Railway Heritage

RN 147 – Weekly Steamshed Report – 28th January – 3rd February 2006 – By Gert Jubileus

February 6, 20066 min read

Sandstone Heritage Trust – Rail News

RN 147 – Weekly Steamshed Report – 28th January – 3rd February 2006 – By Gert Jubileus

17th January 2006

 
The Cosmos signboard at Sandstone’s entrance
1_cosmos_Festival_sign
SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT:
The race is on and it is the final countdown to have fifty wagons in operational condition for the longest Narrow Gauge train ever on the Sandstone Steam Railway before the Cosmos Festival and the “Under the African Skies “that starts at the end of March this year. This week we managed to out shop four wagons and another two is half way restored.
But here is the story!
THE GUARDS VANS:
The restoration of the two Guards Vans was completed this week and both of them were shunted out to the storage line outside the shed. The broken windows were removed and new windows will be fitted to them in next week. These two Vans will remain their original colours and will make part of a train consist from the “Bygone era” together with old rusty B wagons.
THE RATANGA FLAT WAGON:
The Ratanga Flat wagon was then shunted to the pit; all the braking gears were removed, de-scaled and painted. The vacuum cylinder was removed and Ben overhauled it.
Here are some photos of its restoration:
Before and After!
2_ratanga_flat_bed
3_ratanga_flat_bed
4_ratanga_flat_bed
5_ratanga_flat_bed
6_ratanga_flat_bed
7_ratanga_flat_bed
8_ratanga_flat_bed
9_ratanga_flat_bed
This flat wagon is making part of the Military train and Henry spray painted it in a camouflaged Military colour.
Here are some photos of a camouflaged Ratanga Flat wagon:
10_ratanga_camouflage
12_ratanga_camouflage
13_ratange_camouflage
14_ratanga_camouflage

TWO B WAGONS:
The first two B wagons that will remain in their original rusty colours came to the put on Friday. They will undergo a complete under frame restoration.
15_B_wagon
16_B_Wagon

THE LOADING OF THE MILITARY TRAIN:
This week we started with the loading of available flat wagons with Military vehicles. Here are some photos of the loaded flat wagons.
17_B_wagon
18_B_wagon
19_B_wagon 20_B_wagon
21_B_wagon 22_B_wagon

23_B_camouflage
We however were not sure if our camouflaging was sufficient, so we pulled the two camouflaged wagons to a vegetation background and put it to the test.

Here is the result:

24_B_camouflage
The general restorations to the wagon under frames are the same with all the wagons. All the braking gears are removed, de-scaled and painted with red oxide. The vacuum cylinders are overhauled completely with new roll rings and release valves. We use the new plastic release valves and I personally find them to be more reliable than the older ones. The advance of the plastic one are the ports for the vacuum are bigger and therefore the time to create vacuum at the chamber side is very faster than with the old brass ones.
Here are some photos of the under frame restorations.
25_chamber_tanks 26_chamber_tanks
Chamber tanks are de-scaled and painted with red oxide.
27_chamber_tanks
Braking gears are straighten, de-scaled and painted with Red oxide as well.
28_braking_gears 29_braking_gears
30_braking_gears
Then we fit the braking gears, vacuum cylinder, chamber tanks are fitted back and the brakes are adjusted.
31_brake_adjustment 32_brake_adjustment
After these steps are completed, we remove the old vacuum pipes and new ones are fitted together with vacuum chamber pipes.
33_chamber_pipes 34_chamber_pipes
New Bearings are fitted and the axle boxes are packed with new wool soaked in oil.
After this is done, the wagon handbrakes are tested and they are vacuum brake tested.
TWO B WAGONS:

The first two B wagons that will remain in their original rusty colours came to the put on Friday. They will undergo a complete under frame restoration.
35_B_wagons 36_B_wagons
THE LOADING OF THE MILITARY TRAIN:
This week we started with the loading of available flat wagons with Military vehicles. Here are some photos of the loaded flat wagons. 
37_Military 38_Military
THE BSA RAILCAR
39_BSA_Railcar
This week huge progress was made with the restoration of our 1910 BSA railcar. The biggest work to be done is on the body of this car, and needs special attention to rebuild some of the parts as it use to be in 1910.
Here are some photos of the bonnet and how Henk and Henry managed to bend the bonnet and bonnet sides of the BSA.It all started with a piece of steel plate and the creativity of the mind was placed to hand.
40_BSA_Railcar
41_BSA_Railcar
42_BSA_Railcar
43_BSA_Railcar
44_BSA_Railcar
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46_BSA_Railcar
47_BSA_Railcar
The gearbox arrived and Henry is at present busy to fit it into the BSA. Once this is fitted, it shall enable us to design the floor that we need to make to fit into the enclosed areas.
48_BSA_Railcar_Gearbox
THE SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY
Casuals are busy with cleaning up the vegetation close to the Railway line. It takes time, but surely looks really neat and clean. We had a really bad thunderstorm last Sunday night, and a rail inspection was done to inspect the railway line of flooded areas. Here are photos of the neat railway line:
49_Railway
50_Railway
Here is the Wickham facing towards the Lesotho border, just as a thundershower burst open over the Maluti Mountains.
51_Wickham_thunderclouds
RAILWAY SIGNS
Speed posts were fitted to tar poles this week and will be planted at appropriate places on the Railway line.
52_signage
53_henry_signage
54_signage
55_signage
All the speed posts and gradient posts will be fitted on a special rail day that we plan to have. All the required signs and boards will be fitted as well as clearance marks where the new lines were build.
From The Past
56_19D_Potgietersrus
A 19 D shunting at Potgietersrus in Transvaal – Photo by Michael Carter.

The 19D ‘s were mainly used on the branch lines in South Africa and therefore also used to perform the shunting duties at such depots. They were very successful locomotives and definitely one of my favourites.
PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK

1.) To finish the restoration of the two B wagons
2.) To finish the restoration of another 2 B wagons
3.) To start with the restoration of another 2 B wagons
4.) To re-rail all the wagons at the coal shed
5.) To clean up the Shed yard
6.) To do Boiler Inspections on 8 boilers (internal, hydraulic and steam test.)
7.) To stencil 3’6” wagons at Waenhuis
8.) To make clearance marks out of short pieces of rail.
9.) To have a Rail day ( signs, speed posts and gradient posts)
10.) Train ride for the visit of the High Commissioner.
11.) To go on with the BSA
12.) To send a train to load all the bags of weeds at the railway line side.
STEAM GREETINGS… GERT!!!
57_Steamshed

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