PART 15: Natal North Coast 1. Umgeni River to New Guelderland

Compiled by Les Pivnic, Bruno Martin & Ashley Peter

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 compilers of this series, Les Pivnic, Bruno Martin, Ashley Peter and Charlie Lewis.

Acknowledgements

Our request for photos taken on the Natal North Coast line generated so many images from our contributors, that it necessitated splitting the chapter into three parts. This is the first of those three and covers the line from the Umgeni Bridge (just north of Durban) to Stanger – exactly 50 miles north of Durban.

In terms of steam motive power over the years, this line was worked by a variety of classes – including Mallets, Garratts and large main line engines like the class 15CB/CA in later years. Eventually, after an incredible crescendo of traffic, electrification and dieselisation took over from steam as will be revealed in the photographs.

Extensive research by my co-compiler Bruno Martin provides the historical background to what was surely one of the most interesting main lines of the SAR as well as details of the terrain covered as it winds its way up the North Coast. Bruno has also provided all the maps and gradient profiles – thanks Bruno!

Special mention must be made of the mammoth contribution by Ashley Peter in not only providing a comprehensive set of photographs by the Late Brian Couzens but also providing the interesting and informative captions to go with Brian’s photos. Also a special mention for Peter Stow for his fascinating historical details of the coaching stock.

A mention for my colleague Charlie Lewis who tackled the Photoshopping of Brian’s images that over time had deteriorated very badly in the humid climate of Natal - all the while slotting this work in between Eskom's power cuts.

The following photographers and colleagues (in no particular order) contributed photos to this chapter:

Bruno Martin; Peter Stow; Charles Parry; Late Brian Couzens via Ashley Peter and RSSA Durban; Transnet Heritage Library (THL); Charlie Lewis; Les Pivnic.

Thanks as usual are also due to Andrew Deacon for formatting the chapter.

THE NORTH COAST MAIN LINE:

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE

UMGENI – STANGER SECTION

Researched and Compiled by Bruno Martin

The Natal North Coast Line follows the coastline from Durban to Empangeni before turning away and heading further inland to Golela on the Swaziland border. It is 248 miles long and was built to initially serve the agricultural interests, primarily the sugar estates, along the coastal area between the Umgeni River in the south and the Tugela River in the north. Coal deposits in the vicinity of Hlabisa provided the incentive to extend the railway further northwards through Zululand. After the end of World War 1, the Natal North Coast Line was extended from Mtubatuba to the Pongola River and up to the Swaziland border.

By being located a short distance inland and not hugging the coastline, the rail route up to Empangeni followed an unduly tortuous alignment very similar to the Natal Main Line from Durban to Ladysmith in the 1880s. Gradients and curves closely followed the contours of the ground to lighten the works; bridges and culverts were constructed in the cheapest manner possible. Only very basic station facilities were provided and gradually improved as and when the volume of traffic justified the expense. Rails released from the main line were re-used and laid on a bed of shallow ballast composed of coarse sand or other material found on site. Locomotives and rolling stock made redundant from the main line were redeployed for branch line working so that no new designs would have to be introduced.

The Natal North Coast Line was transformed through two periods of extensive reconstruction from a light line to become a major component of an important trunk route carrying mineral and general freight traffic from Mpumalanga via Komatipoort and Swaziland to Richards Bay and Durban. At some locations, the original alignment was completely rebuilt not once but twice where upgrading from the trackbed up was necessary. The Natal North Coast Line is classified by TFR as a 'High-Density Line'.

RAILWAY TO THE UMGENI QUARRY

In 1867, just 7 years after the Natal Railway Company had opened South Africa’s first steam-operated public railway between the Point at the harbour and the Market Square in Durban, the Natal North Coast Line started life as a 3½-mile long extension of the 4ft 8½in gauge line from the Market Square Station to a quarry on the south bank of the Umgeni River. Construction was financed by the Natal Colonial Government - making it the first government-owned line - and operated by the Natal Railway Company under a 15-year lease to carry stone needed to build a breakwater and other harbour works. It was officially opened on 25 January 1867 with great pomp and ceremony.

When work started in 1876 on extending the North Coast Line as part of the railway construction contract undertaken by the Natal Government Railways*, train services on the 4ft 8½in gauge track were still in operation between Durban station and Umgeni. A third rail was laid in the interim to allow construction trains to pass until the services on the ‘broad’ gauge were discontinued on 11 May 1878. Noteworthy engineering features were the 1140ft long bridge over the Umgeni, completed in December 1877, the 160ft long Khat’s Kop Viaduct, a trussed girder structure of wood and iron at mile peg 17¼ and a 133ft long tunnel pierced through Khat’s Kop Ridge at mile peg 17¾. The section from Umgeni to Avoca was opened to traffic on 21 August 1878, thereafter the service was extended to Saccharine Hill (changed to Mount Edgecombe in 1880) on 15 March 1879. Following the opening to Verulam on 1 September 1879, the town became a thriving centre as a result of its position as a railhead for the district.

*The Natal Government Railways (NGR) were constituted under Law 4 of 1875 which provided for the construction of 105 miles of 3ft 6in gauge railways, comprising a 78-mile section of main line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg; a 19·75-mile extension from the terminus at Umgeni to Verulam in the north; a 7·25-mile branch to the south from a junction on the main line to Isipingo and the purchase of the Natal Railway Company’s line from Durban (Market Square) Station to the Point.

THE NATAL-ZULULAND RAILWAY COMPANY

From small beginnings in the early 1850s, the coastal areas growing sugar cane spread rapidly north of Durban towards the Tugela River, then forming the boundary between the Colony of Natal and Zululand. After 1905, the sugar cane plantations spread progressively beyond the Tugela River into Zululand. The lack of transport was addressed in 1889 when the ‘North Coast Railway Extension Act’ was approved by the Natal Colonial Government and a survey party was tasked to carry out a trial survey for an extension of the railway from the terminus at Verulam to Stanger. By the end of September 1890, the route was pegged out to Stanger after which a ‘flying’ survey was made for a route from Stanger to Bond’s Drift on the Tugela River. The length of the proposed railway from Verulam to the Tugela River came to 47¾ miles. Following the completion of the survey by mid-January 1891, the work party was disbanded after which there were three years of inactivity before any further action became evident. It appears that the survey of the South Coast Line extension from Isipingo to the Umzimkulu River had taken preference over North Coast Line in the order of importance. It was not until December 1894, and only after staff and equipment could be released from the South Coast Line survey, that a start was made on refining the survey of the North Coast Line. This work was completed by December 1895.

James Liege Hulett, a member of the Natal Legislative Assembly and successful businessman who owned tea plantations and later sugar cane plantations at Kearsney and Kirkley Vale near Stanger, was the driving force behind the railway extension getting built from Verulam to the Tugela River. In a letter dated 15 May 1895 addressed to the Natal Colonial Government, Hulett offered to raise the necessary capital to finance the building the railway. Surprisingly, the Natal Colonial Government gave its approval for the venture to be undertaken by private enterprise providing work started three months after the delivery of the plans and specifications. Based on route delineated by the NGR survey teams during 1890-91 and 1894-95, an agreement was signed on 19 December 1895 in Pietermaritzburg between the representative of Messrs J L Hulett & Sons Ltd and the Colonial Government. In terms of the agreement, the Colonial Government guaranteed 3 per cent interest on the cost of the Natal section of the line to be paid yearly but reserved the right to purchase and take over the line by giving 12 months’ notice. The company, in turn, would receive 46 per cent of the gross traffic receipts. A clause in the contract stipulated that the NGR would operate the service on the line.

Meanwhile, in December 1895, James Hulett had arrived in London to arrange a loan with a group of financiers for the building the railway from Verulam to the Tugela River. The Natal-Zululand Railway Company Ltd was floated in London with a nominal capital of £350 000 in £10 shares and £300 000 in debentures of £100 each which would bear 3 per cent interest per annum. On 14 March 1896, the company issued the first 17 500 shares and a debenture stock worth £150 000. The trustees of the company were Henry J Norman and M O Fitzgerald, directors of the London & Westminster Bank and National Provincial Bank of England, respectively. A London-based company, Messrs. Stepford & Co., was awarded on 17 March 1896 the contract with H G Humby appointed engineer in charge of construction. The construction contractors also agreed to take £50 000 in shares as an advance payment by the Natal-Zululand Railway Company. To avoid a conflict of interest, Messrs J L Hulett & Sons Ltd ceded on 27 March 1896 their company’s rights to the Natal-Zululand Railway Company*.

The route surveyed by the NGR engineers between Verulam and the Tugela River was by no means an easy line to build through the undulating terrain which was intersected by 9 large rivers requiring substantial bridges. Construction of the earthworks and culverts began in June 1896 but work got off to a slow start because of a ‘scarcity of native labour'. A change of the route initially proposed between Verulam and Tongaat increased the rail distance between the two towns by several miles. By December 1896, most of the spans required for the bridgework had arrived in the Colony, but great difficulties were encountered driving the screw piles through the clay in the river beds in particular that of the Umhloti. It was not until the middle of August that the first train was able to traverse the 880ft-long structure. Track laying with 45lb/yd steel rails released from the Main Line on new creosoted Baltic sleepers progressed slowly, due in part to the outbreak of Rinderpest (cattle plague) which virtually stopped all animal-drawn road transport and the difficulty of recruiting labourers. The road bridge over the Tongaat was adapted to also carry the railway across the river so that the first section of the line could go into operation on 3 December 1897. Given the difficulties and delays over which the construction contractor had no control, an extension of nine months was granted beyond the completion date set in the contract. The revised date for completion was set for 20 September 1898. The individual sections of the line were thereafter opened to Umhlali on 17 May and Stanger on 10 August 1898. All sections opened to traffic were subject to six months of maintenance by the contractors. On 1 December 1898, the line was finally taken into use to Tugela - more than two months past the extended date of completion. A change of the surveyed route added a further 3·6 miles in distance with the relocation of the terminus at Bonds Drift instead of near Fort Pearson (Lower Drift) on the south bank of the Tugela.

*A paragraph in the 1899 NGR General Manager’s Report alludes to the failure of the Natal Colonial Government coming to an agreement with the Natal-Zululand Railway Company regarding the capital cost of the railway. Following the stipulated six months maintenance by the contractors was duly fulfilled, the company’s financial representative, W F Leeson, arrived in Durban from London in March 1899. Several meetings took place and correspondence ensued but despite all the appropriate documentation submitted to the Government in July, it appears the matter had not been resolved by the end of 1899. The line was leased to the NGR, the service provider, starting from 1 July 1907. After 1910, following the formation of South African Railways, the lease arrangement continued for another 37 years until 1 July 1947 when the section from Verulam to Tugela (50 miles 25 chains) was purchased by the SAR administration and integrated with the open mileage of government-owned lines. Further research is needed to find out the reason why this section of the line remained leased to the service provider for 40 years.

THE STANGER - KEARSNEY RAILWAY

Before concluding the history of the construction of the North Coast Line to the Tugela River, the Stanger-Kearsney Railway deserves a brief mention. Linking the factory at the tea plantations at Kearsney with Stanger Station, James Hulett had this 2ft gauge line built on a formation wide enough to accommodate 3ft 6in gauge railway on a ruling gradient of 1 in 25 with 300ft minimum radius curves. Constructed on a capital outlay of £18 500, this laudable enterprise was equipped with 2 steam locomotives, 2 passenger carriages and 5 freight trucks. Nicknamed ‘Hulett’s Folly’, this 8-mile long railway operated from 2 January 1901 until about 1941. It had its own staff including a station master, train crews and operated a passenger service to and from Stanger Station timed to connect with the schedules of passenger trains to and from Durban. The rails were removed from the servitude sometime between 1946 and 1950 – the rails reportedly first saw service in East Africa on the Mombasa-Nairobi line.

Near Stanger Station in 1982 there was a notice board attached to a piece of rail “Historical Site. Embankment of the Stanger-Kearsney Railway line opened on 2 January 1901 until 1941”.

RECONSTRUCTION BY THE SAR

The low-cost policy enforced by the NGR on the standard of branch line construction soon backfired as traffic increased and the lightly-built formation, bridges and culverts were frequently affected by washaways. Following the disastrous floods of 1917-18, repairs on a grand scale involved building major deviations and replacing the damaged bridge structures of seven major river crossings. After the loss of the bridge over the Umgeni River in October 1917, rail traffic was diverted on to the Connaught Road Bridge while a temporary rail bridge was built. The temporary rail bridge was taken into use in May 1919. The new double-track Umgeni rail bridge, opened 31 January 1926, comprised nine 100-foot and two 60-foot spans carried on reinforced concrete cylinders and piers. This rail bridge was subsequently replaced again in 1982.

Reconstruction of the North Coast Line with new sections to ease grades and curvature was undertaken from 1919 to 1926 between Umgeni and Stanger. From the Queen's Bridge Signal Box, an alternative route, 5¾ miles long, albeit single track and embodying three short tunnels, was opened to Duff’s Road on 21 May 1923 to bypass the severely-graded original NGR line through Red Hill. In April 1923, a new single-track alignment was opened from Duff’s Road to Verulam which embodied two tunnels to bypass the tortuous alignment through the Khat’s Kop tunnel. North of Verulam, from Umdhloti Junction to Maidstone, a new stretch of 7 miles of single track on easier grades and curvature was opened in July 1923, including two new stations named Nyaninga and Hambanati. The 13 miles of the old line opened in 1897 via La Mercy, with a connecting link at Umhloti Junction, was retained as an alternative route to serve the private sidings of the sugar plantations. The opening on 24 February 1924 of the section from Groutville to the new Umvoti River bridge marked the completion of the reconstructed line from the Umgeni River to Stanger, a distance of 45 miles 54 chains. On this improved line, only 3 miles and 22 chains of the old formation were retained; these being parts of existing stations and bridge sites. Grades were improved to 1 in 66 compensated against traffic from Stanger to Durban and 1 in 55 facing traffic in the opposite direction. The sharpest curve, of which there were only four, was 528ft in radius. Before carrying out these improvements, the ruling gradient on the line between Umgeni and Verulam was 1 in 30 uncompensated for the sharpest curves of 300ft radius while from Verulam to Stanger and Tugela it was 1 in 30 compensated for curvature. Besides the extensive improvements made to the alignment, all stations were provided with additional sidings.

By 1960, the rapid growth of traffic had completely outstripped the carrying capacity of the North Coast Line notably on the section from Duff’s Road to Darnall. At the time, the only double-line section was from Durban to Umgeni. Although two routes were operating from Queen's Bridge Signal Box to Duff’s Road and also from Umhloti Junction to Maidstone, they could not provide full double line capacity due to the adverse curves and grades on the sections opened in 1879 and 1897, respectively. From Maidstone, it was single track throughout to Stanger and Tugela. Despite providing heavier locomotives capable of hauling larger loads, lengthening loops to cater for longer trains and opening more train control points on the line, the phenomenal growth in traffic called for a major improvement scheme to increase the line’s capacity as a matter of urgency.

Between 1960 and 1969, improvements to enhance the carrying capacity from Duff’s Road to Stanger entailed building more deviations, partial doubling and replacing existing bridges with new multiple-arched bridges. To accommodate the increased lengths of trains, stations and yards were remodelled at Duff’s Road, Mount Edgecombe, Ottawa, Canelands, Maidstone Shakaskraal and Stanger.

The single-track line, opened in 1923, from the Queen's Bridge Signal Box to Duff’s Road was doubled and the tunnels twinned. Between Mount Edgecombe and Verulam, the new double-line alignment required boring two sets of twin tunnels to replace the previous single line and tunnels opened in 1923. On this section, only one new single track alignment from Mount Edgecombe to Verulam was taken into use in April 1963 while the deviation, opened in 1923, remained in use until the duplication works and the other twin tunnel was completed in January 1969.

Work on doubling the line between Canelands, Maidstone and Stanger was completed by the end of March 1963. This development brought about the closure on 1 March 1964 of the original NC line via Mount Moreland and La Mercy. A spectacular bridge to the north of Verulam, comprising 16 segmental arches over the Umdloti, the 1540ft-long ‘Conco Bridge’ was taken into use in early 1969. The section of track from Verulam to the old Canelands Station, formerly Umdhloti Junction, was closed and a new Canelands station was opened on the double-line alignment over the ‘Conco Bridge’.

ELECTRIFICATION

Starting with the energizing of the Durban – Duff’s Road section on 15 December 1962, electric traction was progressively extended from Duff’s Road to Mount Edgecombe in April 1967, thereafter opened to Verulam on 26 January 1969 and on to Stanger later in 1969.

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ORTHOGRAPHIC NOTE: The original nineteenth and twentieth-century spelling of Zulu names have been retained in the text – in modern orthographic practice river names such as Umgeni have given way to Mgeni (also uMgeni), Umdloti to Mdloti (also uMdloti), Tugela to Thukela, Umfolozi to Mfolozi, Pongola to Phongolo etc. The station name Stanger has remained but the town has been renamed kwaDukuza. Natal is now KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland is now known as eSwatini.

CURRENCY AND MEASURES: For historical accuracy, the British Imperial system of units has been retained in the text. On 1 April 1971, the metric system was adopted by South African Railways & Harbours. South Africa’s decimal monetary system - Rand and cents replacing pounds, shillings and pence was introduced on 13 February 1961.

Imperial measurements of length are expressed in miles, yards, feet and inches. One mile (mi) is equal to 1760 yards or 5280 feet. One yard (yd) is equal to 3 feet (ft) and one foot is divided into 12 inches (in) – in the text, the use of full stops with abbreviations has been suppressed. In addition to miles and feet, distances in railway surveys are also expressed in chains (ch) and links (li). One chain is equal to 66 feet or 22 yards (the distance between the two wickets on a cricket pitch); therefore 80 chains are equal to 1 mile. One chain is divided into 100 links – 1 link is equal to 7·92 inches.

MAPS & GRADIENT PROFILE

1. 53 years ago, I photographed this 14R no.1720 with her local passenger train approaching Ottawa. When I was writing the caption, I noticed the track in the foreground and 53 years later, I had no idea where it came from! Ashley Peter came to my rescue and wrote:

“That train is coming in on the original alignment at a point where it meets up with one of the new double line deviations - these tended to dive straight into a tunnel between stations whereas the old route climbed virtually to the summit before dropping down to the next station. By 1967 the upgrading of the North Coast was already well underway. If you have a look at a number of Brian Couzens' photos taken between Mount Edgecombe - Ottawa and Ottawa - Verulam you will see the old and new alignments branching off from one another from about 1967 to 1969, when the old alignments were finally removed”. Thanks Ashley!

2. UMGENI BRIDGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Work on the bridge began during 1876 sinking the screw piles into the river bed. A ‘screw pile’ or displacement pile is a cast-iron pipe with a diameter of 12 or 15 inches with a single or double helix cutting flange at the base which displaces the soil or mud as it is driven into the river bed until solid rock is reached. At the top end of the cutting flange is a collar for bolting braces, rods for cross-bracing and steel struts for strength.

The mechanism to screw the piles into the river bed is described as a hexagonal drive shaft with a capstan head which was rotated by man-power pulling on a continuous loop of rope going around the outer ends of the 20ft long rods. The device was firmly secured to a trestle or clamped with supports to the rails on a temporary bridge.

At the far right of the image is a quarry – this is the quarry from where stone was carried by rail to build a breakwater and other harbour works in the late 1860s. The railway from Durban to the quarry marked the beginning of the Natal North Coast Line which was initially laid as a 4ft 8½in gauge line.

3. UMGENI BRIDGE 1877: The 1877 Resident Engineer’s Report stated the piers were formed with two cast-iron screw piles well braced together. The piles were 1ft 3in in diameter and driven to a depth of 32 feet to reach solid rock in the river bed. With a few exceptions, the piles were driven down to a lesser depth before reaching solid rock. The total length of the clear waterway was 1 040ft, divided into 26 openings of 40ft each. The use of small diameter pier piles presented minimal obstruction to debris and resistance to the passage of the flow of water during floods.

This bridge was originally intended as a timber structure supported with trestles and bolted to timber piles driven into the river bed. Fortunately, the NGR’s Resident Engineer William Ridley advised that such a structure would be unsuitable and was liable to be washed away. The bridge withstood many high-water events over the 40 years of its existence until October 1917 when it was washed away.

4. In 1969 a class 15CA with a clear stack blasts away from the steel bridge over the Umgeni River northbound with train 291, the daily except Sunday 09h30 from Durban to Empangeni. Given that it will only reach Empangeni at 16h26 after the 118 mile (189km) journey at an average speed of 27km/hr, it could hardly be described as rapid but it was a thrilling journey nonetheless as the North Coast main line is characterised by a continual succession of fierce gradients to watersheds between the numerous rivers draining the Natal midlands.

5. In contrast to the previous picture (its piers are visible under the concrete spans), a pair of class 5E1 locomotives, with a square-ended series 5 leading, cross the Umgeni River southbound with the morning train from Empangeni over the new concrete bridge on a beautiful morning in August 1986. The train consisted of a uniform rake of modern main line steel coaches lead by a type GD-2 composite brake, a first class of type C-36, a first and second composite of type D-40 followed by third class sitters of types H-1 and H-2.

6. A 15CB exits the tunnel on the north bank of the Umgeni River with a mixed goods train heading south toward the bridge over the Umgeni river. 1969

7. Charles Parry provided the info for his photo: "Date: July 1960. Location: Temple. Train: Empangeni- Durban day passenger set with a 14R in charge. NB: construction for doubling line for the township service to Kwa Mashu is seen in the middle foreground."

8. Electrification of the North Coast route to Stanger in April 1969 meant the end of regular steam-hauled passenger trains on the old Red Hill line north of Durban. So Brian set out to record some railway history and was coincidentally able to capture two of Durban’s public transport icons side by side – a 14R-hauled suburban set coasting downgrade from Greenwood Park to Briardene, alongside a well-kept, privately operated Indian bus, heading towards Durban on the adjacent North Coast Road, the latter no doubt serving the burgeoning Indian township of Phoenix.

This is the first photo in a series by Brian that provides an amazing record of the epic reconstruction of the North Coast mainline between 1965 and 1970 as well as the intensive steam service (both passenger and freight) that was slotted into all the construction work. It should also be mentioned that the WTB timings for the steam passenger services were given to the nearest half minute and these timings were religiously maintained in the midst of many hundreds of line occupations - both for the trackworks and the overhead electrification.

9. From one of the first rolls of film that Brian exposed for railway photography, a Class GF coasts downgrade with a standard 6 coach suburban train on the 1:30 gradients of the Old North Coast line near Briardene, sometime in 1966. This could possibly have been 232 Up, the 8:12am all stops Tongaat - Durban. When the electric suburban line to kwaMashu township was completed in 1962, both the old and new North Coast routes were electrified as far as Duff’s Road, but North Coast trains to Stanger remained steam-operated for another seven years.

10. Wayside train 351-down, (8:50am daily except Sundays from Churchill Road to Canelands via Red Hill), runs through the loop at Greenwood Park station. There was often little work for it along the Old North Coast line on Saturdays, allowing a clear run as seems to have happened above with its 14R loco running tender-first. As there were no turning facilities at Canelands, it was up to drivers to elect in which direction to run the loco in back-gear, before leaving Greyville depot. Beyond the platform, an overhead electrical maintenance team can be seen busy with an occupation on Greenwood Park’s main line.

11. The same train as in the previous photo crests the summit at Red Hill station, with the safety valve lifted, and prepares to brake for the 1/30 down gradient to Avoca. Not too many years after this photo was taken, Red Hill was downgraded to a halt, and the crossing place with its additional high level platform (seen to the right of the locomotive) abandoned.

12. AVOCA STATION: It appears there was no ceremonial welcome for the arrival to Avoca of the new mode of transport as The Natal Mercury reported on the opening on 21 August 1878: “There was no demonstration whatever, in connection with the opening of the first section of the NGR, from Umgeni to the Avoca for passenger traffic. The first train consisting of Engine No.5, brake van and 2 carriages left Durban at 7 am. The following officers of the department were with the train: Mr Le Breton, district Engineer of the NC Line, Mr Carr, Mr Cobley, Mr Manisty, traffic superintendent, Mr Griffith, accountant, and Mr Milne, Locomotive Superintendent. The whole was simply looked upon as a commencement of traffic, and we hope that Pinetown when the line is opened to her station, will come out stronger than the Avoca did".

Avoca Station, 8 miles from Durban, represented the typical corrugated-iron and timber structure like so many small station buildings erected by the NGR. Trains heading to Durban faced an abrupt grade of 1/25.6 to Red Hill to climb 220ft in 1½ miles. Compare this photo of Avoca made c 1880 with Brian's photos taken 90 years later.

13. Sometime in 1967 a 14R rolls into Avoca station on the old North Coast Line with a 6-coach standard suburban set from Tongaat to Durban. Having exchanged Van Schoor tokens, the station foreman steps back to observe the passing train as per standing regulations and will be ready to wave his white “train may depart” flag to the guard once all passengers have detrained or embarked. As the station is on a curve, he will be required to repeat the guard’s green “right away” flag to the driver. In the meantime, the fireman is busy stoking up the boiler in anticipation of the sustained 1:26.5 climb to Red Hill, the last serious obstacle en route to Durban.

14. Wayside train 351-down arrives at Avoca, having crossed passenger train 232 at Greenwood Park. On this occasion the 14R was running chimney-first, meaning that it would return as train 330-up to Churchill Road and Greyville tender-first. Note Avoca’s vintage NGR-era wood and iron station building (see photo 12) – and period telephone booth on the platform! The Durban – Stanger part of the North Coast was interesting in that it had two wayside workings in each direction – 331-down used to depart first, at 4.25am, running non-stop via Effingham, to Verulam, from where it shunted as necessary at all stations to Stanger. Sometime later in the morning, 351-down would follow, booked to shunt where necessary at all stations via Red Hill, to Canelands. No 351 would spend some time placing and clearing traffic at the board and chemical factories at Canelands, before retracing its steps as 330-up to Churchill Road via Effingham, where it would shunt the Coronation Brick (Corobrik) private siding. A separate Up wayside train 320-up would depart Stanger at 7.10 in the morning, doing the necessary shunts as far as Verulam, from where it ran non-stop to Churchill Road.

15. The same 351-down observed as it leaves Avoca heading north, proceeding over the Seekoeispruit and gathering momentum for the impending 1½ miles of 1/30 up to Duff’s Road.

An interesting aspect of the Seekoeispruit is that at this point it is actually “flowing inland” (left to right in this photo), as it makes its way to a point where it will join the Umgeni River and once again resume the ‘correct’ heading towards the sea!

16. A few weeks later Brian was back at Avoca to record this rather scruffy 14R with its leaky dome and regulator valve arriving with a southbound suburban passenger train. Judging by the bright early morning sunlight, this is quite possibly train no. 228 (5.36am Stanger – Durban all stops via Red Hill). The loco’s safety valve is already well feathered in anticipation of the almost two miles of 1/30 slog to the summit at Red Hill.

17. Just a minute later, safeties now blowing off vigorously, the “Striped Tiger” (that was the original nickname for the 14Rs – but not for the reasons shown in this photo!) accelerates away from Avoca, almost immediately biting into the 3.3% gradient as it approaches the North Coast Road level crossing. Once over the top of the hill at Red Hill station, it will be downhill to the Umgeni River and then plain sailing all the way to Durban ….

18. Up suburban passenger train No 232 (8:12am all-stations Tongaat to Durban via Red Hill), trundles into Avoca behind a Class 14R on a Saturday morning in 1968. To the left of the locomotive in this panoramic view, a weary looking OZ fruit wagon partly obscures the diminutive wood and iron goods shed.

19. On a Saturday morning in 1967 Brian and several other RSSA Natal Branch members caught well patronised train 235-down (9am daily all stations Durban - Tongaat), seen here pulling away from Avoca station, with the Class 14R already on the Seekoeispruit bridge. Beyond the river lies more than a mile of mostly 1/30 upgrade to Duff's Road, where the old and new North Coast Lines converge.

20. Worked by a Class 16R/CR locomotive, this North Coast-bound suburban train coasts downhill into Avoca station, passing the closed gates of the level crossing over North Coast Road. It seems almost appropriate that the crossing attendants here came from the local Indian community, seemingly even dressed in traditional Indian clothing. Above the second coach Avoca’s single arm home signal can be seen set in the “all right” position. Avoca was one of the few stations classified in the WTB as a “B” signalled station, where the points were hand-tumbler operated, the signals being detected and interlocked with the facing points and worked from a central lever frame on the station. I remember being told, when at Esselen Park College for Trainsworking in 1983, that there were only four such stations around the country – Inchanga and Bethesda Road being two of the others.

21. A goods train to Canelands crossing the Seekoeispruit at Avoca in February 1976. The driver was the late John Gilberthorpe. This was the last scheduled weekdays steam train from Durban. The original bridge consisting of six 40ft lattice girders was opened in 1879. This bridge is also 6 x 40' spans, using plate girders and able to carry heavier engines. Long after electrification steam was needed for this service to access the industrial sites at Canelands, only being replaced by diesels later that year.

22. In 1967 the displaying of train numbers on the front of electric motorcoach sets had not yet been considered a necessity, as can be seen as 4469-down, 3:34pm weekdays Congella Sidings – Dalbridge – kwaMashu via Red Hill, seen here worked by 4M2 set No 3, arrives at Avoca around 4:9pm. The vast majority of the 48 daily trains to and from the dormitory township of kwaMashu were scheduled over the new alignment via Kenville, but one or two were booked to traverse the steep grades of the old North Coast Line.

The complex history of deviations and constant upgradings between Duff's Road and Verulam, precisely unravelled by Bruno's historical map. When deviations were built in the early 1920s, the tunnels were numbered from 1 to 5 in the engineering report - the Umgeni single bore being No.1 and the single bore tunnel at Verulam No.5. Tunnels 1 to 3 were twinned while 4 and 5 were abandoned.

Note how the Mount Edgecombe sugar estate has been completely obliterated by urban development (see photos 24-27 below).

23. MOUNT EDGECOMBE: (originally named SACCHARINE HILL), 14 miles from Durban. The dominant feature is the chimney of the sugar mill of Natal Estates Ltd. One of the larger sugar cane tramway systems operated from the mill into the adjacent plantations consisting of 120 miles of line trackage. The system closed in 1966.

A public notice in The Natal Mercury on 20 December 1879 advised that with effect from 1 January 1880, the station bearing the name Saccharine Hill on the North Coast Line would change to Mount Edgecumbe (soon thereafter the spelling was changed to Mount Edgecombe). Another new station, Ottawa, halfway between Mount Edgecombe and Verulam, was opened on 5 January 1880.

24. A class GEA Garratt rolls into Mount Edgecombe station with a local passenger train. The local Indian community are prominent on the platform in their white saris while an interesting item on the side is the children sitting at the windows of a compartment in the balcony saloon attached to DZ goods wagons on a siding. The equipment in the DZs appears to be bridge and/or culvert maintenance equipment (bird-caging and such like) so it would seem a good guess is the coach is accommodation for the local bridge foreman and those are his children.

25. This 14R was shunting B wagons loaded with sugar cane to the Mount Edgecombe mill siding and taking out empties during the 1967 sugar harvesting season. Through the sugar season train 337-down was booked to run with a load of cane, mostly originating on the upper reaches of the Old Main Line, from Churchill Road to Mount Edgecombe where, as shown here, the loco spent much of the day shunting before returning with a load of empties as train 334-up. Additional cross-trips from Churchill Road (trains 353/342) would be booked if traffic warranted it, whilst other local trips booked from Tongaat, Shakaskraal and Stanger fed cane to the mill from the north. By this time the overhead power had been switched on as far as Mount Edgecombe, permitting electric trains to run direct from Thornville and Umlaas Road, carrying cane loaded on the Richmond and Mid Illovo branches respectively.

26. Taking time off from bashing Mount Edgecombe's extensive sugar tramway system, Charlie snapped this GEA with southbound processed sugar entering the station off the 1923 alignment in October 1959.

27. On a cloudy Saturday morning in 1967 northbound goods 345-down is behind a 15CB pounding upgrade on the new alignment between Mount Edgecombe and Ottawa. Note that despite the 1/55 gradient the loco is operating virtually smokelessly – probably in deference to the fact that it is about to plunge into the new 676m long tunnel. Of note is the apparent anomaly that timber traffic could be seen travelling north and south on this route, feeding the paper, match and rayon factories at Umkomaas, Racecourse (Durban), Gledhow and Mandini. Later there would also be new paper mills established in what was still to become the industrial hub of Richard’s Bay.

28. Some time later that same Saturday, the 14R hauling morning Durban - Empangeni all-stations train no. 291 is heading downgrade from the new tunnel between Mount Edgecombe and Ottawa. This is part of the extensive upgrading of the North Coast line that took place in the 1960s, where gradients and curves were eased, also reducing station to station distances considerably – the distance between Mount Edgecombe and Ottawa alone was reduced by 1.13 miles (from 3.5 to 2.37). At this point only one of the proposed two new lines has been completed, with the old alignment being used to create a temporary double track section – interestingly, here both the new and the old lines were operated by colourlight signalling, but some of the recently doubled sections further north had colourlight signals introduced on the new line whilst the adjacent original line continued using the existing Van Schoor or even Wooden Train Staff method of trainsworking! This must have taken some concentration and discipline by the respective station foremen…!!

29. By mid-1969 draadkarre had taken over most of the traffic between Durban and Stanger, and here is our old regular, train 292-up, all-stations from Empangeni to Durban, exiting the Mount Edgecombe tunnel behind a pair of rather battle-worn Class 1E units. These locos would already have put in some 40 years of hard labour on the tortuous Natal Main Line before being displaced by Class 5E/5E1 units, but they would continue to see road service on the Natal North and South Coast lines for a further fifteen years. On the left the recently abandoned alignment of 1923 (see photo 26). The recently abandoned old line referred to in the caption to photo 28 is on the left.

30. Not long after 292-up had passed, another pair of the so-called “Moerbokke” made their grinding appearance on through goods train 266-up (5.23am Empangeni–Churchill Road), although the 1Es would only have taken over from steam at Stanger around 12 midday. And before anyone gets alarmed at the flammable liquids apparently being hauled immediately behind the sparking pantographs of those 1Es, don’t worry – those are XQ tanker wagons, carrying treacle (also called molasses), an inert by-product of the sugar refining process from one of the many sugar mills on the North Coast.

31. Whist waiting to click the camera shutter to capture the previous image, Brian must have been itching to turn around and see what steam train was loudly bearing down on him from behind….and probably hoping against hope it wouldn’t block his view of the approaching train. As it turned out, the crossing worked out perfectly, and he was able to turn around and capture this veteran 14R heading substantial northbound freight 363-down (3:5pm Churchill Road to Stanger), possibly running a few minutes early on this Saturday afternoon.

32. Trundling downhill towards Ottawa a 14R heads 291-down, all-stations Durban - Empangeni. The is train made up of the standard composition of clerestory main line coaches (including some old balcony stock) and side-door steam suburbans. Although 14Rs were well within their capabilities on these 10 coach trains, they would later be extended to 15 or even 16 coaches at times, necessitating the use of 15CA/CB or GEA locos – that is until 1E units took over in mid-1969.

33. No special treatment for this GF, being sent with its substantial goods train over the original twisty 1/50 graded alignment between Mount Edgecombe and Ottawa – although the DZs loaded so high are probably carrying hay or lucerne for animal feed and would not be all that heavy. However, despite its exertions, the loco seems to have steam to spare as it drops down towards Ottawa, whilst the fireman keeps a wary eye out for photographers!

34. Early in 1971 Brian photographed these 1Es heading block fuel train 447-down (7:25am daily except Sundays, Racecourse to Empangeni) into the tunnel between Mount Edgecombe and Ottawa. If one looks carefully above the first unit, the brick smokestack and steam cloud of the Mount Edgecombe sugar mill can be seen protruding beyond the hillside. The mill had a long history with the sugar industry which had been established around here in 1849 as a sugar growing district and was initially named “Saccharine” or “Saccharine Hill”, being part of the Byrne settlement scheme. The first sugar mill was opened here in 1859, with the railway arriving in March 1879. Mount Edgecombe remained an active sugar milling zone for almost 150 years, but this has now finally given way to residential and commercial development.

35. On Saturday 14 December 1968 class 14R 1742 is Durban-bound with the 08:12 from Tongaat.

36. This is a hybrid 15CA No.2044 that was originally built by the ALCO in 1926, carrying a boiler off one of the Italian-built 15CAs by Ernesto Breda that were numbered 2801 - 2810. She is heading a goods train awaiting admission to Ottawa in January 1967. (see Ashley Peter’s remarks for photo 1 regarding the merging of tracks at Ottawa.)

37. My photo catalogue tells me that I took this shot of GF 2391 with a local passenger train at Ottawa also in January 1967. Note the mast-poles in place for the coming electrification, which was completed over this section, later in that same year.

38. In 1968 the deviations on either side of Verulam were still under construction and trains continued to be worked over the old single track alignment, as evidenced by this 14R-hauled suburban set near Ottawa - the excavation in the foreground being the deep cutting leading to the portals of the more than 500 yards long new twin tunnels between Verulam and Ottawa. What appears to be the trunk water main for Umdloti village spans the chasm created by the cutting ahead of the new twin tunnels, requiring the SAR New Works Department to construct a dedicated bridge to suspend the pipeline over the artificial abyss. This deviation would reduce the rail distance between Ottawa and Verulam by almost half a mile.

39. The inexorable spread of overhead electrical catenary is already in evidence, as can be seen from the newly-cast concrete mastpole bases each side of this Durban-bound 14R on a standard 6 coach suburban set climbing the grade to the summit tunnel between Ottawa and Mount Edgecombe in 1967.

With regard to the second coach; some historical information from our coach fundi, Peter Stow: "it is not ex-NGR but an SAR version. While the rest of South Africa had accepted the suburban coach designs developed by the CSAR in 1904 and improved in 1907 as the new national standard, the last outpost of the British Empire in Natal, still operating no doubt as the NGR, felt that their hot and humid climate demanded clerestory-roofed coaches - not elliptical roofed ones like those in the Transvaal. Mr. D.A. Hendrie, now CME of the combined railways, probably sympathised with his ex-colleagues in Natal and in 1916 six 60’ 3”, ten compartment, non-corridor clerestory-roofed suburban coaches, consisting of pairs of 3 types, one being a brake composite, were placed in service in Natal. These vehicles were the equivalent of the nine 60’ 6” NGR ten compartment non-corridor clerestory roofed suburban coaches of 7 types built in Durban and placed in service in 1906/7. While the NGR coaches had square clerestory roof ends the new vehicles had a rounded 'bull-nose' end. When the old 34’ and 36’6” ex-NGR non-corridor suburban coaches were scrapped en-mass in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s and replaced with new centre corridor coaches (like those in the Transvaal), these 6 coaches, and their 9 older NGR sisters, still had useful life left in them and were converted to centre corridor vehicles with end doors, the opportunity being taken to convert some to other types at the same time. As these vehicles had the same compartment size, irrespective of class, it was not easy to distinguish them in service, except for the brake composites" (see photo 69).

40. Another shot at Ottawa in January 1967 – 15CA 2047 is hard at work hauling a load of pulpwood northwards, destined for the Mandini mill. The mast-poles appear ready for the wiring gang to erect the catenary.

41. Drifting round the curve approaching Ottawa is 14R 1757 with a local passenger packet from the north in 1967. With her safety-valves blowing off, she is telling her driver that she has a full head of steam – let’s get going! The train would just have emerged from the short Khat’s Kop tunnel between Verulam and Ottawa which is why the headlight is on.

42. Coming downgrade towards Ottawa in July 1968 was 14R 1584 with empty C wagons (note the yellow stripe at floor level to indicate that they are allocated for the conveyance of sugar) heading north to the various mills for loading with bulk milled sugar.

43. With what could easily have been a handpicked load to demonstrate the most common wagon types represented on the SAR, this 15CA is taking it easy whilst performing duty on a short northbound goods one Saturday afternoon in 1967. Behind the loco are two B wagons, the second most numerous bogie wagons after the DZ type, which is represented by the third truck on the load. Apart from the ever-present V-type goods guard’s van (with its most common four passenger compartment layout) at the end of the train, the balance of the load is made up of ubiquitous ES short, or four-wheel dropside wagons (these would be recoded to DE in 1970). Just for the record, in 1966 the SAR had the following numbers of these wagons in service (comparative figures for 1978 in italics) : DZ – 32 279 (44 655); B – 28 460 (26 297); ES – 29 316 (DE - 25 179); V – 7 555 (3 506). The train is traversing the first section of new alignment to be opened between Ottawa and Verulam, the SAR New Works Department's construction camp can be seen above the train alongside the old alignment.

44. Minutes later a Class 14R whistles as it brings its southbound goods load down the 1/50 towards Ottawa, having traversed the original alignment over the Khat’s Kop ridge between Verulam and Ottawa. The driver of this train would probably have been less than impressed to find his loaded train had been routed up and over the ‘Kop’ whilst the opposing 15CA-hauled mini-load in the previous photo had been given the easier route through the mountain! The Hendrie 14Rs did sterling service on the North Coast and were among the last steam locos to work here, lasting almost until the eventual closure of Greyville loco depot in September 1976. It is interesting to note that the Canelands wayside (351-down), which was worked all the years by a single Class 14R (photo 21), was initially replaced by one Class 36 diesel, but this was soon found to be inadequate and had to be increased to two Class 36s!

45. Running easily down the new alignment between Ottawa and Verulam is this rather unkempt Class 14R and its standard 6-coach suburban set heading north, probably for Tongaat. Virtually all the North Coast local stopping trains were routed via Red Hill, where the 1/30 gradients dictated that the load be limited to six coaches. However, the passenger trains to and from Empangeni went via Kenville and with easier 1/55 gradients, were generally loaded to 9 or 10 bogies, although 14Rs were allowed 14 coaches on the new line and 15CA/Bs fifteen. Although I am not aware of any photographic evidence of 15CA/Bs working trains over the Red Hill line, this must have happened on occasion, as the WTB load tables listed these classes on this route.

46. A Verulam passenger packet with 14R 1712 in charge, passing two colour-light signals with route indicators at Ottawa in January 1967. As evidenced by the lifting safety-valves, her fireman has made a good head of steam for his driver!

47. Running through almost uninterrupted fields of sugar cane, a Greyville 14R heads 292-up; 7:10am daily except Sundays all-stations from Empangeni to Durban, near Ottawa in 1967. Today these agricultural lands have all but disappeared, having made way for sprawling residential and commercial development. No 292-up was scheduled to arrive in Durban at 1:37pm, and was booked as a 9-coach set from Tuesdays to Thursdays; but increased to 10 coaches on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays.

48. Back at Verulam on 13 January 1967, I recorded 15CA 2049 working southbound with a goods load.

49. In April 1968 GEA 4036 was working south up the old line from Ottawa to Mount Edgecombe tunnel with what appears to be empty DZs.

50. Another southbound working up the 1/50 out of Ottawa on the 1923 alignment to Mount Edgecombe tunnel, with 14R 1734 on a solid block of C wagons loaded with processed sugar. No 1734 was barely making walking pace but loudly holding her own with the heavy load.

Until the late 1960s those rolling canelands behind the train were criss-crossed by Mount Edgecombe mill's 2ft-gauge tramway system - all 100+ miles of it. Today the surrounding fields of sugar cane have been obliterated by massive housing estates.

51. To show that even Pacifics were at home on the North Coast – including the steeper sections of the old line – a Class 16R is seen galloping along with a Durban-bound suburban set on the original alignment between Verulam and Ottawa. Once at Duff’s Road, this train would be routed via Red Hill, where the gutsy 4-6-2s would tackle the 1/30 gradients with sure-footed confidence – their heavier axle-loading no doubt working to their advantage. The Class 16R and 16CR locos were regular performers on both the Natal North and South Coasts, and would on occasion even venture out onto the new main line to Nshongweni (i.e. the Durban-Pietermaritzburg main line via Marianhill which had been electrified since 1936) where there was a dedicated steam link every Sunday afternoon to ensure that the Greyville drivers retained their road knowledge over this route.

52. In one of his last lineside shots on the old North Coast alignment, Brian photographed this 15CA heading a northbound timber block-load between Ottawa and Verulam, early in 1969. In just a few more months the new lines south and north of Verulam would be opened and the remaining single line sections abandoned. Classes 15CA/CB were allowed to haul 740 tons in the northbound (Down*) direction and 800 tons southbound.

*See comments re this nomenclature in the caption to photo 67 below

53. The Autumn of 1969 would see the end of regular steam operations on most of the Durban – Stanger route, and here Brian spotted a 14R heading a Durban-bound suburban set on the new and already electrified alignment between Verulam and Ottawa.

54. Another northbound local passenger coasting downgrade towards Verulam, but this time drawn by a high-stepping Class 16 from Greyville. If destined for Tongaat, 28 miles from Durban, it would be serviced and turned on the triangle before picking up its return link – all of which needed to be done within the allocated turnaround time of 25 minutes.

55. Heavy engineering works were the order of the day as this Class 15CA and its load of empty B wagons threaded its way cautiously through the construction site where the New Works department was preparing for the doubling of the deviation between Ottawa and Verulam, having successfully suspended a water main over the cutting. In the B wagons the remnants of coarse brown paper used to seal the insides of the drop- and swingdoors can be seen, indicating that they were part of the dedicated B wagon fleet, specially cleaned and prepared for the conveyance of bulk raw sugar. These trucks would be en route to one of several sugar mills along the North Coast that loaded bulk product by rail; including Tongaat, Shakaskraal, Gledhow, Darnall, Amatikulu, Felixton, Empangeni and Mtubatuba.

56. What a glorious sound this 15CB would have been making as it blasted upgrade with a lengthy northbound goods on the old 1/50 alignment towards Khat’s Kop ridge between Ottawa and Verulam, sometime during the Summer of 1967/8. In the background some impressive thunderclouds can be seen building up over the sea off Durban – quite a common Summer phenomenon in Natal, but not particularly menacing, as most of Natal’s thunderstorms develop inland and move toward the coast. The formation for the new double line alignment can be seen in the left foreground.

The complexity of the original routes, the re-alignments and the deviations around Verulam deserve close study. How many South Africans are aware of this work that was being carried on an epic scale over many decades. And now they want to build an HST from Durban to Johannesburg because SAR was too backward!

57. Class 15CB 2066 heads south in the morning with a goods train with the new concrete bridge over the Mdloti River in the background. Saturday 14 December 1968.

58. Having successfully negotiated the ridge, this 15CB coasts easily downhill, whistling loudly as it passes the colourlight home signal for Verulam station – perhaps beckoning the station foreman to hasten his appearance on the platform with the Van Schoor token for the next section to Canelands!

59. Verulam January 1967: 15CA 2046 shuts off as she runs into the station yard with a heavy goods load – making lots of smoke!

60. Another shot at Verulam in 1967: GF 2406 with a clear stack passes by with a string of empties.

61. Class 14R 1749 working the Empangeni mail through Verulam on 10 January 1967. In this shot, the original nick-name of these engines – “Striped Tigers” - is perfectly illustrated.

62. Same train as photo 7: a 14R with the Empangeni – Durban mail in July 1960, photographed just after Verulam taking the 1/50 gradient to Khats Kop tunnel on the 1923 deviation. This train generally had 6 suburban 3rd class coaches, 3 corridor coaches and a van. Until the early 60s most local trains as well as the Empangeni mails were worked by 14Rs with occasional intrusions by GFs and 16Rs/CRs.

63. The exponential growth in traffic on the North Coast after WWII developed into a veritable explosion in the sixties, which is of course the reason for the enormous capital works that were carried out - invariably a step behind the lip of the wave. The typical activities depicted would soon be superseded by double and triple crossings, combined trains and embarrassing traffic jams. This was 348-up passenger arriving at Verulam in January 1963 crossing a GF on an up wayside.

Ashley Peter, a Natal System operating man to the core, informs us: "Judging by the position of the guard’s van on the goods train, this may have been the Stanger- or Canelands-bound wayside with its Class GF having run around the load in preparation to shunt the dead-end siding to the left – the guard can be seen busy signalling to the driver to couple onto the back of the load." Note that until December 1966 "down" was "up" and vice versa (see the explanation for this in the caption for photo 67 below).

64. In Verulam on 12 January 1967 this 14R No 1725 made a handsome photo with her goods train. Her driver and fireman obviously interested in the photographer!

65. How those 15CAs and 15CBs eased the situation. The first allocation of three 15CBs arrived at Greyville in November 1964. By March 1966 Greyville had all 12 15CBs and 12 15CAs, all displaced by electrification of the Eastern Transvaal Main Line. They cleared the traffic like no other machines on the coast, not even the Garratts. This was 15CA 2039 rolling through Verulam with yet another heavy goods load while a northbound train sets off in the background.

66. Having crossed a short northbound goods (probably 331, the daily down wayside), this 15CB on 302-up goods rolls to a halt on the first loop at Verulam station, possibly to await a crossing with the next down train - the North Coast line was always busy, and in 1967 Verulam was still a crossing place on an extended single line section. There is a lot of detail here: the 15CB's train has a fair number of B bogies loaded with raw sugar for Durban; in the open DZ wagon in the goods siding the parts for the new footbridge for Verulam can be seen - this would replace the existing latticework structure before overhead electrification could be introduced, and further down the line there are two XB bulk cement tankers, no doubt for use by the SAR Resident Engineer (New Works), in the construction of the expansive Conco Viaduct, which would soon be dominating the skyline between Verulam and Canelands. The new double track alignment between Verulam and Ottawa would also require copious amounts of cement for the lining of the twin 600+ metre tunnel bores simultaneously under construction through the Khat's Kop Ridge. Finally, see also Brian's trusty Cortina station wagon parked in the street outside Verulam station!

67. Just after 3:15 on a hot and sultry January afternoon in 1967, a Class GF starts suburban passenger No 248-up (2:53pm Mondays to Fridays Tongaat to Durban via Red Hill) away from Verulam. This was the second of four trains that formed Greyville passenger link 38, a comparatively leisurely eleven hour shift that came on duty just before 11am for train No 237-down (11:58 Durban – Tongaat), which would turn as the school train illustrated here. The crew would then retire to Greyville depot for a welcome two hour break as they were only required to be back at Durban in time to work 259-down, which departed for Verulam at 6.37pm, taking shift workers home. Following a relatively quick 24-minute turn around, the last trip on the link would be 258-up, departing Verulam at 8:5pm, finishing at Durban at 9:7pm, this trip catering mainly for the 10pm nightshift workers. Sign off time for this crew after handing the loco over to the shed staff was also around 10pm.

We are indebted to our resident Operating fundi, Ashley Peter for this explanation of an event of major importance on the North Coast (and the South Coast for that matter).

"At this point it is appropriate to explain the complete reversal of North Coast train numbering, which took place on 5 December 1966, just a few weeks before this photo was made. Being a dead-end station, initially all southbound and northbound trains left Durban in the same direction, so were classified as 'Up' trains, with even numbers. However, for many years there was a bypass line from the old Congella goods yard to Greyville Loco and the North Coast, but goods trains to and from the North Coast were marshalled in a separate yard at Churchill Road, just north of Durban. Movements between this yard and nearby Congella were simply classified as 'local haulers' and so the changeover of odd to even numbers never became a problem. Even after the opening of Bayhead Yard in the 1950s eliminated the need to marshal these trains at Churchill Road, electric locos continued to transfer the trains to and from Churchill Road as 'haulers', where Greyville steam took over.

With the opening of the kwaMashu line in 1963, due to the high number of trains they could not easily be accommodated in Durban’s 11 dead-end platforms, so most of them bypassed Durban, running instead between Dalbridge and kwaMashu, with a new passenger halt called Msizini established on the additional bypass lines opposite Durban station. To resolve the 'Up/Down' conundrum, these trains ran as 'Down' trains from Dalbridge to Msizini and then became 'Up' from Msizini to kwaMashu (eg. 4401/2, and in the opposite direction 4404/5).

No doubt with the impending opening of the Umlazi line, it was felt that the further intensification of the planned pendulum service between Umlazi and kwaMashu would make this duplicate number system too clumsy and, as these trains far outnumbered the North Coast ones, it was simply decided to classify all trains heading north from Durban as 'Down' trains in order to prevent the confusion of 'Up' and 'Down' trains running in the same direction on the same line. Not long after this the electrification of the North Coast line commenced and in due course goods trains began running directly to and from Bayhead. Of course, once the new Durban station, which was a through station, opened on the site of the old Greyville in 1980, all possible misunderstanding fell away as all northbound trains were then automatically 'Down' and Southbound 'Up'."

68. A northbound afternoon suburban train trundles into Verulam station behind a Class 16R/CR in 1968, about to pass under the old latticework pedestrian bridge that is just about to be replaced – the parts of the new bridge can be seen next to the goods platform to the left. With electrification imminent, it was necessary to replace the bridge with a steel plate structure to comply with electrical safety instructions.

69. Departure from Verulam of 1703-down in January 1963. This picture should be studied in conjunction with Bruno's maps between photos 22 & 23 and 56 & 57. The train is about to take the 1923 route up to the 'old' Verulam tunnel that replaced the original Khatskop tunnel while to the left and in front of the locomotive is the new line via the new Verulam tunnel constructed in 1961. Looking down on the new main line is a huge mansion, probably the home of a sugar baron.

Again from Peter Stow: "The clerestory suburban coach is one of those built in Durban in 1916. The 2 brake composites were converted to tri-composites and van of type V-26-C in 1930 when a centre corridor and end doors were fitted and this vehicle is either 7233 or 7234. The last of this family of 6 vehicles was scrapped in April 1971."

70. As you can see, the North Coast passenger service was well patronised. Those were the days before Combi taxis....

71. Train 1703-down, the daily Empangeni-Durban mail, departing from Verulam in January 1963. Copyright Charles Lewis

72. 348-up from Durban coming into Verulam off the 1923 route from Ottawa via Khatskop tunnel, in January 1963.

73. Check those coaches crammed full of passengers (with open windows behind a steam engine that had been tackling 1/30 gradients and numerous tunnels all the way from Durban!). The well-patronised 229-down*, the 7.31am daily exc. Sundays Durban – Verulam all stations via Red Hill, drifting into Verulam behind a reversing 14R. Even though, according to the WTB, Verulam and Tongaat had turning triangles, tender-first working seemed to have become common by the late 1960s. This was possibly due to the major deviations and station remodelling taking place all along the North Coast at this time, which must have put the triangle/s out of use. With electrification imminent, the importance of turning facilities would also be diminishing, so these would in all likelihood not have been reinstated. This train had a generous 48 minute turnaround before returning to Durban as 236-up* at 9:29am. During the layover, the locomotive would move to the servicing point to take water and clean fire, before (usually) turning on the triangle and then running around the train. On the right hand side of the photo a DZ loaded with points components can be seen – no doubt intended for use in the forthcoming revamp of Verulam station, which would eventually sport three passenger platforms compared to just the single one at this time. On the train itself, the second coach is of interest – it is a so-called “Depression Years” coach – an S-37 third class steam suburban built in the Bloemfontein workshops in the mid-1930s – one of at least two series of third class coaches which had a single compartment reserved for the so-called “poor whites”, who in those lean years could not afford to pay for 1st-or 2nd-class train fares. So who said racial segregation started with the Nationalist Party…?! However, sometime after the NP came into power in 1948, whites were barred from travelling in third class, making the separate compartment in these coaches superfluous.

* Alert readers will have noticed the changeover from 'down' to 'up' and vice versa in the captions to photos taken prior to 1968. A detailed explanation of the number reversal which took place in December 1966 has been provided by Ashley in the caption to photo 67 above.

74. More leisurely times on the platform at Verulam with the arrival of 1703-down mail from Empangeni in January 1963 while a GF-hauled northbound freight waits to depart.

75. This 1967 image is rather special! Some years earlier, who would expect to find the original “Big Bill” – 15CB 2060 on the North Coast in Natal? Well, here she is, hauling a load of timber into Verulam. In her prime in 1925 you would have seen her hauling the prestigious Union Limited express into Cape Town!

76. In a similar location to Peter Stow's 15CA photo No 57 above and Brian's next shot below, a GF heads 330-up (the 12.45pm daily except Sundays Canelands – Churchill Road wayside). Note the fireman making use of his last opportunity to hose down the coal with the spray-pipe before the train runs in under the live electric wires at Verulam.

77. With the impressive Conco Viaduct over the Mdloti River valley in the background nearing completion early in 1969, this 15CA heads Durban-bound train 292-up (7.10am daily except Sundays all-stations from Empangeni to Durban) along the old alignment on the north bank of the Mdloti River. It will shortly rattle across the steel truss river bridge and then double back along the south bank to Verulam station out of sight to the right of this picture. Within just a few months the new alignment over the viaduct would be opened and this circuitous route abandoned – but the steel bridge remains in use today as a road bridge.

78. Charles Parry writes: “Date is between the opening of the viaduct across the Mdloti River between Verulam and Canelands, late March or during April 1969, after which trains were worked by electric traction through to Stanger from Durban. The deviation over the Conco viaduct eliminated the single-track section, double track went through to Darnall. Depicted is a local train heading for Durban behind a 14R. With the energising of this section came also the end of regular steam out of Durban, after 109 years.”

79. With 330-up clear of the single line section at Verulam, a late-running northbound goods 345-down (7.39am daily except Saturdays Churchill Road – Stanger) comes charging up the hill towards Canelands, with a load consisting mainly of locomotive coal and timber.

80. Shortly after photographing a 14R-hauled suburban, Brian shot this 15CA on Empangeni-bound 291-down making its way across the just-opened Conco Viaduct between Verulam and Canelands; having a much easier time of it than when routed via the old alignment. This section was the last to be completed, and with doubling and electrification now complete all the way to Stanger, it would only be a matter of days before the electric units would take over all through trains on this route.

81. With electrification of the line to Stanger imminent, RSSA Natal Branch arranged a Saturday outing in January 1969 on 291-down (9:30am daily SuX Durban – Empangeni all-stops), extended due to the school holidays to the full 15 coaches allowed for a 15CA. They travelled from Durban to Tongaat, where they changed to a local suburban train back to Durban. Here the ‘CA is in full stride as it pulls away from the old Canelands station, gathering momentum for the 1/50 gradient to Nyaninga halt, situated more or less opposite what would become Durban’s new international airport some 40 years later. Were it not for the two steam side-door suburban interlopers on this load, it would have been a classic clerestory mainline set.

82. A GF shunts old Canelands with the northbound wayside in January 1963.

83. A 15CA, with its regulator in the company notch and reverser in full forward gear, attacking the 1/55 Nyaninga bank at walking pace - its ear-shattering exhaust about to launch the road bridge on which Brian was standing for his photo. Coal and timber make up its northbound goods load, with Canelands, the industrial suburb of Verulam, forming the backdrop to the top right hand side of the photograph. Timber board and agricultural chemicals were the main products manufactured here. By the way, with its name originating from Roman times in early Britain, Verulam (from “Verulamium”) was established in 1850 and is the third oldest town proclaimed in Natal, only Durban and Pietermaritzburg being older.

84. On 14 December 1968, not long after its arrival from Glencoe, GL 2351 "Princess Alice" slogs steadily upgrade from Canelands to Nyaninga with northbound goods no. 345 (7:54am daily except Sundays, Churchill Road to Stanger), its load consisting largely of pulpwood destined for the paper mill at Mandini. In the background the formation for the new deviation that will eventually line up with the much shorter route over the Conco Viaduct at Verulam can be seen, as well as the new Canelands traction substation, erected in preparation for the impending overhead electrification, to the left. Almost twice as powerful as a 15CA/CB the GLs could also be mighty loud on this bank which had always tested steam traction to its limit. However their exhaust beats came out in square chunks as compared with the rasping ear-drum piercing sharp sound of the 15CA/CBs along here.

85. A 14R makes easy work of the 1/55 northwards out of Canelands with 291-down, the daytime Durban - Empangeni all-stops. Even with the ice-chilled LO refrigerator car, no doubt carrying an urgent consignment of perishable traffic to Empangeni, the load of 11 bogies is well within the limit of 14 bogies allowed for a 14R on this route.

86. In the days when SAR still bought decent coal 14R 1738 with northbound pulpwood was not making easy work of the climb to Nyaninga, in spite of its clear stack. In fact she was barely maintaining a walking pace.

87. In mid 1964, the 14.30 Saturdays only Durban - Empangeni crossed a short goods train at old Canelands. Both engines were 14Rs.

88. The 14R on Empangeni-bound 291-down pauses alongside the brand new high-level platform at Tongaat station – built in preparation for the imminent introduction of the Class 5M2A electric motorcoach sets that aren’t fitted with steps. Note all the track material stacked in the foreground for the wholesale remodelling of Tongaat’s station and yard. Contrary to what we are told by railway authorities today, upgrading of infrastructure can be (and was!) done whilst the train service keeps operating – and largely without disruption of schedules!

89. Tongaat was a busy station – even on a Sunday afternoon. Formerly known as Maidstone, it was in the midst of a major makeover when Brian took this photo late in 1967. The colour-light signalling was being upgraded (note the new cable troughing being built into the new high level platforms); a new footbridge was under construction and even the goods yard was being remodelled. Here a 14R arrives on substantially loaded northbound goods 273-down, while a passenger train (245-down; 2:10pm Durban – Tongaat) waits alongside the seaside platform for its locomotive to be serviced at the loco depot, out of sight on the left. It will depart later as 250-up (4:25pm Tongaat - Durban). On the extreme right is 356-down goods, a block load of raw cane destined for the nearby Tongaat Estates Sugar Mill. Its guard is waiting impatiently for the locomotive to couple to the rear of the train to shunt it up to the mill.

90. The 4:25 pm Tongaat-Durban whistling away from one of the new platforms at Tongaat. In the background is another set just in from Durban, its GF being serviced in the loco depot on the right, along with a GL off a northbound freight.

91. In mid 1964 Charles found this grand carriage in the consist of a Durban – Empangeni passenger train - a former NGR Corridor Dining Express coach, downgraded to 3rd class.

According to Peter Stow: "The Corridor Dining Express of 1903 consisted of two train sets, one built by Cravens Ltd and the other by Brown, Marshalls & Co, both English companies. Each set comprised a restaurant car (also called a kitchen and buffet car), 4 first class sleepers and a kitchen staff, baggage and guards van. In 1905 and 1906 additional vehicles were built by the NGR to the same basic design, including 1st & 2nd composite coaches and second class coaches. Number 1267 was one of 9 second class coaches built in the Durban Works, becoming type E-9 at Union and was one of the 7 remaining vehicles of the type in July 1952 that was stenciled 3rd-class, becoming type H-27. She was also the last of her type to be scrapped, in Bloemfontein in July 1968. In terms of the interior configuration, from the left there was a toilet, a bedding compartment (not shown with a small window in the original diagrams but this may have been fitted afterwards) 6 compartments (although the paneling between the windows is not consistent), one coupe and finally another toilet. The photographer must be commended for having the presence of mind to record this beautiful image of a very historic vehicle."

92. Tongaat boasted the first 'proper' locomotive depot encountered when travelling north from Durban (although it never actually had a shed and all its engines were in reality sub-shedded from Greyville). As can be seen, occupants were Classes GEA, GF and 14R locomotives. However, it did have a traditional cocopan-operated coalstage, but with the ever-closer creep of upgraded yard layouts and electrification, its days were numbered and by 1970 it would close, with both the depot and steam locomotives rapidly disappearing.

93. By June 1968 the Empangeni mail had become 229-down but even at this late date its 12-coach clerestory consist was still intact due to the fact that the Saturday train returned overnight from Empangeni (see Charles Parry's explanation in his caption to photo 95 below). Unfortunately we don't have the 15CA's number but we can tell you she was 'Mae West' according to the polished brass plate beneath her headlights. The two southbound trains on the right were 229's opposite number, 230-up, and 318-up Stanger-Bayhead goods.

94. In January 1963 when Tongaat was still Maidstone and things were a bit more leisurely, 14R 1738 with a northbound goods, mainly timber destined for the pulpmill at Mandini (just north of the Tugela), crossing GEA 4013 with a block load of pulpwood for the Courtaulds Rayon factory at Umkomaas while it takes water and has a coal trim at the down parachute tank.

95. The Durban - Empangeni train crossing Tongaat River after leaving Tongaat station, mid-1964, 14R at the head. Unlike the weekday Empangeni trains, this always had corridor coaches so it could return overnight to Durban (all overnight trains on North Coast had corridor coaches). See road bridge beyond the railway bridge. Originally a road bridge, in 1897 railway tracks were laid across it so it became rail/road until 1923 when the bridge in use here was opened.

96. South of Mandini timber could be moving in both directions - there was a large paper mill at Mandini, a rayon factory (Courtaulds) at Umkomaas and the Lion Match factory at Umgeni.

14R 1738 (see also photos 94 and 99) taking water and having the coal sprayed to cut down on dust prior to resuming her journey to Mandini. January 1963.

97. GL 2351 'Princess Alice' taking water and being serviced at Tongaat while working a heavy load of pulpwood northbound. Note the evidence of activity to the right in preparation for electrification. The late Brian Couzens often used to say, almost with a sense of frustration in his voice, that prior to electrification, a line would be completely rebuilt and then everyone would say what wonderful locomotives the class 5E1’s were. Meanwhile steam had to battle over the old lines all those years before. Naturally the steam enthusiasts around him would all nod in agreement, although the advantages of electrification in many areas were clearly evident. Date 14 December 1968

98. On 14 December 1968 southbound 15CB 2062 had just been serviced as evidenced by the water still trickling down the back of the tender. The staff who assisted in the fire cleaning were now resting, having found a local maiden to chat up. The driver can be seen on the left, phoning to get the signal to depart while the fireman had already laid on a fire sufficient for the road ahead and had the blower going, giving the impression that the train was already under way. The safety valves were popping so they were clearly in a hurry, not wanting to waste any of that precious steam. It is your photographer's humble opinion that the arrival of the 15CA’s and 15CB’s was the best thing that could have happened in Natal at the time, given their impressive performance.

99. For the last time this time around 14R 1738 leaves Maidstone (soon to be renamed Tongaat) and gets its deceptively heavy train underway for Mandini. The southbound pulpwood working with its GEA 4014 (see photo 94) isn't rolling yet. Note the brand-new Union Carriage & Wagon tin caboose on the right.

100. The 14R at the head of the Saturdays only 14.30 Durban - Empangeni taking water at Tongaat (then still Maidstone) as a GEA rolls in with a southbound freight. Mid 1964.

101. Class 15CB 2070 departs Maidstone with a northbound goods train on 18 January 1965.

102. This official SAR photo of Frasers station was taken in 1947 just ahead of the Royal Train staging overnight there on Tuesday 18 March.

103. Another shot of Frasers taken on the same occasion as the previous image.

104. With no identification of the location available from the Transnet Heritage Library, Ashley provided his thoughts on where the official railway photographer took this North Coast photo. “Having resorted to Google Earth for help, the closest I can come to identifying the bridge, would be where the railway crosses the Mhlali River, at the south end of Shakaskraal station. The photo would have been taken from the adjacent main road bridge (today the R102 Old Main Road), looking east toward the seaside, with the GF hauling a Stanger-bound suburban train (3rd class coaches leading)”

105. Well, lo and behold, any further doubt was removed by the late discovery of this great photo by Brian of, well, the Mhlali river bridge at Shakaskraal, just before the old spans went to the Bridge Engineer's storage yard at De Aar, c 1969. The 16CR was on a down local to Stanger.

106. A rare view of a Class GL working south of Stanger – and without overhead wires. Brian was fortunate to capture this Class GL hard at work on a southbound goods during the brief window period between when the GLs were transferred away from Glencoe (December 1968) until the Stanger line was electrified (April 1969). After this they were banished to the Stanger – Empangeni section, where they lasted only another three years or so before they were ousted by the sparking boxes for the final time! Note the string of C type custom made bin wagons for the conveyance of bulk raw sugar – identifiable by the yellow stripe painted along the floor level. Although built new for this traffic, dimensionally they were really B type general goods wagons designed without doors.

107. Stock in trade on the North Coast were the almost obligatory tarpaulin-covered B wagons, carrying bulk raw sugar to the Hulett’s Refinery in Rossburgh or the Sugar Export Terminal on Maydon Wharf – this train has four behind the locomotive, as well as a loaded treacle tanker. Also in the load are empty bulk cement and fuel tankers, the former no doubt from the Conco Viaduct and Khat’s Kop Tunnel projects simultaneously underway each side of Verulam, and the latter from the various fuel depots served by the SAR between Amatikulu and Mkuze. Not long after this photo was taken the laborious task of sealing up the doors of B wagons (more usually employed for the conveyance of coal, timber and sugar cane) for the transport of bulk sugar was alleviated by the introduction of brand new CS wagons – identical in basic dimensions to the B wagon, but designed as a bin, without doors. This is probably train 328-up, the 10:05am daily Stanger – Churchill Road goods with a Greyville 15CA in charge, working the tail end of link 21.

108. A smartly-turned-out but unidentified 14R arrives at Stanger with 230-up Empangeni mail on 18 January 1965. Note the NGR side-door coach just ahead of the clerestory main line saloons.

109. The same train as seen in the previous photograph but with a 'fresh' 14R No.1710 at the head-end for continuing onto Empangeni. The refreshments seller on the platform at Stanger seems to be very busy selling his wares to the passengers on the train. The gent in shorts looking at the 14R’s cab is my late father Joseph Pivnic.

110. I took another photo of 14R 1710 as she set off for Empangeni with her passenger train on 18 January 1965. An S2 takes a brief rest from shunting on the left of the photo as the Empangeni train sets off for her next stop at New Guelderland three miles away.

111. A relatively tranquil moment at Stanger includes a class GEA sitting quietly on the 2nd loop while an S2 makes up a goods load in the background.

112. On a rainy Easter weekend in 1972, Brian visited Stanger to see what was happening on the steam front. Despite the dull surroundings, he found this GMA making an impressive departure with northbound goods 459, (9:33am Bayhead to Empangeni), while a 5M2A motorcoach set has arrived as train 235-down on the main platform, standing ready to return to Durban as 242-up – confirmation that not only had electrification reached Stanger (in fact by 1972 the “juice” had already been switched on as far as Mandini), but also that high-level platforms had been completed at all intermediate stations from Duff’s Road. GMAs were permitted 910 tons for 88 axles on both up and down trains between Stanger and Empangeni.

113. Less than an hour after 459-down had left, the weather had brightened up a little when 239-down (10:25am passenger, Durban to Empangeni) pulled in on Stanger’s main (and only through) platform. The Class 1Es would uncouple and work back to Durban on 348-up (1:40pm goods, Stanger to Wentworth).

114. A visit to Stanger shed in 1971 found an interesting variety of Garratts on shed. Just peeping out to the left of the shed building is a 45 year old Class GE, whilst taking centre stage a mighty GL, only a few years younger than the veteran GE. Taking refuge on the right-hand line was a comparatively youthful GEA with only 20 years on the clock. The North Coast was home to the greatest variety of Garratt classes of any line in the world – no less than eight classes are listed in the load tables of contemporary Working Time Books and most of them worked side by side on this fascinating route. Here is a list of the classes: GCA, GDA, GE*, GEA, GF, GL, GMA/M and GO. We also know that Classes GA, GB and GC were all based at Greyville in earlier years, so it is quite conceivable that at least some of them may also have been seen north of Durban (see Don Baker's photo 1 in the next segment of this chapter).

* And there were three series in class GE each very different, so the eight classes should really be ten.

115. A few minutes later and the shy GEA had backed out of the shed for a coal top-up before heading to the yard to take a northbound goods towards Empangeni. The 14R is telling us that at this time Stanger also hosted visiting 14Rs and was home to its resident yard pilot, an S2.

116. The same GEA getting its fill of coal from the manually tipped cocopans of the antiquated Stanger coal stage.

117. Having been fed, watered and suitably prepared, our GEA has coupled onto a train that recently arrived behind some 1E units, and now threads her way out of Stanger yard with the northbound goods load, much of which consists of pulpwood logs. A member of the shunting staff strides away, presumably after having delivered a message to the departing driver – the train is entering one of the first sections of a new trainsworking system, with an impressive name listed as follows in the 1971 WTB: “Bi-Directional Twin Single Lines non-token Colour Light Signals as per Special Instructions”. This was only the case for one section, to New Guelderland, after which the fancy new system temporarily gave way to the old tried and trusted Wooden Train Staff on the land-side line and Van Schoor Absolute on the seaward-side line.

118. On 18 January 1965, I visited Stanger Loco and found GDA 2259 on shed. I needed to move into a heavily-grassed area to get the angle that I wanted for this and the following photo and the chap in the cab warned me to be careful – mambas were frequently seen in the grass! I didn’t need any further encouragement to get out of the grassed area!

119. The second of three photos of 2259 which I took that day.

120. Might almost have been Glencoe a year earlier. Three GLs on shed at Stanger in April 1969.

121. GL 2352 moving off shed for a northbound working to Empangeni, April 1969. To its right, unknown GEA and GL being prepared for their next assignments.

122. The southern end of Stanger shed in April 1969. From the left: two GEAs on the drop-pit roads, two GLs inside the shed and another GEA ready for action on the right.

123. A general view of Stanger Loco with (left-right) an S2, 14R and two GEAs – one in the shed.

124. Stanger, 1972: the two 1Es on the left have just come off the 09.30 Durban - Empangeni mail. The 15CA "Duguza" was making a brisk and noisy departure as it took the train forward to Empangeni. The town "Stanger" is now renamed "Duguza" .

The second of the three parts of this chapter covers the North Coast main line from Darnall, 57 miles from Durban to Ninians, 116 miles from Durban just south of Empangeni. It also includes the branch line from Gingindlovu to Eshowe.