Part 9: The Cape - Natal: Donnybrook-Underberg compiled by Les Pivnic with assistance from Ashley Peter and Bruno Martin ©

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 and Charlie Lewis.

THE CAPE-NATAL: DONNYBROOK ONWARDS COMPILED BY LES PIVNIC WITH ASSISTANCE FROM ASHLEY PETER AND BRUNO MARTIN ©

The 2nd part of this chapter picks up the visual presentation as we leave Donnybrook for Underberg. We will then revert to the Cape-Natal line just out of Donnybrook and continue on to Franklin and the sub-branches to Kokstad and Matatiele in separate new sections of this chapter. I would like to thank the following photographers who have contributed photos to part 1 and/or parts 2 & 3 of this chapter:

In alphabetical order they are: Eugene Armer; Sandy Buchanan; John Carter (via the Dick Manton collection); Stuart Grossert; Malcolm Holdsworth; Allen Jorgensen (via the Dick Manton collection); Robert Kingsford-Smith; Charlie Lewis; Bruno Martin; Glen Mills; Charles Parry; Peter Stow and the Transnet Heritage Library (via Yolanda Meyer).

To the above must sadly be added the many deceased who would have enjoyed participating in this project: George Bambery (photos supplied by Robert Kingsford-Smith from his collection); Brian Couzens (from the RSSA Natal Branch collection courtesy Ashley Peter); AE 'Dusty' Durrant (from the collection of Dick Manton); Dave Parsons and Roger Perry (from my own collection). With regard to Brian Couzen's photos special thanks are due to Greg Hart for his skilful scanning of slides that have deteriorated badly in the humid KZN climate.

My grateful thanks also to Bruno Martin for his many maps and gradient profiles as well as the Google Earth photos and information on Joseph Baynes (that will be added to Part 8 in the section covering the Richmond branch). Special thanks are also due to Eleanor Harvey, curator of the museum at Baynesfield Estate who has provided some fascinating pictures of their private siding and its motive power (an eight-span team of oxen). It was Ashley who went to great lengths to contact this lady and Greg who did the scanning and John Charles Western whose extract from his memoirs makes an appropriate ending to this chapter.

Thanks to Charlie who has prepared the many photos you have sent in and Andrew Deacon for formatting our site. As previously mentioned, Bruno has an in-depth knowledge of these lines, including in the second portion of this chapter photos from an album by H G Dempster, Resident Engineer in charge of the construction of the Underberg branch. It is with much appreciation that I now hand you over to Bruno for his descriptions of the various sections:

THE IPOLELA BRANCH FROM DONNYBROOK TO UNDERBERG

Underberg and Himeville are two villages about 5½ miles (9 km) apart in the foothills of the Drakensberg. Although Himeville was selected as the district centre in 1902 and seat of the magistrate, the railway terminated at Underberg much to the displeasure of the residents of Himeville. The reason given for selecting Underberg was that the route was easier to build and there was an abundance of water available which was, of course, essential in the days of steam motive power. A trial survey of the branch line to serve the Ipolela district was completed in 1901 but construction was not authorised until 1913 when Resident Engineer H. G. Dempster was placed in charge of construction. The maximum grade is 1 in 40 compensated for a minimum curve radius of 5 chains (100,5 m). This low-cost line was laid with very light rails (secondhand 45 lbs/yd) on a minimum of ballast. The 38¾ miles (61,6 km) long branch opened on 24 November 1916. From Donnybrook the line climbs steadily reaching its highest elevation at Alfriston, 5384 ft (1641 m) (it just missed being the highest station in Natal (KwaZulu-Natal) by Charlestown which was just 1 metre higher), then drops to 5061 ft (1542 m) at Deholm followed by a short climb to Woodford on (5162 ft) 1573 m and down to Underberg on 5120 ft ( 1561 m). According to an article in SA Rail¹, penned by R. G. McGougal, the Underberg trains in 1941 consisted of a rake of mainly four-wheeled wagons, some with link and pin couplings, a multi-class carriage and a cream truck, with open charcoal-filled walls (kept wet for cooling), attached at the back. The locomotive was a Class 17, a modification of the highly successful Dŭbs ‘A’ tank engines imported by the NGR in the 1880s, but technology had moved on and it was known without affection as “The Coffee Pot”.

Over the years timber, livestock, agricultural produce and cream were the underpinnings of this railway operation, but as with most other branch lines in South Africa, this service has been lost to road transport.

(¹ ‘Memories of the Underberg Branch’, SA Rail, Vol.46, No.2, 2008, pp.26-28.)

1. Cover of the Dempster photo album, courtesy Bruno Martin col ©

2. Resident Engineer H G Dempster himself, properly attired complete with his 616-format roll-film camera as was the practice in those days. A stalwart of the CCE's construction department, Mr Dempster went on pension upon reaching the age of 60 in 1924 and passed away in 1954 at the age of 90, having enjoyed 30 years of retirement. His widow survived him by several years.

3. Another photograph from SAR Resident Engineer H.G. Dempster’s Underberg branch album showing the formation in the Ngudwini Valley under construction. On the basis of the topography depicted on the 1:50 000 sheet 2929DD Donnybrook this scene could be placed along the section from Idwala to Mawuleni.

4. According to Mr Dempster's album this is a cutting in the Ngudwini River valley. In the leisurely days before motorised transport this ox-cart is loaded with sleepers; tediously slow but it did the job. The survey report in 1902 notes that ‘the route may be described as comparatively easy, except for some heavy work in the Ingudwini Valley’.

5. The masonry arches for the approach to the abutments of the girder bridge over the Pholela under construction (just east of Okhalweni); the only major river crossed by the branch.

6. An extremely rare photograph of an ex-NGR class A 4-8-2T heading north towards Underberg; judging by the new-looking ballast it was taken soon after the line was opened.

SAR never deemed it necessary to invest in snow ploughs (hand labour and shovels were cheap) but Charlie has seen this cutting (near Seaford) full to the brim with drift snow two years running. In both cases the line was closed for more than a week (July 1994 and 1995).

7. From the late Dave Parson's priceless photographic legacy comes this overview of two GCAs about to depart for Underberg, June 1974. The loaded DZ between the engines was reckoned to ease stresses induced on their non self-adjusting pivots by the uneven drawbar pull generated by the GCAs. In the foreground is Brian Couzens, a major contributor to SoAR and dedicated recorder of the Natal lines (as well as elsewhere), sadly also no longer with us. And, loaded in a DZ at the goods platform in the background is an SAR RMT bus fresh out of overhaul at the big workshop in Pietermaritzburg. [those with long memories will recognise the photo - it is #103 in Part 8].

8. Shortly after the arrival of the Mixed train 1253 from Underberg, a goods train departed from Donnybrook for Underberg. Here it is seen on the climb out of the station with a full firebox of coal and although still at low speed it was already roaring like a jet plane because of the small driving wheels.

9. GCA 2200 getting stuck in. Right from the start engines were faced with a screaming 10-mile slog to the siding at Bulwer. Glen shot this from the van of 1250-up on 8 August 1973.

10. GCA 2620 climbing away from Donnybrook past the old mission church with the Underberg mixed, 30 August 1974.

11. GCA 2192 climbing away from Donnybrook for Underberg, 8 June 1974.

12. GCA 2200 a bit further up the long climb out of Donnybrook with 1250-up, the mid-day T&P for Underberg, 13 April 1974.

13. A beautiful photograph by the late Dave Parsons of 1250-up T&P approaching Mawuleni halt c 1965.

14. GCA 2623 approaching Bulwer with 1250-up, the Donnybrook-Underberg T&P, after a snowfall. 2 July 1974

15. GCA 2620 approaching Bulwer with the Underberg T&P, 30 August 1974.

16. GCA 2620 sitting in Bulwer as a class mate shunted an opposing Underberg line freight. 28 August 1974

17. GCA 2620 with the Underberg mixed and class mate at Bulwer, 30 August 1974

18. One could be forgiven for believing that this is a ghost of trains past. Geoff Gooderham and Peter drove up from Durban to Underberg to ride the train to Donnybrook and back, not anticipating the weather they encountered. The train, 1253-down mixed, consisted of two coaches and a covered wagon for tranship goods.

Silhouetted in the background are the guard and tranship porter, the former waiting impatiently to give the “rightaway”.

19. Locomotives on trains from Donnybrook generally faced toward Underberg and were not turned for the return journey. Here an Underberg bound goods train makes light work of its load in the Winter of 1974.

20. An unidentified GCA heads the afternoon Mixed from Donnybrook to Underberg near Alfriston in June 1974. The Underberg branch remained steam for over a year after the Cape Natal was dieselised, pending upgrading with heavier rail for the diesels and was the last stamping ground of the very long-lived GCA Garratts.

21. SAS RT 1053 was allocated to the District Engineer, Pietermaritzburg and is shown here near Home Rule on the Underberg branch with the PWI for the Cape Natal line (left) and Mr Peters (right), the trolley driver. The tragic end of the trolley was shown in Photo 52 of System 6, Part 7. The picture also shows the level crossing with the old dirt Underberg road, long before the tarred road and overbridge about a mile from here had been built (see Rag's photo 50 below).

22. GCA 2620 departing from the grandly-named Home Rule halt with the Underberg mixed, 28 August 1974. Note the newly-ballasted and upgraded track in preparation for diesels.

23. The same train a bit further down the line from Home Rule. That's the Mahwaqa range towering over the train.

24. On 8 August 1973 GCA2200 westbound between Seaford and Deholme with 1250-up mixed, the daily (conditional on Sundays) tranship & perishables (T&P in railway taal) from Donnybrook to Underberg with passenger accommodation in the guard's van.

25. The same train taking water at Deholme, 8 August 1973.

26. The annual GCA-hauled passenger pulls up for a booked stop at Okhalweni halt, some 13 miles from Underberg. Even though the train only left Underberg an hour earlier, it has been climbing steadily most of the way and the coal trimmer is already half-way down the bunker, pushing coal forward for the fireman. Note the local 4-legged transport waiting patiently for his owner to return and ride him home.… The new layer of ballast on the track indicates that upgrading of the permanent way is proceeding apace and the GCA’s dominance on the route will not last much longer.

27. Underberg on the morning of 9 August 1973 with GCA 2620 on Train 1253-down mixed Underberg to Donnybrook with, on the right, GCA 2200 presumably waiting to follow with 1251-down goods.

28. GCA 2623 with 1253-down mixed about to leave Underberg on a chilly and quiet Monday morning in August 1973.

29. Neat, tidy and shipshape would adequately describe Underberg then (you should see it today). Allen made this photo of the same train from the departure end of the station.

30. Since it was a Monday and nothing else was running, we followed 1253-down towards Donnybrook. Before Woodford, first stop out we were rewarded with views of the majestic Drakensberg, crystal clear after bad weather during the weekend.

31. The same train from the same vantage point.

32. About 2 miles further GCA 2623 was well into her stride with a bit of organised smoke. The coal trimmer is already standing lower in the bunker.

33. GCAs 2625 and 2200 arriving at Pevensey with the Underberg-Donnybrook mixed. The late George Bambery recorded this typical Natal branch-line scene at Pevensey on 8 July 1974.

34. A delightful study of the warmly-dressed locals gathered in wintery sun on the rudimentary “platform” at Pevensey, awaiting the 09:02 Saturday morning mixed from Underberg to Donnybrook in August 1975. This just happened to be the day of the annual “Church Special”.

35. August 1975 was the last time the “Church Special” from Underberg to Donnybrook ran behind steam, and Brian was there again to record the scene. Interesting too was the first-time departure from the standard operation of two trains to accommodate the extra five coaches. This time the wayside and mixed trains ran as a single combined working, with two GCAs separated by a single cattle wagon – seen here entering Pevensey intersiding. By this time the “main” branch from Pietermaritzburg to Franklin was virtually fully dieselised and it was only a matter of weeks before the same fate would befall the Underberg branch. Already surplus GMAs were working some of the material trains over the Underberg branch, but even they would soon be replaced by main line Class 34-200 diesels, which effectively doubled the load hauled by each GCA on this hilly line. This was the very last stronghold of the GCAs which had served the line reliably for more than 30 years (along with the ex-NCCR class GKs) but the remaining seven locos of this class would soon be withdrawn from service.

36. During the last few weeks of the GCAs on the Underberg branch, No 2200 with 1253-down mixed was picking up empty AY ballast wagons at Pevensey in September 1974. The ballasting to Donnybrook was well on its way to completion, even the sidings got this extravagant treatment. Ballasting beyond KwaGuzu on the Cape-Natal was an expensive operation. For example, on this branch the stone was lifted up two major watersheds to get where it was needed.

37. 1253-down mixed to Donnybrook with GCA 2620 taking water at Deholme on 9 August 1973. When Glen traveled this was the only location where both east and west-bound mixeds took water between Donnybrook and Underberg. Observe how the 'garden hose'-type fitting splashed most of the water all over the tank exterior rather than in the hole. On windy days hardly any of it made its way into the tank and the crews could enjoy a relaxing spello at the company's expense. A canvas hose attached to the spout would have helped to direct the water more accurately as well as reducing the entrainment of air which was not good for the boilers. But this was towards the very end of steam and nobody worried much anymore.

38. A works train with an auxiliary water tank attached to GCA 2191 in the passing loop at Alfriston on 9 August 1973 with crews of the opposing trains having a chat. See the Greytown chapter for further discussion on auxiliary water tanks. The Underberg line was being upgraded for diesels at this time and it is ironic that road transport restrictions were lifted a few years later!

39. Alfriston station on the Underberg line after a snowfall. Sadly there were no trains as it was a Sunday; 2 June 1974. That's Paul Dow under the sombrero, contemplating a frozen radiator while good mate, the late George Bambery, sleepily ambles around the front of Charlie's Kombi on his way to the station cafe for bacon & eggs and coffee.

40. There was just one opportunity a year to photograph a complete passenger train on the Underberg–Donnybrook line and that was in mid-Winter when the local African church hired several coaches to transport the entire congregation on a weekend outing. To accomplish this the Saturday mixed, 1253-down would be extended to eight coaches, the maximum load for this steeply-graded line, and run as a pure passenger train. The normal T&P, 1251-down would be run as a seperate goods train shortly afterwards. There was much anticipation among photographers to record this event and in August 1973 the ultimate occurred; it ran shortly after snow had fallen along most of the route. In freezing weather Brian got this great photo as the train left Underberg just after 08:00. It would soon be down to a walking pace on the steep 1:40 gradient, slipping and sliding on the icy rails...

41. Beyond Woodford glorious vistas opened up of the Drakensberg in its winter garb.

42. Almost a year later, on 2 July 1974, Robert photographed GCA 2200 working a livestock special (5251-down conditional goods) between Woodford and Pevensey. Must have been appreciated by the coal-trimmer who is giving him the Royal wave (in case you're wondering, SAR never used mechanical coal trimmers).

43. GCA 2199 with reconditioned 96lb rails (for replacing the existing 45lb material!) climbing into Pevensey on its way to Underberg, 2 July 1974.

44. Reverting to the annual church special of August 1973, here is Sandy Buchanan's account of his trip from Jo'burg to photograph this train:

"I was tipped off about the special passenger train working for a local Underberg based church. At that time I owned a Triumph 2000 car with electric overdrive, which gave me great range for chasing trains. Pat and I set off at 10.00 pm on the 10th August in the foulest of cold weather because snow had been forecast for the Underberg region for the next few days. We drove through the night with sleet from Harrismith, and then at Midmar Dam we turned south off the Johannesburg - Durban highway to pick up the Underberg branch at Alfriston just north of Bulwer. From Midmar going over the mountains we drove in heavy snow - about 2 foot deep. It was still dark and despite good lights on the car we kept ploughing into drifts! The only way that we knew we were still on the road was because of windrows of sand covered in snow on either side. Worst of all, the Triumph was very low, so it kept running into the snowbanks which then partially covered the headlamps! Later, ice on the road proved another challenge. As dawn broke the snowstorm ceased and we were left with the most wonderful scenes. The old GCA handled her load very well but chasing the train wasn't for the fainthearted! Because of the condition of the roads we weren't able to chase for long. Even on the tar road the ice was treacherous".

45. The locomotive was forging ahead but we were slipping and sliding with my 1973-model Triumph 2000.

46. Approaching Home Rule beneath the impressive cliffs of the Mahwaqa range.

47 GCA 2623 climbing to Home Rule with the Underberg - Donnybrook mixed, 2 July 1974

48. The church special of 11 August 1973 approaching Home Rule.

49. And again, near Alfriston.

50. GCA 2623 between Home Rule & Alfriston with 1253-down mixed from Underberg, 2 July 1974.

Twenty years later Charlie stood at this vantage point looking at a landscape he never saw previously in South Africa and only once subsequently. From here to the horizon was unbroken white, the railway cutting was invisible under drift snow and the road was a graded cutting through snow more than a metre deep at this point where it begins its descent to Underberg. While graders worked day and night to clear the road, nobody gave a damn about the railway which, having barely survived into the 21st century, died a slow but certain death c 2010.

While compiling the above I received from John Charles Western, author of 'Outcast Cape Town', an extract from his just-being completed memoir 'Journeyman' that effectively fills in the gaps between the photos:

GCA

"… I sagged down on a rock. The view? Oh my God, a private viewing, my sole and silent possession. First, the near view, in the direction of Bulwer, east right into the sun: high farmlands covered thinly with incandescent mist, you had to squint, it was so bright. Regular windbreaks of planted poplars broke up through it. Impossible to sense their greenery, they were only black silhouettes against the shining. No Zulu huts, but fresh green knolls of pasture edging themselves gently out of the bright spangling mantle. Then turn to the west, the sun just beginning to warm one's shoulders. Here was a panorama the like of which I had never seen, a fabulous prospect of the 11000-feet high Drakensberg a score of miles distant. The low sun illuminated their ragged, sheer Wall of Spears – uKhahlamba, their Zulu toponym, -- with a sweet golden wash. Straight ahead I was looking at Hodson's Peaks, but redirect the gaze a little, and to the right is the hump of Thaba Ntlenyana, the highest mountain of southern Africa at 11,424 feet. And there, yes, there, 20 miles away, yes, you could see it, its whitewashed walls bright in the sun: the Lesotho Customs bungalow at the head of the Sani Pass where we'd been just the day before. The hair-raising zigzags of the jeep track were just discernible below it.

Nearer below me now, the farmlands were partially covered by swirls of mist, some of these sombre, shaded by my hill, but most of them now caught by the sun and a pure lovely white. Not a solid white, for as one watched, so slowly did the landscape change. Ever more green, as a tree was left standing free on the brow of a rise, or the top of the church tower was revealed below. It was like watching slow-motion marbling, or a light film of oil wreathing and coiling itself on the surface of some still pond. A well-appointed modern single storey house on the outskirts of town had a large well laid out garden of lawns and trees and a swimming pool and a patio and all these gradually exposed themselves to my spying eyes as the mist sank, drew back, and dissolved. The silence dissolved also. There was more activity below. Two bright yellow construction lorries rumbled along a farm road. And although the town itself was still four-fifths covered by a mantle of mist, I could hear clangings and voices way below there.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, a moment of prestidigitation. Up through that white mantle shot a tumbling, rolling ball of steam, white convoluted with brown. Smoke and mirrors, fireworks, drama conjured by some Imperial Chinese magician in his long classical robes? Or perhaps a dragon, having taken snuff, lifting his snout to indulge in his first fiery sneeze of the day?

The silence lasted but a moment. Then, delayed by the distance, up came a chuffing sound from the railway terminus. Aha, the source of this commotion was a Garratt engine. Although invisible, I knew the locomotive had to now be moving out of the little black engine-shed-for-two. "Down at the station, early in the morning, see the little Puffer-Billys, all in a row…."

This particular Puffer-Billy had to be a medium-sized GCA Class engine, either number 2199 or 2200, for I had snooped around the shed the previous evening. Beneath the gentle blanket now one of those two was beginning to shunt the wagons into order for the 8 a.m. goods down to Donnybrook and eventually to the electrified Pietermaritzburg main line. As the mist continued to unwind itself the locomotive came into view more clearly, as its soiling black-brown-white smoke mixed with the mist and swept off with it in a graceful if smudged vortex. Further dissolving of the mist revealed the GCA’s red buffer beam. The little engine now seemed part of an ‘O’-gauge Tri-ang (they were made in Margate) train-set down there, with all Underberg in view as my model town.

The next day we were set to leave Underberg to return to the Lund family in Pietermaritzburg. I suggested we take the goods train. Francie was absolutely game. Aunt Doreen was at first nonplussed -- what an original idea! We went down to the station at the end of the day and the railway staff agreed. We didn't even have to buy tickets, although as a memento I do have the copies of the train’s station-to-station authorisation by telegraph, for the two sections Underberg to Bulwer and Bulwer to Donnybrook. The train left at 8 a.m., hauled by two GCAs, this time numbers 2200 and 2620. They were separated by one wagon in order to spread their weight over the lightly-laid bridges encountered on this branch line. As we rumbled along we picked up wagons at the little intermediate stations. At Pevensey the driver of 2620 invited me up to ride in the cab. In her turn, Francie was invited up into 2200. When we had done our brief shunting there, each engine was to signal the other that it was ready to leave by sounding its whistle. I tugged the line above my head in my cab, and Francie whistled back. Behaving like playful kids, but our toy trains were real trains. Maybe we were extras with a bit parts in some speeded-up black-and-white slapstick film with Buster Keaton: "See the engine driver, turn the little handle,toot-toot, toot-toot, off we go!"

A short halt at Deholme saw us both descend from the footplate and return to the guard’s van at the rear, perhaps because at the upcoming major intermediate station of Bulwer our playing at trains might not be countenanced by some official. Back in his compartment the guard, offering us coffee from his vacuum flask, most unexpectedly proved to be an Australian. He had fought in Vietnam, but had now lived a good while in South Africa. Out of curiosity we asked to see what equipment a guard had to have with him, so he snapped open his case and there were red flags and green flags, red- and green-lensed lamps, but where, I asked, were the detonators I knew he should have? (These small caps are lain on the rails some distance in either direction from any stationary or broken-down train obstructing the running lines. The weight of any oncoming train wheels then detonates them, giving warning.)

We got to Donnybrook at 11:40 a.m., having taken nearly four hours to do just 38½ miles. Oh, but it had been such a frolic on a sunny day, and with such chummy railwaymen! Aunt Doreen had come to the station to see us off, and found the whole thing a novelty: we were the first guests she had ever had who had departed by train. I brought her along to see the sizzling engine at the end of the platform so as to explain how it worked. I enthused how this machine had been functioning satisfactorily for nearly 50 years, and that it was a German firm, iron-named Krupp, which had built it. I told her these two locos were among the last five left out of the forty or so constructed, and that once the line was dieselised this coming August they were to go for scrap. I introduced her to the driver whom I'd met on the previous two days. It may surely have been one of the first times she ever talked with an Afrikaner engineman.

Once home we called her up from Pietermaritzburg. It appeared my affection for the moribund GCAs had in some measure communicated itself to my host. She was a leading light in the Underberg Women's Institute, and the winning personality of the GCAs induced her to action. Later I was to receive a letter, a portion of which read "I can't bear to think of our dear little engine being melted down for scrap, and since your visit have enlisted the support of the Farmers’ Club and the local Historical Society … I feel sure that only the most hard-hearted of railway administrators, chairmen of preservation committees, etc, could resist our heartfelt plea that it be allowed to rest its weary bones up here. I shall let you know of developments." Penning a first draft of this tale thirty-eight years later in my Syracuse University office, I accessed Google Earth to get an aerial view of Underberg railway station, for the first time since that third day of 1975. No, I see no GCA on any plinth, but I do happen to know that at least one has been rescued somewhere.

The university break was over. It was time to return from Natal to Cape Town. En route, a totally unforeseeable and tremendous steam railway adventure in the Transkei was to await me........"

Thank you John.

With 2623 nearing the summit of the line, together with the extract from John's memoirs, we conclude our coverage of this beautiful branch, now alas unlikely to be used again. We have had so many contributions for this chapter that we have decided to divide it into three. Our next part covers the 'main line' section of the Cape-Natal: from Donnybrook to Franklin. Thank you for bearing with us,

Les Pivnic