. Bloemfontein's other 10C, superheated No 776, about to take out a Sunday local to Lynchfield at the request of the visiting MD of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, John Snell, in September 1969.
78. 19C 2442, one of six of its class at Bloemfontein in October 1968, getting some tlc before working to Zastron.
79. A common engine with good lighting still makes a nice photo. This was 19D 2687 about to move off shed for an Aliwal North trip. Behind her is an unkown 16E.
80. In the early 1950s, engine No 405 – a Belpaire class 6, was still employed on local passenger duties around Bloemfontein and her regular crew kept her in pristine condition!
81. Here is 405 again, on another day and another visit to Bloemfontein Loco in the early 1950s.
82. Having had an Intermediate Repair in Bloemfontein's Mechanical Workshops, class 6 No 437 was about to return to her home depot, Waterval Boven, in February 1968.
83. Also in the early 1950s at Bloem Loco, was ex-Natalian – class 3R, looking reasonably good except that with her cowcatcher missing she looked partially undressed! The removal of cowcatchers seemed to be official policy with engines confined to shunting duty in those days.
84. Another pair of unidentified class 3R engines were spotted just after being coaled at the coal-stage in the early 1950s.
85. Les's photo 86 shows an original Beatty-designed CGR 8th class in its unrebuilt, unsuperheated state. By the 1950s this was exceptionally rare as by that time almost all the eights had been converted to a Collins-era piston valve design with superheating. CME Watson took some of them a step further as they came up for conversion by equipping them with long-travel valves. Here we have the short-travel version, class 8D 1196 coupled with long-travel 8BW 1135 coming away from the ashpits in February 1968.
86. Class 8B 1133 on shed, still with her original slide-valve cylinders in the early 1950s.
87. And, she was still there in January 1955!
88. Another 8th class on my first visit to Bloemfontein shed in January 1955 was 8A 1104.
89. 8BW 1135 at Bloemfontein in January 1955. Presumably the W stood for Watson's long-travel valve conversion of the eights, which was successful; they were more economical and better runners than the Collins version, but their very success led to earlier retirement as the bar frames developed cracks behind those fat cylinders (after > 25 years of converted life). An instantly recognisable characteristic of the class was their loudness - according to AE Durrant attributable to the combination of long lap, long travel and Stephenson's valve gear.
Son of a senior SAR engineer, J Stuart Grossert has sent the following important record of the rebuilt 8th classes as personally experienced by himself:
"I have a comment regarding photo #89 (8BW 1135) where you point out that, due to cracked frames, the 8Ws had a shorter life than the regular superheated eights. My sense is that Watson introduced the 8Ws to squeeze a little more tractive effort out of the loco than the regular eights (27000 vs 24400 pounds). The result, according to the 1956 SWA WTB, was that 8Ws were rated at 13 between De Aar and Karasburg, vs 12 for a regular superheated 8. Prior to 19Ds being introduced, that extra bogie would have been useful, as passenger travel to Windhoek in those days was really only practical by train. Of course the catch to this was that both classes of eights had the same boiler, which provided the energy for the loco. If one requires more work from a boiler, the rate of doing that work decreases. Therefore, an 8W with 13 on should have been somewhat slower than an 8 with 12 on. From stories that I have heard the SWA passenger trains often ran late anyway. You then pointed out something I did not know, namely that those larger cylinders on the 8Ws also resulted in higher stresses on the frames. However, the end result was clearly that the conversion gave the SAR a useful return on the investment by producing a more powerful loco. I also should point out that the regular superheated eights had cylinders one half of an inch larger than the original slide-valve eights (18.5 vs 19 vs 20 inch diameters). That these modifications could be made speaks volumes for Beatty's modifications to the original 8X ALCO design."
90. There was a time when 8D 1223 looked quite unkempt, especially minus her cowcatcher.
91. In December 1961, 8D 1196 was on coal-stage duty when I photographed her.
92. Driver Gert Coetsee (no relation to the Loco Foreman) on left and fireman Kiewiet Pretorius were the men who kept #1223 in showroom condition from 1969 until she was retired in 1973. Because of her outstanding condition the museum, in the shape of Les Pivnic, chose her for preservation; she was sent to Capital Park where she stood for many years. John Middleton has provided an update on her subsequent movement: "[Today] it is relatively safe at Wonder Steam Trains (Friends of the Rail) at Hermanstad although admittedly I don’t think anything has been done to keep it as smart as it once was."
93. Soon after becoming the dedicated coal stage engine #1223 looked like this
94. And this is how she looked for the duration of her last three years at Bloemfontein. It was not a special occasion. This is how she was kept.
95. What a lovely machine.
96. Even at night she looked good.
97. The efficient-looking lines of 10C 772 posing for the camera in February 1969. Soon after she was sold to SAPPI for service at their Ngodwana paper mill in the eastern Transvaal where she would put in another 15 years of service.
98. Superheated 10C 776 was an amazing machine; for many years she and her sisters ran the heavy mails such as the Rhodesian, Johannesburg/Pretoria and Port Elizabeth boat expresses out of Cape Town.
99. When main-line power such as Hendrie's superb class 12s were downgraded to shunters it was clear the end of steam was nigh. Having suffered the indignity of having her cowcatcher removed some time in the early 1970s, 12R 1864 took over carriage-shunting duties at Bloemfontein from the classes 3R and the various eights.
100. Bethlehem shed was home to the bulk of the 15Es when they were transferred away from the Cape Western System in the mid fifties, having been replaced by condensers. What was noticeable was the beautiful condition in which their engines were turned out - almost certainly under the influence of Alec Watson who was Assistant Running-shed Foreman there until 1970, together with Roelf van Wyngaardt (later, Loco Foreman at Loraine Gold Mine), his assistant. Both men were fanatical steam lovers who put in countless unpaid hours at the shed. Here is #2883, clearly a regular engine, still wearing her Beaufort West arrow at Bloemfontein in March 1968.
101. Another beautifully turned out Bethlehem 15E, No 2881. That the rotary-cam operated poppet-valve gear was more efficient than Walshaerts was clear: 15Fs could not make it through from Bloemfontein to Bethlehem (188 miles) on one bunkerful of coal. On the down* journey the Fs had to recoal at Modderpoort. Mind you, both the 15Es and the 15Fs carried 14 tons of coal and by the time a 15E reached Barnea (last siding before Bethlehem) there would be only a few lumps left - small wonder these hand-fired mountains were dubbed "Bongols" [=donkey].
* in this context, "down" refers to the direction in which trains ran, in this case Bloemfontein to Bethlehem. This journey is predominantly uphill: Bloemfontein is at 4568ft and the summit at Retiefsnek on the outskirts of Bethlehem is just over 5900ft.
102.The driver is making sure that his fireman uses the Marfak gun properly – you don’t want to run a “hotbox” out on the road! 15F 2993, April 1966.
103. Kroonstad "F" No 3130 ready to move out for 434-up, the East London - Johannesburg express, in September 1968.
104. This collage presents several views of 16DA 870 getting special attention from the cleaners. This was the very engine that the Late Frank Holland helped to erect in Salt River Shops when she was brand new in 1928.
105. 16DA 869 is typical of how regular crews in Bloemfontein looked after their special steeds! July 1967.
106. Another sister in fine condition – class 16DA 872 ready to leave the Depot and work her next train to Lynchfield in 1961.
107. Baldwin designed and built 16DA 850, well cared for right up until her end in 1973. The late Don Baker was a skillful steam modeller and, as you see by this fine portrait, one of the great railway photographers.
108. Wide firebox 16DA 877 looking pretty smart for what was normally a pooled engine. Photo circa 1959.
109. Here is #877 again – showing-off her “Boepens” – the Afrikaans word for a wide-firebox!
110. "Boepens" [= paunch], a good nickname for the class; they had 60 sq ft of grate.
111. Portrait of 16E 857 which introduces the following section. However, it is fair to point out that it was taken after she was officially withdrawn and placed under the care of the museum. As you see, it has been beautifully restored, complete with the correct Pyle-National headlight - I think colleague Les must have had some influence here. Just in time we received additional information from Mr Nils Kotze of Bloemfontein - a lifelong admirer of the 16Es: "857 carried brass replacement plates as the engine overturned in the late 30’s or early 40’s on the main line between Kimberly and Johannesburg. Regular driver in her later Bloemfontein career was Piet Steenkamp. She was plinthed in front of Bloemfontein station in Sept 1975 and restored to running as a museum engine in 1990 by Lukas Nel (at that time still in railways employment and who eventually became the restorer-in-chief of the Sandstone locomotives). Was used between 1990 and 1999 on museum specials. Was the last 16E to steam in 1999. Currently standing at Bloemfontein loco in fair condition. Brass plates together with the “Ann Smith” lettering were removed in 1997 and replaced with aluminium Museum plates."
112. In January 1966, on another visit to my favourite Loco Depot, I found 16E 854 – leader of the class – in “dolled-up” condition. Not my favourite condition with all the different colours but rather this than dust and grime – not so? #854 carried her original aluminium number plates until she was scrapped in 1973. Her regular driver from 1960 was 'Apie' Donaldson.
113. Back in 1960, I had photographed 16E 854 being cleaned by her regular crew and here she looked rather better without all the colours of the later 1966 image. She carried the name “Harrismith” for a number of years while resident in Bloemfontein.
114. In July 1967, I photographed 16E 855 “Johannesburg” having her fire cleaned near the coal-stage. At that time, I didn’t know that less than two years later this engine would haul a special Blue Train from Johannesburg to Klerksdorp. This was the 30th Anniversary trip of the Blue Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town – steam-hauled all the way there and back. No 855 had the honour of doing the first leg to Klerksdorp and the final leg over the same section on the return journey. She and sister 859 were temporarily transferred to Krugersdorp Loco for this special event. 859 was the back-up engine but she was not needed as 855 did the job without any problems.
115. Back in 1959, I had photographed engine 855 carrying a Pegasus Horse on her smoke-deflector plates – this was before she carried the name “Johannesburg” which was originally allocated to 15F 3049. Nils Kotze tells us: "No 855 carried brass replacement plates as the engine overturned at Van Zyls siding near Norvalspont in 1952. Driver Jack Wilcox was fatally injured in the accident. This tale was told to me by driver Buks Pelser who had the 'Search Order' to find the missing train the day of the accident. She was scrapped in 1973."
116. A broadside view of 855 with her “Pegasus Horse” trimmings. Theo Espitalier, in his series on SAR steam as published in the SAR & H Magazine, described the class 16E thus “these engines are of imposing appearance with their 6ft driving wheels.” Indeed, he was right! What a beautiful machine!
117. This close-up of the Rotary-Cam valve-gear on engine 855 was taken in 1967 – see photo 115.
118. 16E "Johannesburg" as prepared for the anniversary Blue Train (see our coverage in Part 1a of 'Steamtown RSA'). By Saturday 29 March 1969 she was ready to go and around 3:00 a.m. next morning she moved off shed to work 434-up, the East London-Johannesburg express.
119. Here we have a collage depicting 16E 856, named “Kroonstad”, photographed c 1959. In the early 1950s when 16Es still worked trains through to Johannesburg from Bloemfontein, I remember seeing engine 856 at Germiston with train 4-up having just arrived from Vereeniging, with only one deflector plate in situ. She was obviously involved in an accident – maybe a level-crossing mishap – and the fireman’s side deflector plate was so badly damaged that it was removed altogether. In 1953 the engine-working changed and we didn’t have the pleasure of seeing 16Es in Johannesburg any longer. Engine 856 carried her aluminium plates until she was scrapped in 1973. Her regular driver after 1960 was Daantjie Venter.
120. Night-time view of 16E 856 at the ashpits with an unknown 19D on the adjacent track.
121. 16E 857, “Ann Smith Bloemfontein Queen” leaving the Depot to work a train probably across to Kimberley or south to Noupoort. Regarding this engine’s rather unusual name, I wrote an article which was published in the SAR & H Magazine in June 1964. An extract from that article reads: “We must concern ourselves with Navy Week Queens Contest held in Bloemfontein in October 1944. The original Ann Smith, a lady clerk in the System Office in Bloemfontein, collected the largest amount in the contest in the subsidiary and main sections and thus became the Railway Queen to compete against the various Town Queens, where, with the magnificent amount of £8,264/8/9 she was again the winner and was elected
Bloemfontein Queen. She was crowned on 6th November, 1944 by Mr P.J.Louw, then System Manager, OFS. The staff were so pleased with her efforts that 16E 857 was named after her. 15F 2970, stationed at Kroonstad, was also given the name Ann Smith but in all my years of photographing SAR steam I never saw that engine carrying the name.
122. 16E 857 worked a few service trains before taking up her 'permanent' resting place in front of the station. Here she was being coaled preparatory to working 21-down, the evening commuter run to Springfontein.
123. Here is class 16E no.858, named after her designer, “Allan G. Watson” who was CME of the SAR from 1929 – 1936.
124. Rather strangely, in all the years that I photographed class 16E locomotives, I never saw engine 858 looking clean and polished. Rather sad that the very engine carrying her designer’s name should be the least presentable of all six engines of her class.
125. When Gert Coetzee took over at Bloemfontein in 1966 one of the first things he did was to ensure that the 16Es were kept immaculate. Therefore he chose the class's allocated drivers carefully! This was the Allan G Watson during the Coetzee era. Thanks to Nils Kotze we have a record of which driver had which engine. Nils also provided us with this information regarding #858 which seems to bear out what Les was saying about her: "She carried her original aluminium plates. Regular driver was Joe Bloemhof some time between 1960 and 1973. This engine was always a poor performer compared to her sisters. Was known by other drivers as '858 – always late'! Transferred to De Aar in 1973 after withdrawal where the smoke deflectors were removed, original type headlight and safety valves were fitted, but injector piping was not restored to original routing. Engine was running in 80’s and early 90’s between Kimberley and De Aar. Currently at Beaconsfield depot in poor condition."
126. This is numerically the last of the class 16Es – engine 859, named “City of Bloemfontein” and just “Bloemfontein” to represent the Afrikaans version of her name. The grab-rail attached to both her smoke deflectors was an exclusive fitting on this particular engine – obviously fitted to her by one of her previous regular drivers. Note the original inclined 4½ inch Ross-Pop safety valves fitted to these engines. They were later replaced by four smaller diameter Ross-Pop safety valves on top of her boiler. At this point it is necessary to introduce our readers to Mr Nils Kotze of Bloemfontein who has had a lifelong fascination with the 16Es (who can blame him) and has kindly provided the following important information:
"It is interesting to note that all the 16E’s had their boiler feedwater pipe routing moved circa 1959 together with the change in safety valve types and headlights. You will notice that before 1960 the pipes from the turret to the injectors follow the original route as fitted by Henschel and not obstructing the running boards. The Sellar valves were also placed more forward near the front of the firebox. After 1960 the pipes followed a direct 'scruffy' route from the turret straight down and the Sellar valve was moved to accommodate this. I assume this was done when the engines had a major overall."
127. It was weird to have 'City of Bloemfontein' on one side and just 'Bloemfontein' on the other, but this was South Africa.......
128. A slightly different angle of her right side. The 16Es certainly had a commanding presence but this was considerably diminished by the new headlights (see also photo 126).
From Nils Kotze again: "She carried her original aluminium plates. Regular driver was driver Cerneels De Beer (father of the late CF De Beer who had class 23 #3286) later in her Bloemfontein career. She too was scrapped 1973. After scrapping, her smoke deflector nameplates (Bloemfontein/City of Bloemfontein) were fitted to #857."
129. In January 1966, I found 19A 702 on shed, not a resident but probably a visitor passing through.
130. Dedicated to the Aliwal North link, 19C 2444 had an allocated crew as you can see from her spanking condition.
131. Also dedicated to the Aliwal North run, North British-built 19D 3329 was on-shed in Bloemfontein in the early 1950s and looking fairly presentable too!
132. Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 19D 2747, built and delivered in 1947, nicely bulled up and still sporting her much more graceful original chimney (but alas, not the original headlight). Bunker piled high with enough fuel for the Aliwal North run indicates she was about to move off shed to work the 08:30 all-stations, No 177-down passenger. February 1968.
133. Last 23 to receive a heavy overhaul was 3286, in November 1972. Her regular driver, De Beer, took leave during her overhaul so that he could supervise the work. The engine came out like new - that's De Beer sitting on the fireman's seat. He arranged to have a row of bulkhead lights under the running board on each side so the motion would be illuminated when he had to grease around at night. Sad to record that five years later when De Beer was on annual leave his engine was booked out to another crew who burnt the crownsheet. She never ran again.
134. Two class 23s Nos.2562 and 3207 were seen near the coal-stage in July 1967. By this time the decent headlamps had given way to those horrible little rectangular tin boxes!
135. During 1969/70 Bloemfontein sub-shedded two 24s at Springfontein for working the Koffiefontein branch. This was immaculate No 3661, just in for her fortnightly boiler washout.
136. Class leader, S1 No 374 outside the 15M shop. They looked pugnacious and they were, especially when shoving a 100 wagon rake up the hump.
137. Three class 31 diesels were spotted in the Loco in July 1967 – I only recorded the leading two engine numbers – 31.004 and 31.031. If memory serves, these class 31s were used to haul block-loads of loco coal from Germiston to Bloemfontein. This practice had ceased by mid 1968 together with diesel working from Burgersdorp, thus making Bloemfontein a 100% steam depot for the next five years.
138. Late in September 1968 the shed entertained the Ian Allan Tour Group under guidance of Les Pivnic. At this time steam had just finished on British Railways so we had great difficulty explaining to the number-snatchers in the group that there was not a single dumped or withdrawn engine in Bloemfontein. SAR was so busy that all available motive power was in service. Still in its prime when this photo was made in September 1968 the shed had the largest allocation on the Orange Free State System: 175 engines consisting of 97x23s; 6x16Es; 18x19Ds, 17x16DAs; 5x24s, 11x12Rs, 2x10Cs, 6x8s (assorted), 10x3Rs and 3xS1s. There were 300 arrivals and departures every 24 hours and the only motive power to be seen, either allocated or visiting, was steam - visiting diesels had disappeared by mid 1968 and did not re-appear until the Noupoort and Burgersdorp lines went diesel in 1973.
The 15M shop is the saw-toothed building on the left. It was served by two through roads. The next two were the running repair and washout roads followed by two roads for the passenger link engines - as you see, they were the cleanest. The next eight roads were for pooled engines while the short dead-end on the right was to allow the shed pilots to be parked out of the way.
139. A pair of 23s coming on shed from the north block-load yard having just brought in empties from Noupoort.
We are grateful to Tony for the following:
"The cabin behind the engines was called the TR point ('Train Register point' see photo 19). This is where the shunters who set the road for the station or yard, as appropriate, were housed. After preparing the loco just before we left the depot, either the driver or the fireman would go to a phone on the running lines side of the roster office and ring this hut and tell the shunters which train number we were running and its destination. From that information they would tell us to come forward now or wait a short time before leaving [note the sign at the bottom of the picture that says: 'STOP' 'WAIT FOR HAND SIGNAL']. A delay would yield a red flag and 'come forward' a green flag. Often there were so many movements you could wait 10 minutes before leaving. The time you rang in was given as the departure from depot time so you could not be accused of not preparing the engine in the allocated time."
140. This was the multi-track flyover (over the freight bypass) that gave access to the shed from all sides (see Bruno's map). From the left: the first two roads were for the south, east, and westbound general freight (i.e. freshly sorted) departures, the next two were for north and southbound block-load engines and the next two were for the station and the north block-load yard - those two 23s would have been heading for the north block-load yard.
The foregoing brings to a close the coverage of the Running Shed. In the introduction we spoke about the difficulty SAR was having to find white crews in compliance with the Government's apartheid inspired 'Job Reservation' policy. By the end of the sixties it was already glaringly obvious that the policy was not only unfair but, more seriously given the country's booming economy, it was unworkable. The number of whites available to work on dirty old steam engines was declining faster than new jobs were being created. There were overseas enthusiasts willing to get their hands dirty but unfortunately for SAR their numbers were insufficient. Aussie enthusiast Tony Marsden was one of them and the following account of his time as a fireman at Bloemfontein paints a graphic picture of the seriousness of the situation.
FIRING STEAM AT BLOEMFONTEIN, 1974 by TONY ‘ASHCAT’ MARSDEN
I had seen an article in the Australian ‘The Enthusiast’ magazine written by South Australian Geoff Smith, who had gone to South Africa in 1971 and fired steam for a short time at Bloemfontein. Often I discussed with my best mate Paul McDonald about going over there to fire. I wrote to a steam author – Dusty Durrant – who was living in SA and he suggested coming over, as there was a severe shortage of firemen because of the long hours and hard work. It was a ‘reserved occupation’ – which meant only whites could be employed. Also the locos were very big for 3’6” gauge and ran long heavy trains. In 1973 we decided to go over and did so in December. Paul quit his job with a bank and I took ‘unofficial leave’ from my teaching diploma studies. Working at Bloemfontein was our aim, as the depot had over 100 locos allocated to it with four radiating lines, all of which saw steam.
On arrival we stayed with the extremely hospitable Dusty & Christine Durrant at their Springs residence. We were quickly introduced to the steam hauled Nigel services – mostly worked by 24 class. Cab rides were no problem with the friendly crews who all knew Dusty. These rides whetted our appetite to fire even more. At the time New South Welshman Mike Carter [1] was firing at the Springs depot and Englishmen Geoff Hall [2], John Gilberthorpe [3] and Peter Odell [4] were also firing at various depots. Thus we knew it was possible to get firing jobs. Paul and I caught a suburban train into Johannesburg where we fronted SAR Head Office to apply for jobs. The employment clerk immediately told us there were “no positions for non-South African residents.” Without giving names, we said we knew of non-South Africans who were employed as firemen. He denied this and demanded to know their names. We made a quick exit. Shattered, two downcast Aussies returned to Springs. Not even the magnificent ear splitting exhausts of the S class shunting at Germiston could bring us to smile.
We gave the devastating news to Dusty. He simply said “We are going to meet Charlie Lewis at Bloemfontein this weekend. He will get you jobs! Ahh – have a beer.” This was Dusty’s permanent answer to any abnormal situation. It was a holiday weekend and extra trains were running. Our introduction to mainline steam was an evening on Bosrand bank, just out of Kroonstad on the Bloemfontein line. In a 3 hour period there was a train up the bank every 15 minutes! A mix of single and double headed 23 class on both pass and goods confirmed our decision that this was the line we wanted to work.
Next morning Dusty introduced us to Charlie at Karee Koppie, our phot spot for the morning. We explained our desire to fire. Charlie said, “You guys are mad. Firing full time won’t give you any time to go photting. You need to work as clerks by day and fire at night which will give you time to phot.” We explained that was not our wish and Charlie said he would make arrangements in early January. We arrived in Bloemfontein on our bash just after Christmas. After spending New Year’s Eve and Day photting with Charlie in the George area, Charlie kindly offered us overnight accommodation the night before fronting the employment office on the afternoon of January 3. It was the first of many times we enjoyed the Lewis family hospitality and Melly’s famous pumpkin soup.
Next day we presented ourselves, full of hope, at the employment office. Charlie had given us his railway phone number in case we received a similar welcome a-la-Joburg. Once again, extremely quickly, we were refused jobs. We asked the clerk to use the phone to ring Charlie. He dutifully explained that as we were not railway employees, he could not allow us to use the railway phone. After some delicate negotiations we managed to get him to ring Charlie. There soon followed a series of “Ja Meneer [yes sir], nie meneer [no sir] and jammer Meneer [sorry sir]”. After he put the phone down, the clerk looked at us rather sheepishly and quietly said, “We have jobs for you - if you can pass the OTIS employment test, an interview and a medical tests.” All were easy. We signed contracts and were duly supplied with signed forms to present to the local immigration office in order to get work permits valid for 6 months. This process would take 6 weeks - in which time Paul and I toured the country seeking steam in areas from where it was soon to disappear in favour of diesel or electric traction.
In early February our work permits had arrived and the SAR employment office gave us a time to report to the depot foreman and authority to stay at the SAR Hostel. We became residents of the President Steyn Railway Hostel – about a kilometre walk to the depot. R40 a month gave a 3 metre by 2 metre room with a single bed, table, chair and wardrobe, all meals at any time of the day or night [including those when on shift] and laundry. It was a fantastic deal for someone whose worldly possessions fitted into one suitcase! We walked to the depot and were welcomed by the foreman, Mr Williams. [5] He was proud of his depot and even more proud of the diesels that worked the south line and that the line to Kroonstad was in the process being prepared for electric traction “which was the way of the future to replace obsolete steam locos.” We bit our tongues….. We were given notices of our first shifts. For the next 3 weeks I was to work as third man on stoker fired 15F 2968 - a local passenger link engine whose regular crew was driver Norman Krause and fireman Hermanus Steyn. Krause was a real grump but Hermanus was a fine fellow, even taking me to his home for a meal. He asked me to help his wife learn English as their young son had to take English lessons at school. She helped me learn some basic ‘loco’ Afrikaans – take water and clean fire. Those words came in very handy in the months to come. Paul went to the 19D link.
On most railways, one would begin a footplate career as an engine cleaner and progress to shed fireman, then fireman. At Bloemfontein it was ‘whites only’ on locos so there were no positions as engine cleaners. Thus I did 3 weeks as a 3rd man ‘trainee fireman’. My main tasks were to polish the brass, take water and wash out the ashpan at fire-cleaning stations. Hermanus taught me the finer points of stoker firing and fire cleaning. My soft student hands soon blistered and calloused! We worked ‘local’ passenger trains and workshops shunts. The passes were either to Thaba Nchu and Modderpoort on the Bethlehem line or Brandfort on the Kroonstad line. The shunts were Mechanical Hauler or scrap yards at the Mechanical Workshops or Carriage siding. It was thrilling to be able to fire under Hermanus’ watchful eye. I did much more firing than expected and even fired one whole shift on a shunt job. That was thrilling for me as 2968 was a great steamer. I also got to change tablets – more later. My arm got badly burned at the 3-week mark and I was booked off sick for 3 weeks by Dr Elsabe Barnard, sister of the famous heart transplant pioneer Christian Barnard. No way would SAR countenance paying for 3 weeks of no work, so for Paul and me it was 3 weeks of fireman’s college. This meant theory in the classroom learning safeworking rules and loco parts. The day started at 8 AM and finished at 4 PM with 30 minutes for lunch. It was very formal. Dress code was collar and tie and you had to stand beside your desk when answering questions. The classroom was next to the hump yard, so the glorious beats of the two 15Fs on the hump shunt [6] provided pleasant background noise and great vision at lunchtime. For the first few days, our instructor was JJ Boshoff who was normally Germiston based. He was in his 60s and relieving regular instructor Pete Erlank who was on leave. He was a very pleasant gentleman. Pete was also very pleasant but in his forties. He very much enjoyed his two Aussie pupils. This was because he didn’t have to repeat the same thing several times as he had to do for many of the young local lads who ‘were not the sharpest tools in the shed’. He made me Class Captain – quite an honour. With Pete’s permission we played many practical jokes on them which made the classes even more fun. The training notes were of very high quality. I really enjoyed learning the loco parts and their purpose. The classes finished with 3 hours of written exams. After passing them, I did 3 days as third man running 385/386 and 387/388 Zastron goods. This was on hand-fired 19D 2751 - the same loco as Paul - and he went to my 15F.
We were then considered qualified, so after 19 hours off (most spent photting at Glen with Charlie) on Sunday 17 March at 9 37 PM I signed on for Hump A shunt. What followed were a series of shunt jobs for 14 hours a day, seven days a week for 6 weeks. You then got one day off. Not the greatest of conditions for R1 an hour – which was then the same value as an Aussie dollar. [7] The shunts gave plenty of chance to learn how to fire without a lot of pressure. After a few months, I was paired with a regular driver doing mainline work. Those shifts could be any length but generally 18 hours. I did work two shifts over forty hours!!! The longest was 45 hours 47 minutes and that is a story in itself.
In the 1970’s Australia (and many other countries) had imposed sanctions on South Africa in an attempt to end Apartheid. South Africa did not have television and the general population relied on Government run radio and newspapers for world news. Very little was known about Australia other than that we had previously played cricket against South Africa and had kangaroos!!! A few times I was asked if I “had a kangaroo in my backyard?” My reply was, “No – do you have a lion in yours?” The underlying humour was mostly lost. Many crews could not understand why we came to South Africa whilst our Government had imposed sanctions on their country. When I took photos of the massive amount of steam spare parts at the workshops – something I’d never seen in Australia – the driver I was working with accused me of being a Communist collecting information for the Australian Government. I explained that Australia was dieselised and photos of steam spares were worthless to our Government. There was also further suspicion of our motives when we told them we could work on diesels in Australia for triple the pay [we earned $1 an hour in SA] and half the hours. They could not understand why we would leave our families and travel 16,500 kilometres and live in a primitive railway hostel to work on ‘dirty’ steam locos for poor wages and harsh conditions when we could have stayed home to work on ‘clean’ diesels with far better working conditions. Logically, their thinking made sense, however it did not consider the emotion that was an extreme passion for steam. That said, most of the crews were fine as Paul & I were ‘novelties’. Afrikaans was the language of the railways and we had to learn it. Bloemfontein was capital of the Orange Free State – total Afrikaner territory with very little English spoken.
Afrikaans was the crew’s first language, with English a poor second, even though they did learn it in a very limited capacity at primary school. Many crews spoke poor English and did not want to work with us because of their lack of confidence. When they worked with us, we tried to speak Afrikaans and they appreciated that – even if they laughed at our attempts. I only ever had two drivers refuse to work with me because I could not speak Afrikaans. That didn’t bother me though as there were many drivers who were good. As the country was officially bi-lingual, they could not legally refuse to work with us. Paul and I both had regular drivers after a few months, as they wanted to work with us because we were interested in firing well. To many firemen it was the only job they could get – as blacks did all the other menial jobs - and they had no interest in doing the work well. There were not many South African railfans, but the few who were there loved that we were steam firemen. There were more overseas railfans than locals. [8] In April, an Australian railfan tour group visited and many of the guys cab-rode with me on a shunt job soon after I had started firing solo. That was a great time for all of us. It was lovely to speak English with someone other than Paul!! No disrespect to him though! Later on, both Warren Doubleday and the late George Bambery cabrode with me on the mainline to Kroonstad on separate occasions. They both loved it, as Australia never had so much big size steam on any gauge, let alone 3’6”.
My first shift was on Hump A shunt – ‘Boggel A rangeer’ in Afrikaans. Stoker fired 15F 3128 was the loco with driver Wally Sweeney who was absolutely fantastic. Wally explained he didn’t speak a great deal of English. I explained I didn’t speak a great deal of Afrikaans!! He would speak English then speak the same words in Afrikaans so that is how I learned basic loco Afrikaans! Wally brought home-made hot dogs to eat even though the hostel had supplied me food. The cab brass work was supershine and I enjoyed keeping it that way. There was great pride in having a clean cab even on a lowly shunt job. Visiting USA railfan Rob Allingham was at the depot that afternoon - he took my photo lighting a buffer beam paraffin lamp. He kindly sent me that shot which I treasure. He later fired at Springs for a short time. Our job was to push 2000 ton loads up the hump. They were loads made up of incoming trains and we pushed up at about 5 mph as the wagons went over the hump. This happened 24 hours a day, everyday of the week with two locos which showed the huge volume of traffic once moved by rail. Compare that with today. The hump is gone and the majority of freight goes by road.
Of course our limited knowledge of Afrikaans opened up many opportunities for the locals to set up the ‘uitlanders’ [= foreigners] when in the sign on room with plenty of onlookers. Some examples were: You must not call your driver Johann but call him ‘oupa’. When asked “Why?” the answer was always “just do it.” Quickly, I would look up my Afrikaans/English dictionary to find that Oupa meant ‘grandpa’. Johann was only 30 but had shiny grey hair – hence oupa or grandpa. And “he is called ‘Rondom Lelik’ [= all round ugly]”. Not something to say to a senior driver. Naturally there was much disappointment when I wouldn’t take the bait. However there were times when I’d ask the recipient to play along, saying “Willem has asked me to say ‘xxx’” and they would do so. I asked Big Dave ‘couplers’ Smith (he had hands the size of auto couplers) to “soen my lank and soen my lekker” [= ‘kiss me long and kiss me nicely’]. Dave immediately went to hug me but instead turned to Willem and planted a kiss on his cheek. Much hilarity from the room as the joker became the joke. It was a lot of fun and we gained respect for being part of it.
My daily routine depended on the type of job. On some shunts, you just relieved a fireman on a loco already in the yards so there was no preparation. On other shunts and all mainline work one had to prepare a loco. The allowance was 45 minutes for tasks which took 1 hour 45 – so you worked an hour unpaid! After signing on – an hour before your driver – you got his keys and walked around the 12 road shed to find your loco. There were 80-plus locos on shed and there was no record with the roster clerk where each loco was placed. This could take 15 minutes – even more reason to sign on early. All the locos were in low steam and had banked fires which were ‘maintained’ by black labourers. The states of the fires varied markedly but steam pressure was always about 100 pounds with full pressure being between 180 and 225 pounds. I would then check the boiler water level by testing both water gauges. If it was a stoker fired loco I would increase the blower pressure and put on a fire after checking the jet settings – which distributed the coal over the firebox. This would help increase steam pressure. If it was your regular loco, the kit, oilcans and fire irons would be locked on the loco. If it was a ‘pool’ loco – not allocated to a driver - then you had to go to the kit store to get the kit. This was often 200 metres away from the loco and a black labourer would help wheel it in a dilapidated wheelbarrow to the loco. This was generally over unpaved ground that was a muddy mess if it had rained. You would also get your allocation of lubricating oils and grease. If it was a ‘pool’ hand-fired loco you could not put on a fire as the shovel was with the loco kit in the store. Once you had the kit, you would open all the steam valves for the ancillaries (brakes, turbo generator, stoker jets and stoker motor, injectors etc). After creating vacuum for the brakes, if the loco didn’t have a steam brake, I would release the handbrake. Next, I would move the loco to ‘spot’ it under the water column. With handbrake re-applied, I would then climb on the tender top and open the water column valve so water would slowly flow into the tender tank. You ran it slowly so you could then clean the fire at the same time. You would put the oilcans and grease guns near the boiler to warm them up for the driver. After steam pressure was near full you would put on an injector to fill the boiler with water. This would lower steam pressure which you would build up again. Whilst this was happening you would boil the billy in the firebox so the driver could have a cup of coffee when he arrived. If there wasn’t coffee the driver would not be happy and that would mean a hard day...... Then I would clean the fire. You would need some boiler water to flush the ashpan. With the fire cleaned you would hose out the ashpan and fill the boiler at the same time as filling the hydrostatic lubricator with oil – if the loco had one. Next job was to clean the cab roof inside and clean the boiler cladding in the cab. If this was not done it would mean another reason for an unhappy driver and you would pay the price. By this time the driver would have signed on. He would have a quick coffee and begin oiling and greasing the motion gear. Next I would finish filling the tender water. I would then wash the cab floor with the cab hose – which used water from the boiler. After the driver had oiled up, the windows would be washed and a bucket of clean hot water filled so you could both clean up before heading out to the yard to either shunt or attach to your train if it was a goods or to the station if you were to work a passenger train. Once shunting or running a train it was a matter of keeping the fire stoked to keep high steam pressure and adequate water in the boiler. [9]
At certain times you would clean fire and take water. On most shunts the fire would be cleaned every three hours. This was good because if you messed up, it wasn’t long before you could rectify the mistakes. It was great practice for the main line. If you are wondering how you could mess up a fire on a shunt job, the coal was terrible because of its high clinker content and variable grades. [10] The locos on the shunts worked very hard – very similar to be on a mainline turn. You could set the stoker jets correctly to get an even fire and all would be good – then the grade of coal would change because the 14 ton bunkers would not get the one grade of coal. Suddenly the grey haze you were keeping at the stack would become thick black clag. The coal would be piled on the throat plate at the front of the firebox which meant the loco would stop steaming well. Jets would have to be re-set. If you had a good driver he would work the loco even harder to chew the coal away from the front. The grates ranged from 36 to 63 sq ft. For mainline work, on a passenger train you were only allowed 11 minutes and 15 on a goods to clean fire– not easy so you really had to know your stuff. The shunts were the place to learn that. On the mainline you generally only cleaned fire and took water once before reaching your destination usually a distance of 90 kilometres. On hand fired locos it was more often after about 45 kilometres.
I worked a variety of shunt jobs with many drivers, most of whom were good blokes. Hump A & Hump B, the west & north yards, carriage siding and coach siding were stoker fired 15Fs. Mechanical Hauler 1 & 2 (workshops), Scrap 1 and 2, Wagon 1 and 2 and Sidings were 12 class. The coal stage shunt was a 19D [10] and PNT sidings [wagon repairs] was a 19D or 24. Goods 1 and 2 were 23 class jobs and were day and night shifts. We travelled in the loco depot Kombi call van to get to the goods shed area which was about 2 km away from the departure yard. The work involved making up trains of 1500 tons and then taking them to the departure yard on a 2km trip. This was as close as one could get to mainline work on a shunt job and it was my favourite job [11].
Another job I particularly liked was called ‘Shops’ – a loco test job at the workshops . I worked it four times – twice two days in a row. Alas the first two days were non-events. 12A 1539 failed twice during the prep so no main line run. It was a 6:45 AM sign on, walk a km to the mechanical workshops and oil up a loco which had just had a major overhaul - replacement boiler, motion, tyres and ancillaries. Workshops staff lit up the fire. The loco would then run light loco to Van Tonder – 14 km on the north mainline to Kroonstad. The driver was always a loco inspector. A workshops foreman fitter rode in the cab and a fitter with his fitter’s mate rode on the front buffer beam beside the smokebox with ropes as safety belts because test speed had to be fast to ensure nothing ran hot. Certainly I was glad I wasn’t a fitter. The locos were both 15Fs 3138 and 2929 – neither had a brick arch fitted at that stage. After returning from Van Tonder, the fire was dropped and any repairs would be done in subsequent days and the brick arch put in. For me it was a walk back to the depot and sign off. One shift was 9½ hours and the other 11½.
Early on I was paired with Phillip Hibbers who was a hard task master. His opening remarks were “I am happy to speak English but no fireman lasts more than 3 days with me – my kit must be kept shining and firemen don’t like that.” I replied that it looked ‘mooi’ [beautiful] and I was more than happy to keep his kit shining. He thought I was being sarcastic and said, “You won’t last long.” After a week, Phil got the idea that I was indeed happy to keep his kit clean and we got along famously. When he saw me writing in a notebook he asked “Why?” My reply was I kept note of the stoker jet settings for each loco. Of course they varied with the coal but were a good starting point. Phil decided I was worth nurturing and began to give me a great many ways to set jets. He’d also show me how to do repairs in the run. Phil was a superb teacher and mentor. He also helped me learn to speak Afrikaans. Alas after two months he told me he was leaving SAR to work on diesels at a mine in Newcastle. Shorter shift hours, cleaner working conditions and better pay were the reasons. Phil’s parting words were, “it won’t be long til you are on the mainline” and I was very sorry to see him go. He was correct, as I was soon paired with mainline driver Ben Steyn. I had worked four shifts with Ben in early April doing mainline hauler jobs and we got on famously. After these shifts he said he would ask for me to be his regular mate. That took another while – more later.
Before I was permanently paired with Ben, I worked several noteworthy shunt shifts. After signing off at 6PM on a day shift, the roster clerk informed that I was being swapped from day shift to night shift, supposedly giving me a very welcome 24 hour break. I was having a very sound sleep when the call boy bashed on my door at 7:40 AM. “You are going to day relief at Modderpoort which was on the Bethlehem line and junction for the 10km long Ladybrand branch. It was an 8AM sign on and I would be picked up by the loco kombi call van in twenty minutes. Very quickly the kitchen staff packed my food and I was being chauffeured to loco. I was to travel ‘spare’ as a first class passenger to Modderpoort on train 71, the 9 AM Durban pass. After reporting to the Station Foreman it was shunt the yard, run 497/498 Ladybrand Mixeds, shunt and stable then return on 82 pass ex Durban to sign off about 5AM next day – a 22 hour shift. After signing on, I was told to find 25NC 3420 - the loco for 71 Pass - and ride with the crew to the station. I’d met Driver Greef a month earlier whilst motorcading the Bethlehem line. He greeted me with a big smile and friendly handshake. His fireman Willem gave me a cup of coffee – superb hospitality. They invited me to ride the cab all the way to Modderpoort. Knowing the length of the shift ahead, I asked if I could ride from Tweespruit which was the first water-stop, as I wanted to get some sleep. That was fine with them and I presented my travel voucher to the conductor who ushered me into a compartment that I had to myself. The beat of the NC lulled me to sleep. It was a 2-hour run.
Then I had the pleasure of 90 minutes in the cab of the gently swaying NC hauling 15 cars for 450 ton. The NCs had only recently replaced 15Fs and the crew described their new steed as magnificent. Eight years later, I was able to find this out first hand when I fired at Beaconsfield depot Kimberley. 3420 exhibited raw power and rode very smoothly because of the four- wheel bogie truck under the cab. At Modderpoort I bade them farewell and reported to the Station Foreman around 12:45PM. He gave me a key to a crew rest room so I could change into my working clothes. Soon I was on 19D 2626 with driver L J Botha “only 2 years to pension [retirement]” and very proud of his 25-year accident free medal – not easily earned on SAR. He was a very affable chap and explained what the shift entailed. We were to make up number 497 Ladybrand mixed then clean fire before the 4 40PM departure. Our load was to be 435 tons which included two passenger cars – one for whites [empty] and one for ‘non-whites’ [overfull]. We began shunting and no matter how much I shovelled, the steam gauge stayed glued to 150 pounds – well short of the 200 pounds possible. Noting my concern, LJ said, “Don’t worry – it’s faulty. Give it a whack with the hammer.” This I did and suddenly had 195 pounds!! We whistled out on time and 2626 steamed well as we tackled the four kilometres of 1 in 40 grade. There was plenty of water as we topped the grade for the 6 km drift to Ladybrand where we arrived at 5 PM. Whilst there was a triangle to turn the loco, LJ explained there was not enough time to do that and make up the train – no need to take water or clean my fire which wasn’t too bad apart from a lump in the centre of the box. “No problem,” said LJ. “Just fire around it on the way back.” 498 was a 5:40 PM departure and the consist was 12 goods wagons and 2 passenger cars supposedly 387 tons. As I filled our water bottle from the platform tap, two young ladies gave me a cheerful greeting. LJ told me they were “2 of the Modderpoort Station Foreman’s 5 daughters” – all ‘good sports!!’. They had been in ‘town’ for an afternoon of shopping. He suggested I should extend my day relief to several!! The Foreman will arrange food for you! …. Tempting, but ‘No’ in such a small place. It was almost dusk as we got a green light from the guard. We departed on time with a full head of steam and full glass water – necessary when running tender first for 6 km of 1 in 40. Again 2626 steamed well and slogged steadily upgrade and a bit too slowly for my likings. Twenty minutes later we were back in Modderpoort. LJ kindly complemented my firing effort advising we were 20 ton over the full goods load for funnel first! That made me smile. After cleaning fire and taking water we shunted the train and yard. At 11:30PM I banked the fire and stabled the loco. LJ was very persuasive in trying to get me to stay but I said, “No,” advised the Station Foreman of my decision and retired to the very cold rest room to grab an hour’s kip before 82 Pass arrived. Again I travelled as a first class passenger. My solo compartment was 7 cars back from 3406 and I even had bedding!!! The bark of the NC upgrade soon had me asleep. A heavenly way to end a shift. We arrived at Bloemfontein on time at 4 20 AM and I rode 3406 to the depot and signed off at 5 AM giving a 21 hour shift. I also earned R3.28 in expenses. Bonus!!!
My next mainline shift was an accident. I was trying to get some Sunday time to increase my pay because Sundays were paid at time and half. The rest of the week was normal time and overtime rates began after 396 hours a month. I saw a vacancy on the 5 10PM carriage siding shunt. The loco was 15F 2968 with driver Norman Krause. His regular fireman Hermanus Steyn was doing driver-training theory at Essellen Park Training Centre near Johannesburg, so a replacement fireman was needed. Not much could go wrong on a shunt job I’d done before and on a loco I knew – or so I thought. Eight hours with grumpy old Norman couldn’t be too hard … How wrong I was!! After shunting, the job turned into 501, the 00:50 AM Thaba Nchu Pass, returning on 502 Pass. I’d done this shift when a trainee, however had totally forgotten it turned into a mainline run.
After signing on (early of course), I prepared the loco. Being a regular-crew loco there was no need to get the kit from the store which saved much time. The oils and grease were all warming on the hob. The fire was clean, ashpan cleaned and water taken and a coffee ready for Norman on his arrival. He was not happy. “I don’t like working with an ‘Engelsman’ [Englishman]. You know we go to Thaba Nchu after the shunt?” My answer was a nod and I lied “Ja” [yes]. Excitement was mixed with apprehension. Certainly I’d done 3 months of firing, mainly stokers on the shunt, and felt I could handle it. Having been on 2968 during training and knowing how it steamed well gave me extra hope to be confident of doing a good job. After Norman had completed his prep, I went to the store to get our allocation of oils, grease, paraffin and cotton waste. After another coffee we departed loco and spent 3 hours shunting. The stoker jets were set to the same as Hermanus had them. There was not much conversation as it wasn’t necessary. After the shunting, we returned to the depot to take water and clean fire. Then it was back to the carriage siding to pick up a car consist we had made up earlier and shunt to the platform.
We departed on time. The Bethlehem line was token territory and Norman advised that he would be doing all the exchanges because it was mostly a non-stop run. That suited me fine as I had never exchanged a token at night, let alone at the speed of 50 kmph - which we would be doing. All went well and I called the signal aspects, in Afrikaans, as soon as I saw them as we approached stations. 2968 was steaming very well and the fire was the wedge shape it needed to be. The exhaust was the ‘grey haze’ which was the way to fire stoker equipped locos. There was no need for black clag whatsoever. The front of the firebox throat plate was clear of fire – which it needed to be for good steaming. If coal landed there, the loco would steam poorly. We steamed upgrade from Sannaspos with plenty of steam and water. It was very enjoyable as the loco exhaust was cracking and pleasant music to my ears in the cold, still night air. As we passed Sepane at 50 kmph, Norman failed to collect the tablet. He shut off and made an emergency brake application. The safeties lifted, so on with an injector. We stopped about 300 metres from the platform and I expected we would set back to collect the token. No way… Norman barked for me to go and get it. With torch in hand, I made my way back in the limited footway. The Station Foreman asked why we hadn’t set back? My reply was that Norman was not happy to be working with someone whose native language was not Afrikaans. The SF expressed his sorrow and wished me good luck – in English. All was quiet by the time I returned which took about 8 minutes. All Norman said was, “maak vinnig” – move faster. The injector was still going and water was well out of sight at the top of the glass. The fire was mostly grey as normally happens on stoker fired locos when no coal has been added. We took off straight away at a fast pace. I turned off the injector, opened the blow down to reduce the water level to avoid priming and put on a fire. Norman yelled to shut the blowdown. The grey haze at the funnel had become a black splodge. A quick look in the firebox showed coal on the throatplate. A check of the jet settings revealed they had been changed. Norman’s way of making life hard. I quickly re-set them and as Thaba Nchu was not far away, the fire could be cleaned so the throat plate build-up didn’t bother me too much. It was no use saying anything to Norm, as it would only make a difficult situation worse. If this was what being paired with him was like, I preferred the shunts!!
At Thaba Nchu, it was turn on the triangle, clean fire, take water and have 2 hours sleep. With the jets re-set and clean fire 2968 again steamed well on train 502, which stopped all stations. That allowed me to do all the token exchanges as our speed was slow. None were dropped!!! No chance for Norm to make mischief… We kept the timetable easily, arriving at Bloemfontein East 5 minutes early. It was a good run and I was happy with my efforts. After an on-time arrival in Bloemfontein the guard came forward and gave us the running sheet and complimented us on a ‘right time’ run. Then we cut off and ran to the depot, leaving the loco on the arrival roads near the coal stage. As 2968 was a link loco, it was lock the fire irons and tender lockers then sign off. The roster clerk, Young Willie, asked how I went? “Good” was my reply, also letting him know of Norm’s tricks. He then said that Norm had complained that “I didn’t know my job and that we were late arriving home and he didn’t want to work with me again.” Willie had checked our running sheet to find that we had in fact arrived on time and that Krause wanted an excuse to get rid of me. Being late on a passenger train was a great reason to dump a fireman. Willie then asked, “We know he doesn’t like to work with one not fluent in Afrikaans, however would you like to do the week with Krause on Thaba Nchu passenger trains?” “If he doesn’t want to work with me, then how can you roster me?” was my question. Willie said they were desperately short of firemen and they knew I was capable, so Krause would be over-ruled. Reluctantly I declined, as despite the great time had, the antagonism and unpleasant cab atmosphere sure took the shine off the run - all because Krause did not want to speak English.
On the Bethlehem, Aliwal North and Kimberley lines the Van Schoor system of safeworking was in place. This meant exchanging tokens – usually on the run from speeds between 20 and 50 kmph. There was quite an art to doing this. The Station Foreman would stand on a metre high raised platform and hold the token which was on a rubber covered steel hoop high in the air. As you neared him, you would throw the outgoing authority onto the platform then hold your arm parallel to the cab side and collect the incoming authority. Sometimes the buck and sway would mean a set of skun knuckles or dropped token. Neither were pleasant. I soon learned to wear a leather glove!!!
Back to Ben Steyn. He was a fantastic guy and wanted to work with me to improve his English to help his son at high school. No Afrikaans lessons any more! Apart from being a consummate engineman, Ben was a prolific chef and used soleplates heated in the firebox to place on the steel cab floor. Pots would be placed on them with ingredients to cook a multitude of meals. Along with wors cooked on the loco, stews, pasta, melie pap along with tomatoes and onion sauce were some of his culinary delights.
Although not a regular pass link driver, we worked passenger trains with 23 class to Kroonstad, Springfontein and Ladybrand often on locos whose regular crew was on leave so we had some beautifully well-cared for locos. We worked goods trains to Kroonstad, Allenridge and Kimberley with loads up to 1300 tons, again on 23 class. Aliwal North trains were on 19Ds with up to 600 tons . We had two ‘special’ jobs which I found very interesting. One was to deliver a 15F 3088 on hire to a mine at Lorraine near Welkom which meant running on the main line towards Kroonstad. It was a 6:50 AM sign on. Loco inspector Tom Van Zyl accompanied us with the paperwork. The cost to the mine was R500 a day. Once common to see 15F on that line, by mid 1974 it was rare. The highlight of the trip was to double head with a Kroonstad 23 3290 on 1619 Goods from Hennenman to Welkom. Here we loaded our kit onto the tender tray of 3290 and travelled home ‘spaar’ [=spare] by first catching 1618 Pass to Kroonstad at 1850. At Kroonstad depot we put our kit on to 23 class 3228, the loco for 333 Pass to Bloemfontein departing at 1 45 AM. First class with beds on an overnight passenger train hauled by a 23 class. Heaven!! - being paid to listen to that stack talk from a comfortable bed. There was also the chance to watch the fire glowing on the exhaust which I have absolutely loved ever since watching steam at night when I was young kid. We rode 3228 to the depot, unloaded our kit and signed off at 8:00 AM giving a 25 hour 10 minute shift.
Another job was to take a light loco 12AR 215 fresh from shops to Kimberley on 2233 Special Goods. We signed on at 9 50 AM and ran to Beaconsfield depot at Kimberley. I’d fired plenty of 12ARs on many shunts. They had a 42 sq ft firebox. Running light wasn’t too taxing. After stabling the loco, I loaded the kit onto the Bloemfontein 23 class which was to run 92 Pass from Kimberley. It was another travel home first class ‘spare’ by passenger job. Even so, we cabrode for two sections and I fired while the fireman chatted with Ben and his driver.
Rugby had a huge sporting interest – especially for the local team ‘The Bloemfontein Blues.’ Many crews had played rugby in their youth and they were very big, strong boys. Lots of crews always tried to have Saturday afternoon off - Ben was one of those. We signed on at noon one Friday to run 2150 Allenridge goods. Allenridge was in the middle of grain & mielie producing area and block trains ran there twice a day. You could do a round trip or book off. This time we booked off which meant after the 12.5 hour journey we could have rest up to 8 hours. Ben chose 6, which would mean a train departing around 8 AM Saturday morning. This gave a great chance to be home by game time. The load was around 1330 tons which loco 3267 handled perfectly. It was my favourite loco as it always steamed superbly. We headed off and ran at a cracking pace to join the main line at Hennenman. Fire cleaning would then be done at Vetrivier where water would be taken. Cleaning fire on the run was strictly forbidden but Ben did not want to take too long as we could be put behind the Orange Express and he would miss the rugby. As we passed through Theunissen Ben said, “Get ready to clean fire on the downhill run into Vetrivier.” Not one to disobey orders, as we began to drift, I prepared the fire irons. The 23 class had 63 square foot grates which were hand shaken. All other classes had steam shaker grates. I could never figure out why the biggest grate area never had steam shakers. I shook the grates until the clinker had broken and I could flip them. Ben had got an extra 12” added to his rake iron, so it only took 5 strokes to clean the throat plate instead of about 30! All the rubbish ash was ready over the dump grate. I turned on the ashpan flushers, opened the ashpan slides and then the dump grate. I could hear the ash dropping into the pan and hoped that most had dropped out with no lumps stuck. After closing the slides, I turned the flushers off then boiled the billy for coffee by holding a can of water in the firebox with the jet cleaning hookie short fire iron. All we had to do at Vetrivier was take water and go. That would only take 5 minutes. Ben said he would take water whilst I washed the two sides of the ashpan. As we approached the platform, I noticed a man in a khaki coat near the water column. “Hell Ben – there’s a loco inspector here – we’re in the shit.” “No WE aren’t – YOU are!!!” Ben said jokingly. He came over to my side and began laughing. “What’s so funny?” I asked. “We are in trouble.”
“No, no, no. It’s Oom Tom,” said Ben. "He was my regular driver for years. He came with us to Welkom. You know him – he likes you. He wants to get back for the rugby too!” As we stopped Oom Tom gave a big wave and called out “Hello Aussie. Tell Ben I’ve squared us to run ahead of the Orange. Let’s get going. I’ll make the coffee.” He climbed into the cab and did just that whilst I washed the ashpan and Ben took water. Within 5 minutes we were away and barking up grade at a cracking pace. With 400 more ton load than the Orange, we beat the Express times thanks to the superb 3267 – a magnificent loco. After leaving the load in the arrivals yard, we had the fastest run ever to the depot. Ben stopped near the car garages at the road entrance to loco. He and Oom Tom got off and left me to take the loco to the arrivals track near the coal stage. After taking the kit to the store, I made a fast entrance to the roster room and signed us both off and made a faster exit. What a fantastic run – all thanks to the love of rugby.
Hostel life was just shower, eat and sleep. There was a social room but there was no spare time to use it. Evening meals were: Sunday - roast lamb; Monday – forequarter lamb chops; Tuesday – mid loin lamb chops; Wednesday – curried lamb; Thursday – Chicken in some form; Friday – fish and chips; Saturday wors and pap. Food for trips varied on the length of shift but it always included leftovers from the previous evening placed in an aluminium pannikin which would be placed somewhere on the boiler to heat up. Often there would be a small piece of raw wors which would be cooked on the shovel. There would be one honey and one jam sandwich and a boiled egg. Containers for tea, coffee and powdered milk were always filled. The kitchen boys were a happy lot. Each week I’d give those I saw a 10 cent piece. This always assured me getting an extra sandwich or bigger piece of Wors. Getting to loco by public roads was a 1.5 km hike. Luckily someone had cut a hole in the back fence which gave easy access to the loco flyover which made the distance about a km.
On an average hand-fired loco on a shunt you would shovel about 10 ton of coal. On the Aliwal North run that would increase to 12. A 23 class would use about 14 ton on a run to Kroonstad , Kimberley or Allenridge. The tenders had slides which would be pulled forward as coal was used. The big 18 ton bunkers would hold various grades of coal so you always had to be watching the fire all the time. It was not all sit down and turn valves. Jets would generally be blown at 50 lbs with the stoker motor turning slowly. The theory was that a great percentage of the coal would burn in suspension. I well remember after a rough trip to Vetrivier I could not wait to clean fire to make things right. After pulling a slide we headed up hill with a lovely grey haze suddenly at the funnel. Suddenly it turned black. The coal was lighter and on the tube plate. In frustration I began to cry … Ben put a fatherly arm around me and said, “You take this firing far too seriously. Relax. I’ll fix it for you. He increased the cut off for a short while and the exhaust bark was incredible. He then took his wide rake fire iron and cleaned the throat plate. After cutting the jet pressure back all was good. He was fabulous to work with and yes I did take firing a bit too seriously.
Working at Bloem was a brilliant time and a life-changing experience. There are many more stories to tell however, alas, not enough room in one SOAR chapter for them. To the average railfan the fireman’s job is a glamour one. However it was bloody hard work mainly because of the poor quality coal. That said, I gained a huge amount of experience in a relatively short period. If Australia had still been using steam, it would have taken me three times as long to get the hours I did. My SAR experience has been invaluable to my volunteer work as a fireman and driver on Tourist railways in my home state of Victoria. Amazingly, forty-seven years late I now drive and fire a 24 class on the Q train which is a superb restaurant train running on the Bellarine railway at Queenscliff. [12] If you had told me that when I left Bloemfontein I would have said, “You have to be dreaming!” My association with SAR was renewed in 1982 when, again thanks to Charlie, I fired at Beaconsfield depot, Kimberley. However that is a whole chapter in itself.
Finally a few comments on loco classes. The 15F’s were solid workhorses on shunts and the first locos I ever worked on and I have a soft spot for them. The 24 class were fine to fire as were the very powerful 12 class. My times on 19Ds were not great as most were due for shops and not in good nick, however it was possible to see how capable they were. The 24 class were a top loco – free steamers with a great turn of speed. The 23 class were superb on the mainline but there was a real art to firing them correctly. They needed a spot on fire. It was often said that ‘if you could fire a 23 class properly, then you could fire any class of loco’. I believe that is very true. I hope you have learned a little of what life was like as a fireman at Bloemfontein just before steam finished. Apart from the time on the footplate which was mostly superb, it was ably matched and exceeded by the hospitality of Melly, Charlie, Justin and Jessica Lewis to whom I give eternal thanks for making life bearable and being my second family. I must also pay tribute to Mike Carter, Geoff Hall, the late John Gilberthorpe, Peter Odell and Allan Johnstone who all had the guts to stick out the crap conditions to reach driving grade. Guys I salute you!
The following footnotes to Tony's wonderful account of life as a BFX fireman are by Charlie, please don't blame its author.
[1] Mike is alive and well and now lives in Somerset West, near Cape Town
[2] Geoff now lives in George, at the foot of what used to be Montagu Pass
[3] Sadly we lost John, one of the best enginemen I was privileged to know, in 2018
[4] Peter, founder and force behind 'Steamnet 2000'* now lives in Kamfersdam, just north of Kimberley
[5] Williams was Gert Coetzee's successor at Bloemfontein. He was not a sentimental railwayman
[6] This bears out that the S1s were retired late '73 or early '74
[7] It now costs a Saffa R11 to buy an Aussie dollar
[8] Our reporter got a bit carried away here.....
[9] "a fireman's life is awful hard", said Alice
[10] Until the early 1960s SAR used washed low-ash, high fusion coal (i.e. ash <10%; fusion > 1350°C). It was permitted to clean fires on the run on designated lengths of track.
[11] This was the run that came right past my office (see picture 3)
[12] Check Tony at the regulator of Ian Welch's 24cl 3620 here: https://youtu.be/vfovObqnGEI
THE END OF THE SHED
The final word from John Middleton on Bloemfontein's Running Shed - once upon a time it attracted enthusiasts from all over the world:
The shunts in Bloemfontein started going diesel from 23rd March 1988 when 6 duties changed over, further turns went over from 6th June leaving steam just working the Hamilton Yard shunt, the Mechanical Shops Hauler, Carriage Sidings shunt and the loco shed pilot. Bloemfontein shed closed to steam on 4th September 1988, the last loco on shed that day at 6 am being 25NC 3518. The shed did continue to see steam as locomotives arriving on workings from Kimberley continued to be serviced for a couple more years after that.
My eyes are moist.
141. Taken from the tender of 12R 1949 on Wagon 1 Shunt as the loco takes water in the Mechanical Workshops area during a break in shunting duties. Note the vacuum gauge showing the brake is firmly applied. I could say the ‘limited Depth Of Field’ composition was deliberate with the spare parts out of focus, but that would be a fib! 8 June 1974
142. Coming from Australia where steam overhauls had long since finished and spare parts were almost non-existent, to see the literally millions of spares was an eye opener. This shot, and the following five, reveal the extent of spares for locos undergoing overhaul. If you care to count there are over 300 superheater elements here either under cover or exposed to the elements (one has to try to be as corny as Charlie at least once!). The covered shed extended another 200 metres to the right so at least 1000 sets of elements …. An amazing sight for a steam starved young Aussie! Refer to paragraph 11 in my story above for more details
143. Sixty plus cylinder liners
144. In the magic of monochrome: Firebricks for brick arches in fireboxes with axle boxes in centre rear. The bricks are stacked 3 metres high for the most part and 9 metres on the right background. No attempt to count these …
145. To the left and right - superheater headers, behind them in the centre - valve liner bushes and smokebox petticoat pipes at right rear.
146. Tender bogie brake blocks at left front, smokebox petticoat pipes and axle-box hornstays behind them as well as firegrates. Behind them are both long and short chimneys.
[the latter to the new hideous design - as a conspiracy theorist it is Charlie's firm conviction that the new headlights and chimneys were designed and manufactured so the accountants could say to management "see how much it costs to maintain a steam locomotive!"]
147. Hundreds of axleboxes and more firebricks.
148. 12R 1949 on Wagon 1 Shunt takes water in the Mechanical Workshops area during a break in shunting duties. 8 June 1974
149. Outside shop 26 two ‘self-propelled’ steam cranes, the closest of which has just had an overhaul.
150. Boilers undergoing heavy renewal. Harald made this and the next two photographs on his visit to the mechanical workshops in December 1971. At that time the Bloemfontein shops were turning out 28 to 32 Heavy overhauls/month and a similar number of what were called Intermediate overhauls. In March that year the GM Kobus Loubser had announced that steam was to be phased out, but due to the unprecedented growth in traffic and the fact that General Motor's local assembly plant at Port Elizabeth was not yet in production, SAR workshop's Heavy-overhaul programs continued unabated, churning out a combined total of > 200 practically new locomotives every month.
151. Closer view of some of those boilers. Take a look at those arch tubes, they supported the brick arch and they were hollow; in effect, water tubes. Tee-shaped, they allowed water to circulate freely through the white hot brick arch from side to side and up to the crownsheet.
152. Driving wheels galore, among others you can see pairs off 19D 2753, 15F 3116 and 24cl 3608.
153. During 1987 some 35 steam locomotives were overhauled in the workshops and as 1988 dawned, there was still a programme of 25 heavy overhauls scheduled for the year – 12 Class 15F and 13 Class 25NC. However, by February the programme had been pared back to just 10 – 4 class 15F and six Class 25NC and by July regular overhauls had ceased. On 6th May the erecting shop was still busy and in this long shot of the assembly bay, behind 15F 2994 (outshopped 3 June for Kroonstad) is 25NC 3501 (outshopped 17th June for Beaconsfield). Behind 3501 is the frame of 19D 3347 (on which something serious must have been found as it was not completed and later scrapped). The 19D was being done for the museum and was replaced in the overhaul queue by 3323 (outshopped on 31st August). Incidentally 12AR 1535 was also overhauled for the museum during the year and had been outshopped in March 1988. Finally at the far end of the shop is 25NC 3469 which was ex-works five days later on 11th May 1988 returning to its home shed of Beaconsfield.
154. 25NC 3469 almost complete, the third last 25NC to be overhauled, she left the works five days later. After 3469 there were just two, 3501 and finally 3407 outshopped in green as shown in Les’ photos 159 to 161.
155. Another shot of #3469 with a huge 25NC ashpan left foreground, probably from 3501 (it had to be big enough to catch the ash from 70 sq ft of grate!)
156. Driver Phil Hibbers and his immaculate kit on the buffer beam of 12R 1877 (North British 1921) on Scrap 2 Shunt. He was very proud of his ‘mooi’ [beautiful/lovely/pretty] kit. I loved keeping it immaculate. The equipment is (L>R): hard grease gun; Marfak (soft grease) gun; paraffin bottle. Above this, engine or MH oil and cylinder-oil feeders; cylinder oil bottle; shovel and two hammers – all with handles kept natural white colour by constant cleaning with water soap and sand; engine-oil bottle; two paraffin slush lamps to provide light when oiling round during darkness; 24” shifting spanner; detonators tin; 10” shifting spanner (lying flat) and last but not least, the bucket. 20 April 1974
157. Fresh from Heavy Repair (Major overhaul), 19D 2653 awaits light engine trial – see paragraph 16 of my story [for convenience I repeat it here: "Another job I particularly liked was called ‘Shops’ – a loco test job at the workshops . I worked it four times – twice two days in a row. Alas the first two days were non-events. 12A 1539 failed twice during the prep so no main line run. It was a 6:45 AM sign on, walk a km to the mechanical workshops and oil up a loco which had just had a major overhaul - replacement boiler, motion, tyres and ancillaries. Workshops staff lit up the fire. The loco would then run light loco to Van Tonder – 14 km on the north mainline to Kroonstad. The driver was always a loco inspector. A workshop foreman fitter rode in the cab and a fitter with his fitter’s mate rode on the front buffer beam beside the smokebox with ropes as safety belts because test speed had to be fast to ensure nothing ran hot. Certainly I was glad I wasn’t a fitter. The locos were both 15Fs 3138 and 2929 – neither had a brick arch fitted at that stage. After returning from Van Tonder, the fire was dropped and any repairs would be done in subsequent days and the brick arch put in."]
158. Bays 9, 10 and 11 of the Wagon shop. On the other side of this building was a traverser pit and the Carriage shop, which at this time was just winding down its wooden carriage repair program, for which you can see the gigantic imported teak logs slightly to the right of the middle of the picture as well as between the willow on the right edge and the sawmill shop.
159. This is 25NC 3407 which was the last engine to receive a regular Heavy Repair (SAR for major overhaul) at Bloemfontein Mechanical Workshops. A special ceremony was organised to celebrate the final outshopping on 29 July 1988. She was specially placed for us to photograph.
From John Middleton: "While Les is quite correct that 3407 was the last regular heavy overhaul, it wasn’t the end because between July 1988 and April 1990, the museum managed to get agreement for another 12 locomotives to receive heavy overhauls for railtour use – 14CRB 1882, 15A 1970, 16D 860, 16DA 879, 19C 2439, two 19D (2749 and 3323) , two 24 (3632 and 3660), GF 2401, GO 2575 and GL 2351. The honour of the very last engine to leave the erecting shop after heavy repairs, fell, maybe appropriately, to a Hendrie gem, 15A 1970. Some of these had not turned a wheel in almost 20 years but the workshops did a fantastic job during this wonderful Indian Summer of overhauls which gave many another chance to see classes in action that were long thought to have gone forever." [Note from Charlie: one senses input from three influential individuals here: Les Pivnic from the museum, Helmuth Hagen (Assistant General Manager, Operating) and Braam le Roux, General Manager. While Les could not in any sense be described as a closet enthusiast, the other two definitely were.]
160. Please see my caption to photo 159 above.
161. In this photo collage we see the dignitaries and staff who were present for this event. Peter Stow provided some of the names of the dignitaries who were present: From the left it was Thys Maartens, engineer at BFN, Dr John van der Voort, Mechanical Engineer, Bloemfontein and Freuk (probably short for Frederik) van Loggerenberg, CME, PTA.
162. Wide-firebox 16DA 878 found a permanent resting place on a plinth in the Mechanical Workshops but in today’s climate I wonder if she has survived? The gent on the front buffer-beam is unknown – he invited himself into the photograph.
163. In the early 1970’s timber bodied coaches deemed to be at the end of their economic lives were stripped of any useful components and then set alight. The amount of smoke generated from the burning timber, malthoid (bitumen based) roof covering, paint and epoxy waterproofing soon had the municipalities and environmentalists up in arms and the practice was terminated. Here coach 4215 of type K-36, of which 51 in total were built and whose styling featuring arched panels matched that of the Hendrie balcony coaches, was one of a batch of 25 built in the Uitenhage Works and placed in service in 1923/24 and was 48 years old when this photograph was taken in early 1972. She still looked in reasonable condition to me but age rather than condition was being used as a criterion when programmed scrapping began.
Appropriately we close the Bloemfontein chapters with a picture of a burning coach. 'Appropriately' you ask? Well, arson is now well established on our railway - it has been found to be a reliable way to boost the taxi industry. The latter is a ruthlessly efficient private enterprise with which the government-run passenger railway (known as PRASA) is simply unable to compete.