Narrow Gauge Workshop report – 26 September 2011
By Stephan du Preez
Lounge car
The lounge car has been striped and will be sandblasted before repairs to the frame begin. We will start removing wood from the Vailima & Pandora houses to be used as frames & floor of the lounge car. A handbrake has been fitted to the lounge car and some of the steel for the frame has been cut to size.
Points & storage lines
It will take two days to finish the points for the storage line and we need to lay 120m of track to finish it. We will collect ballast from the 3’6” line (where the old 19D’s were standing) to complete it. The completion date will depend on the number of people I have to tamp the line. I want to finish laying the tracks on the 21/10/2011 after that the line needs to be tamped. The weights of the points still need to be fitted on the main line where the siding starts.
It was interesting to see that the sleepers that I cut to fit to the points were laminated pine and not the traditional Rhodesian teak.
Waenhuis floor
I want to start the waenhuis floor as soon as I have installed the points at the rail gate. It should take about three weeks to complete. I will send the PR through to get the materials that are needed. The plan is to break out the concrete floor to make the wood floor the same height as the rest of the building. It will also make the process easier to get the floor level.
3’6” Coaches
We are systematically doing repairs to the coaches the biggest problem is to get the roof waterproof. The roof of the coach at the steam shed has been re-painted to stop the rust. We will continue to do these kinds of repairs to keep them in a good condition.
Water tanks
There are two water tanks in the salvage yard (see photos) the one is striped and I don’t know if it is complete.
I think it will be a good idea to put one at Groot draai to help the smaller locos. It happens often that the locos get into the station with no water at all. It is just a matter of time before somebody damages a boiler. The only concern I have is theft because it is so close to the border. There is a bore hole that used to feed the house we can put an engine there that can be removed when not in use to feed the tank. The other can be installed at the steam shed next to the caboose to give us some extra water when steaming up locos. Please give me your thoughts on this.
Bloemfontein crew
Leon and Isak are here to steam test the two locos that just arrived I will report how the two locos did. They will do a hydraulic test on the Kerr Stewart first to make sure it is fine.
