Part 15 - Eastwards from Germiston Part 3: Springs to Leven by Peter Micenko ©

Once again we have to thank Bruno Martin for his outstanding maps. For convenience we again reproduce his map showing the maze of lines between Germiston and Springs. Fifty years ago the extent of the lines was even more bewildering if one takes the numerous industrial railways into consideration.

THE “SPRINGS EASTWARD” RAILWAY by Peter Micenko ©

Part 3 Springs -Leven (just short of Trichardt)

The railway to the east of Springs, originally an agricultural development line, later became an important bridge route to Bethal, Breyten and Natal (and the branch Bethal –Volksrust). Breyten is actually in the Eastern Transvaal region, the line crossing the regional boundary just to the west of the station so more of this interesting junction will be covered in later chapters of “Soul of a Railway”.

To the east of Springs lay some of the nation’s best watered agriculturally rich lands, although later developments from the mid 1970’s onwards concentrated on the coal mining, oil-from-coal and fertiliser plants around Trichardt. Major towns are at Devon 40 miles from Springs, Leslie, Kinross, Trichardt and Bethal with manned stations at these as well as Largo, Endicott, Baanbreker, Davel and Estancia. Private sidings tended to be generally associated with the numerous grain silos until Sasol-2 and -3 added large exchange yards and a lengthy private line into their plant. These stations had standard SAR upper quadrant signals and trains working was by Van Schoor with absolute, permissive and crossing variations possible. Leven, between Kinross and Trichardt had electric signals. Davel was interesting as it had one of the few places I had seen of a single line intermediate home semaphore signal on its own separate post. Water columns and ash pits for fire cleaning were provided on the main and loop at Devon, Trichardt, Bethal and Davel whilst water could also be taken at Leslie. Steam sheds varied. Springs was squeezed into a small triangle of land, but was second only to Germiston in locomotive numbers. The large shed at Breyten, well befitting its regional junction status and a meeting place of lines with different and varied operating conditions, had a wide variety of different types and classes of locomotive. There was a small sub shed at Bethal whilst the only turning facilities were at these 3 stations which in later years led to a lot of tender first running for the several freights that only worked part way. Springs supplied shunt locomotives and trip workers as well as line workings.

Bethal tended to provide 15F’s for freight workings to Breyten. It had a few 19D’s for the cross trips to Wakkerstroom and Volksrust as well as the daily except Sunday mixed and a reasonably regular doubleheaded “mielie” train. Volksrust was the main shed for the 19D’s and my memories in the 1970’s were of a what I thought was a Volksrust trade mark at that time of painted stars on the smoke box front.

In later years Springs provided the locomotive for the overnight passenger train and this engine worked right through to Breyten. In earlier years, as will be seen in the accompanying photos, the power for passenger trains was provided by Germiston.

From Springs the line to Bethal and Breyten dropped to its lowest point just east of Strubenvale where it crosses the Blesbokspruit, 5180 ft above sea level. From here, except for a few downgrades where the topography encouraged the surveyors to swing the alignment from the Indian Ocean catchment headwaters to Atlantic and vice versa, the line climbed to 5582 ft at Bethal (111miles) and its 5988 ft summit near Estancia, which was 143 miles out. The line then dropped to 5887 ft at Breyten - only 150 ft higher than Johannesburg.

Gradients were generally 1 in 100 to Bethal and 1 in 80 on to Breyten. Not severe but the pulls could be of 30-60 minutes duration. Although the line never warranted electrification or doubling it did carry up to 20 scheduled trains each way on weekdays, slightly less at weekends. 15F’s were rated at 1090 tons eastbound and 1320 westbound and 15AR’s at 955 and 1000 tons respectively. The late Albie Wagener used to talk of shovelling 14 tons of coal in a shift on the line when he was a young fireman and the same coming back. He also talked of the GEA Garratts which appear to have been used there to some extent in the late 1940’s. As would be expected for a line that followed the continental divide, bridges tended to be small and apart from those associated with level crossing eliminations were mainly small culverts. The biggest bridges were around Largo where the line crosses the Blesbokspruit in the vicinity of a large swamp called appropriately, the “Grootvlei”. This name was also carried by the nearby gold mining complex whose rails joined the main line at Strubenvale and ran parallel for a short distance.

In the early 1980’s following a successful review of the business needs of the railway by the local District Engineer’s office, the new station building for Trichardt was built adjacent to the new goods shed instead of the more traditional location at the passenger facilities. The idea was to locate the facilities where the staff spent most of their time and where the most business was transacted. Unfortunately, a similar review of the traffic patterns at Springs station and the resources demanding reversal of trains and associated shunting, showed that a short triangular link between the Springs – Bethal and the Springs-Welgedag lines would make sense but finances were not available so it was not built.

East of Springs 40kg/m rail (i.e. 80lb/yard) on steel or timber sleepers was the norm until the late 1970’s when its turn came for relaying with SAR48 kg/m rail (i.e. 96lb/yard) on concrete sleepers.

1. We start our journey logically in Springs locomotive depot with 2985 class 15F showing its business end to effect and also displaying the official “Springs” nameplates.

2. With one of its left-hand running-board sandboxes missing this work-weary class 12R (originally class 12B) No 1935 was having lunch by the Springs coal stage c 1960. By the late 70s Springs loco was declining in importance and the old cocopan coaling stage was past maintaining. The wagon used to transport the coal is quite historic, a type BB-3 of indeterminate vintage.

3. Springs was a compact locomotive depot and here three 15 F’s wait their turn on the coaling road. Coaling in the 1980’s was by means of a “Jumbo” crane, although earlier there was the more normal coco-pan style of coaling stage as seen in the previous photo.

4. In the mid 1980’s there was a period when Springs yard was so congested with empty stock that a trainload of empties would occasionally be run out to Largo and stored in that station’s third road. This was usually of an afternoon and the locomotive would work back to Springs attached to the returning Leslie shunt. But first a bit of railway history appropriate to this photo. At this stage in my career I was being called upon to sit on many Derailment Investigation Boards and some time previously I had been the civil representative on an inquiry into a derailment on the single track to the Springs locomotive depot. This involved interviewing diverse parties such as drivers and track inspectors to establish the course of events which, coupled with various measurements, enabled the cause to be established and appropriate preventative actions to be implemented. Much later when returning from a job further eastwards, I saw these two locomotives ready at Largo and actually had my camera with me. I saw an opportunity and asked the driver if he would make some smoke coming through “Horse’s head”. I received the usual non-committal response, so I followed in my normal poor Afrikaans asking if he was concerned lest he be seen by the “bosses” making black smoke so close to the city. He continued forcing grease into the motion bearings and just mumbled ”You are one of them!” I politely departed and went down on spec and waited. Well both drivers did me proud - truly a stirring sight and sound spectacle, my only photograph of a 15F doubleheader. Unfortunately it was a pity the weather did a last minute lack of cooperation. From memory the lead engine was 3072.

5. The late, very much missed Dusty Durrant made this classic photo of 334-up, the twice-weekly 08:55 Breyten-Johannesburg departing from Largo in April 1969. The locomotive is class 16CR No 812 and there are two type C22 articulated day/sleeper saloons in the consist. The use of these luxurious coaches on what was only a secondary service was surprising even though by the 1960s they would have been long past their prime. Built by Metro-Cammell in 1928 for the Union Limited/Union Express, SAR's prestige train operating between Cape Town and Johannesburg, the C22s were exceptionally long-lived for wooden carriages - as can be seen, one of these is newly overhauled.

The first-class coaches were marshalled next to the locomotive on the Up working on both the day and the overnight services - the latter providing many exhilarating interruptions to a night's sleep.

Note the neatly-trimmed ballast shoulder, and the first loop is still laid with the old main-line standard 80lb rail fastened to steel sleepers with T-bolts and clips. In later years the station foreman at Largo laid out an interesting model railway in the station building.

6. Based on the position of the sun, Les's shot of a class 24 accelerating away from Largo probably depicts 331-down, the Saturday-only passenger service 12:50 off Johannesburg, seen here with a varied collection of passenger stock including one of the type C-22 articulated saloons that found frequent use in Breyten service at this time.

There was also a Mondays and Fridays passenger that departed Johannesburg at 11:30 arriving Breyten at 18:07, returning on Tuesdays and Saturdays (see previous photo). All of these were in addition to the overnight passenger departing Johannesburg daily at 21:10 and Springs 22:24, arriving in Breyten at 06.00. Timetables of that era showed connections at Breyten for the run to Ermelo and Natal or to Waterval Boven.

7. On a muggy winter's day in the late 1970s a Springs 15F works a bank load from Springs up the first grade on the line and into Largo.

8. On a much clearer winter’s morning a clean long-tendered 15F works a short goods out of Largo passing its 3-post home signal. The train consist has fly-ash bulk tankers for Oban, a wagon load of gum poles and several wagons of general goods including a couple of SAR/SAS 10 foot containers and the railway reserve has been burnt off - an annual ritual that was carried out on most of the 13,700-mile SAR network.

9. Keeping spark arrestors well-maintained and cinder-tight was possible as this photo taken a few days before the annual burning off of the railway reserve testifies (see photo 8). Like a can of petrol, that grass would have gone up with a "WOOF" had a live cinder landed in it. Already in winter brown but now in June 1986, another clean 15F works a short goods of general freight out of Largo at midday. In the background is another of the “Reef’s” man made mountains – this one from the former Daggafontein mines.

10. A class 35-600, No 35-641 in faded blue Spoornet livery is teamed up with two 35-200s, working a block load of 26 type OXNLJ Anhydrous Ammonia tankers eastbound to Trichardt. The tankers are heading for the Sasol plant at Secunda which is served by a private siding frm the exchange yard at Trichardt.

This is the same location as in photos 8 and 9 but four decades later and shows how the scene has changed. The two willow trees at the steel bridge are still there but in the background shrubs and trees have grown up to hide the former Daggafontein mine dump. The lovely triple-post semaphore signals have gone but the cosmos is still as beautiful as ever and the locals still have their backyard crop of mealies. Originally class 34 diesels were used on the Breyten line but it seems that with the passage of time, class 35s have become more common.

A footnote from Charlie: We must have been crazy to love steam when it was so damn dirty. Compare this clean, sweet-smelling exhaust with the previous photo. And look: not necessary to burn off the railway reserve so passengers could enjoy the flowers (if they didn't chuck a cigarette butt out the window). Sadly, there are no more passenger trains on the Breyten run - when steam went it took the passengers with it.

11. A 15F works out of Largo and crosses the Blesbokspruit in 1979. The previous summer a dam upstream was overtopped and caused some damage to the embankments, hence the large amount of locomotive ash that was used to rebuild the walkways on the side of the embankment. This and the bridges a few kilometres west of Largo across the Grootvlei are the only non "level-crossing elimination" bridges on the line to Bethal.

12. The highveld is not overly endowed with trees, the most common being blue gums, pines, poplars and passenger sown peach trees. All imported. Another 15F works a train of empty fly-ash tankers for Oban along with a healthy load of general freight. Power station fly ash - a waste product of coal-fired power stations - is also used as a major constituent of cement. South Africa at the time had many industries using bi-products of other industries which I believe gave the economy diversity and one of its strengths.

13. It is early Spring in the mid 1980’s as a 15 F, having exchanged the Van Schoor tablet with the station foreman, works lightly out of Oban past its two-post home signal, bound for Springs. The two yellow boards indicate the speed for eastbound trains through the main and loop legs of the turnout which like many on this line was located on a curve.

14. A moderately clean 15F works eastwards up the long climb from Largo to Endicott. Winter always provided good steam effects in the mornings on this line although mist could restrict track access time for maintenance staff.

15. Late spring has brought enough warmth to allow the native grasses to bring a tinge of green to the country side, but rain has still to fall and a storm appears to be brewing, bringing promise of rain. The early 1980’s was a period of severe drought on the high veld. This 15F has a healthy load of bulk “fly ash” and maize with some general goods as well as it drifts westwards past the outer home signal at Endicott.

16. The Leslie shunt generally worked tender-first out from Springs as although predominately uphill, the loads were heavier for the return trip and there were still significant pulls to contend with. In the early 80s a clean 15F with hand-me-down class 23 tender glints in the sharp winter morning sunlight. The train consists of empty type FZ maize wagons bound for the silos at Devon and Leslie.

17. The fireman of this austerity 15F has the stoker controls set well, giving only a light haze at the chimney as his driver works a heavy load eastwards from Endicott .

18. It is early spring in the early 1980’s, the maize crop has been harvested and the fields ploughed in anticipation of the summer rains which all too frequently at that time were little more than promises. Never the less, this 15F sporting an EW tender has a good load of general freight and empties for loading further down the line as it works upgrade past the row of pines east of Endicott.

19. The Leslie shunt seen broadside as it works towards a level crossing elimination underbridge between Endicott and the inter-loop at Toevlug. I have included this shot as it shows the train crossing one of the numerous small stone culverts on the line. As the line follows the watershed closely, catchments were small so flood openings were sized appropriately.

20. After the appreciative comments we have received about the class 12AR’s in previous chapters of “Soul of a Railway” I have allowed a few special workings to creep in! At the same location as photo 19, but several years later, 12AR No 1535 sprints downhill on an RSSA railtour.

21. The locomotive of the Leslie shunt, class 15F No 3044 coming out of Toevlug interloop past the siding warning board. There is still some work to be done with its load of empty FZ’s before it crosses the watershed and the fireman can rest before the final pull into Devon and its associated water and fire cleaning stop.

22. Not a special working as such as in 1979 an SAR AGM advised that although it was the intention to eliminate steam, they would be conducive to the occasional rostering of steam on normal timetabled workings. In this instance on 10 May 1990 arrangements were made for cl 16DA No 879 to work the Kinross shunt and extend it to Bethal for turning. Here she is returning westbound between Devon and Toevlug with a load of anhydrous ammonia in tank wagons, necessitating runner wagons as for petroleum and explosives.

23. A workaday clean 15F from Springs shed working away from Toevlug interloop (seen as the row of trees on the ridge on the far left of the picture) towards Devon.

24. The crew of Germiston’s station shunt prestige engine, 1535 cl 12AR “Susan” have no intention of letting her 4’3” drivers hold them back as they take a run at the climb toward Toevlug with a special RSSA train from Bethal. I just love those clerestory C33/C34 coaches in the train.

25. Drivers Terblanche and duPlessis from Springs work 16DA number 879 on the Springs- Kinross segment past a field of sunflowers. The train was a full load of revenue general goods bound for Kinross and the date was 10 May 1990.

27. Barely shorter than its train, this 15F lays on the smoke out of Devon. After cleaning fire and taking water, the crew no doubt will be looking forward to booking off in Springs at the end of a long shift. The locomotive water came from a dam located behind the large silos, while behind the guards van can be glimpsed Devon’s 3-post home signal, locomotive water tank and small goods shed.

28. The fireman of a 15F with an ex 23-class type EW tender watches as another 15F, this one with its normal tender, rolls in on the main at Devon. The inbound F is about to cross the ash pit with its elephant foot pedestals over which it was extremely difficult to maintain a true running top. There have been a variety of watering facilities over the years but these ones of the “garden hose” variety were the last and the worst, as it took an age to fill a 23-class tender. In front of the column is the U-shaped foundation for a more efficient parachute tank from a bygone era. The U-shape accommodated the larger diameter mains that would have fed it from the station water tanks in pre-diesel days.

29. Perhaps the best photo extant of steam on this line during the cosmos season, by Dick Manton, shows a 15 F working its train out of Devon with an eastbound freight while in the background a diesel can be seen awaiting its turn. Autumn was cosmos time on the Breyten line but very hard to include in a photo.

30. While we're on the subject of cosmos, here is Eugene Armer's take on the subject - the same train as in photo 10 above made in March 2013.

This location near Leslie could be relied upon for a lovely display of cosmos which Eugene has managed to capture beautifully - the floral display contrasting with the variety of liveries on the three class 35 diesels. The blue livery was an original Spoornet paint scheme, the red is that of Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and finally, the original orange SATS livery. The crews from the early days of dieselisation on this line pushed for a turning triangle at Trichardt to avoid the unpleasant fumes when working long-nose forward on the return workings. It would appear that even after four decades the problem was only addressed by running in multiple with the outer units being arranged with short nose leading.

31. Bulled-up 3137 cl 15F, named “Die Baron” by its proud crew, waits in the first loop at Devon to cross a long eastbound goods. Although the line to Bethal climbs almost continuously the towns were located in small local dips which in the days before large scale reticulated water ensured a more reliable water supply despite the small catchments available. This resulted in noisy departures in steam days.

32. An eastbound goods eases out of Devon on an early autumn afternoon in the late 1970’s. The grass has just started to change colour but the cosmos has not yet come into flower. This scene also captures the country town nature of Devon with many businesses given over to agricultural related activities.

33. More winter action as this 15F makes a vigorous start out of Devon in June 1986

34. One last shot for the 12AR enthusiasts as the driver forces hard grease into the bearings of No 1535 “Susan” and the guard is about to wander back to his end of the train after the ritual communication. This was the brown uniform issued to guards and other railway personnel after SAR became SATS in 1981. The change in colour from the charcoal and black of the SAR era was meant to be a “corporate culture” upliftment but many employees much preferred the earlier uniform and continued to wear it. In practice such things rarely achieve their objectives. Without exception, each successive name, uniform and logo change since 1981 has marked a clear step backwards for our railway.

35. Another 15F with EW tender working a full load westbound through Eendrag towards the inter-loop at Kelty.

36.The trolley assistant has thrown the points for the small perway inspection trolley to exit Kelty siding after exchanging crossing tablets with an eastbound goods. Because of a past tragic accident here I have included this shot taken just after had we crossed the goods at this interloop between Devon and Leslie (Eendrag was a very short inter-siding not used for crossing trains). Trains operated with the Van Schoor system between Devon and Leslie could be given one of 3 types of tablet (token) depending on operating needs - either “Absolute”, “Permissive” or “Crossing”. Kelty was the location of a head on collision in the mid 1970s when one of 2 trains travelling with crossing tablets over-ran the interloop. After the collision, one engine, a 15AR, was cut up on the spot. Afterwards, in addition to the tablet, locomotive crews were given a written warning advice indicating what sort of tablet they were travelling with.

"Absolute" (round hoop): Only one train authorised between two stations

"Permissive" (triangular hoop): A following train allowed into the section before the previous train reached the next station. When permissive tablets were first introduced the interval was set at ten minutes, later increased to 20 but invariably honoured in the breach, particularly on busy days - so much so that trains occasionally could be running fast within sight of each other - insane but true!

"Crossing" (square-shaped hoop): Authorised to enter the section as far as a specified interloop where the crew would have to pick up another crossing token from the opposing train.

37. Watch out! These tankers are about to roll off your screen into your living room! 879 "Theodora" between Leslie and Devon, looking striking on her return from Bethal with the tank train picked up at Trichardt. Reflected light is emphasising the wide firebox housing the 60 sq ft grate of this variety of 16DA - unaccountably given the same classification as the narrower firebox version.

38. The returning Kinross shunt has a fly-ash tanker immediately behind the drawbar as it waits in the loop to cross the EM80 track-geometry recording car at Leslie. The EM80 normally measured mainlines so efforts were made to route it on the main despite its status being that of a trolley which was below that of even a pick-up goods. The cars could measure and advise track condition in real time and normally ran every 3 months on busy lines like that to Bethal. Introduced c 1980 these cars were typical of the cutting-edge technology developed and applied by SAR at the time. A-standard was the highest and the condition to which all track had to be left when it was worked on. B–standard was the threshold at which work should be planned and C-standard indicated that work should be carried out immediately. All these standards were higher than that required for safe operation of the trains. The C-standard could become a safety issue when combined with other factors such as rolling stock condition. The SAR and its successors were very strong technically and profited from both their own track and rolling-stock test facilities as well as their multi-disciplinary approach.

39. No 6416-up Breyten-Germiston through goods passing 6422-up Bethal-Springs T&P, its 15F shunting in the yard. 6416-up has an interesting endorsement in the private working time book (WTB): "Conveys through traffic and passengers. Must be expedited. Must not run more than 30 minutes ahead of schedule"[my italics]. The mind boggles at a timetable that expects its T&P passengers to rock up at the station 30 minutes early - a bit like the airlines really!

The endorsement for 6422 is also interesting (I have shortened it): "In the event of this train having work to perform at intermediate points between Bethal and Baanbreker, it must be worked on a non-follow token [i.e. non-permissive].......... Clears livestock and perishables traffic from Kinross, Leslie, Devon and Endicott. Must convey a full goods load between Devon and Springs. Must not run more than 45 minutes ahead of schedule".

40. The town of Leslie (left background) is split by the railway. The same train as in photos 14, 23 and 33 continues its uphill run towards Bethal as it passes the outer home signal and the crew have things well in hand for the 20 km climb to Kinross.

41. Afternoon in winter, the pastures are dry and burning off of the railway reserve has started - either intentionally or unintentionally. An up goods runs past a clump of twisted Aussie blue gums on its journey from Kinross to Leslie. It has just passed the bulk fly-ash silo at Oban and its 15F is working the slight grade towards yet another "level crossing elimination" overbridge. This one is more poignant as not long previously there had been a tragic collision between a train and a school bus at the level crossing. SAR and its successors were very strong on eliminating level crossings and a nationwide program existed such that by the 1980s there were very few public level crossings on the network.

42. A through goods from Breyten to Germiston has just departed Kinross as it works through the curves towards Oban. The first 3 wagon loads of gum poles from the forests of the Eastern Transvaal followed by various cattle wagons. The track gangs have burnt off the rail reserve to maintain a fire break.

43. Wide-firebox cl 16DA No 879 has shunted off a few wagons and sits in the yard sidings at Kinross. To the left is a large store of mini-containers designed to revolutionise the railing of parcel and less-than-carload (LCL) traffic. Unfortunately the competitive nature of the whizz-kid managers appointed to run the newly-created business departments in the remodelled SATS was easily directed inwards by its own Road Motor Transport (RMT) sector and in the end all door-to-door consignments went onto road for their entire journey and stayed there. What was designed to give rail a competitive advantage was destroyed from within by SATS. It only remains to tell you the obvious, that a state-run RMT was never going to be a match for private road hauliers so it wasn't long before all this lucrative business was lost entirely. It is appropriate to quote Hennie Heymans (editor of the on-line "Uloliwe" magazine): I always thought the SAR became crazy: Instead of giving the big shots [motor] cars, I would have given them reserved private saloons. Once you lose touch you can close the shop! [our italics].

44. A diesel hauled oil train from Trichardt pulls into the loop at Kinross as the driver and Station Foreman confer over train operating matters. Single diesels also wanted turning facilities as the crews preferred to work “short nose forward” on their hood units. When they could not be turned they worked long nose uphill so that exhaust fumes would be less of an inconvenience. From memory, diesels took over in the first half of 1979 and for a time handled all the traffic but after a few months some turns went back to steam, notably the Leslie and Kinross shunts. There was also supposed to be a Bethal to Kinross steam shunt but I never saw it - it could have worked at night. There was also a very early morning steam departure from Springs which got to Bethal about 08:00 - 09:00 and returned an hour later. That seemed to run every day. There was also a reasonably frequent midday/afternoon goods out of Springs that seemed to go through to Bethal. Originally single class 34s were used but later they started multiple units and reduced the number of trains.

45. No 2990 loping along the continental divide, between Oban and Kinross in January 1980.

46. Another autumn morning in the early 1980s sees a 15F hauling general goods for Bethal through one of numerous curves after Kinross as the line hugs the watershed. To the right are the distant silos of Kinross and its church steeple, while just beyond the rise in the left background are the cooling towers of the Sasol 2 and 3 oil-from-coal plants. In the farmer's field just to the left of the engine is the almost obligatory hulk of a motor car.

47. Appropriately, we end this chapter with a spectacular sunset shot by Dick Manton ........ well, actually, it's dawn on a misty morning with a westbound goods restarting from the splitting home signal at Leslie (the tallest post indicated the road with least curvature, which usually was the main line). Once past Devon the manned stations thinned out and much crossing of trains was done at the interloops, hence the need for only two-post semaphores at Leslie and Baanbreker. Although Leslie had a water tank and gantry this was normally only used by the shunt engines and workings to Kinross.

That's all for now folks. The next chapter will continue onwards from Leven to Breyten with a sojourn down the Bethal-Volksrust line.