Railway Heritage

RN 195 – Weekly Steamshed Report & activities – 1st – 7th July 2006 – By Gert Jubileus

July 7, 20067 min read
Sandstone Heritage Trust – Rail News

RN 195 – Weekly Steamshed Report & activities – 1st – 7th July 2006 – By Gert Jubileus

SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT

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SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE REPORT:

THE DOUGLAS LOCOMOTIVE:
This week Derrick finished the cladding inside the cab and welded the handrails onto the Douglas cab. He also made a shovel plate and did some fine-tuning to the cowcatcher. Henry made brackets for the headlights and fitted the front and the rear headlights to the locomotive. Henk made a gauge plate and weld it inside the cab just above the tarot. He cleaned the pressure and vacuum gauge and fitted pipes to them. As soon as the paintwork inside the cab is done, the gauges will be fitted to the gauge plate. Henk made lamp brackets and welded them onto the Douglas and fitted a vacuum gooseneck and vacuum steel pipe to the rear end of the Douglas locomotive.
In next week we shall build wood roof for the inside of the cab and will fit the seats for this locomotive. The side tanks will be spray with spray filler and then with 2K paint. By the end of next week, we shall have a complete new picture of this locomotive in her new livery.
Below are the photos of the almost complete picture of the Douglas Locomotive.
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The shovel plate in the Bunker.
The construction of the cladding.
Below: Derrick busy with the fitting of the cowcatcher and fixing the buffer beam. The new plates that were used to build the cab and coalbunker were painted with Admiral Grey paint to prevent them from rust. The original colour will be sprayed on in next week.
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Below left: Henry grinding the handrails.
Below right: Derrick welding the handrails to the cab.
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Below: The front and rear headlights
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Below Right: Derrick cutting out new side steps for the Douglas.
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Below Left: The two new steps and on the right: Derrick securing them to the Locomotive.
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Below Left: The building of the footplate.
Below Right: Henry fitted a handbrake for the Douglas before he could finish the footplate.
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Below Left: The Gauge plate just above the Tarot.
Below Right: Henk fit the gooseneck and vacuum pipe
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Below: Henkie bending the pipes for the gauges. Below: The lamp brackets for the Douglas Locomotive.
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THE O&K LOCOMOTIVE:
The regulator was removed from the O&K locomotive this week. The regulator bolts to the side of the dome and the packing blew out the last time we steamed her. The steam pipes was removed for this operation and new gasket was fitted to the regulator joint on the dome.
Below are photos of the regulator.
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SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT
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This week we finish the restoration of three wagons, the Ratanga wagon and both DZ wagons.
THE RATANGA WAGON:
Henry finished with the doors of the Ratanga while Ben painted the inside and outside of this wagon.
Below are photos of the Ratanga Wagon.
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Ben painted the handrails and the steps with yellow paint and also sprayed the bogeys with PWD brown. I can’t decide which one of the two restored Ratanga wagons are the most impressive; we need to shunt the two together in next week. The varnished wood really makes them special.
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THE DZ WAGONS 1405 AND 1746
Henk finished the wood floor of 1405 and both the DZ’s were spray painted this week. Below are the photos of the last two Dz wagons fully restored.
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G WAGON NUMBER 3210:
The restoration on this wagon went on this week. The braking gears were fitted back this week and the vacuum cylinder was overhauled and was fitted back. New brake blocks were fitted and the brakes were adjusted. The handbrakes were made workable again and the under frame restoration is complete. The floor of this wagon was taken apart and were removed to. Both the doors were removed and needs replacement with new ones at Pandora.
Below are photos of this very special wagon:
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Below: Jacob overhauling the vacuum cylinder of 3210.
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Below Left: Petrus sanding the wooden sides of this wagon
Below Right: Jacob and Petrus battling to get the vacuum cylinder back.
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THE SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY TRACK MAINTENANCE:
Oupa finished the section between Hoekfontein and Grootdraai this week and I used him to assist me to plant all the km posts as well as the new Station name boards. The complete Railway now have km posts halve a km apart.
Below are photos of the km posts and the new Station names:
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A Railway with personality!
A photo of the wagon-shed sign
Signs and Decals
This week a new Wagon Shed sign was fitted to the wagon shed. In next week we are going to make new safety notice signboards that will hang from beams of the shed roof to a height just above the locomotive windows on both sides of the shed in a neat line from the front to the rear of the shed.
SEMAPHORE SIGNALS:
The first two Semaphore Signals were offloaded on Friday. Both of them will undergo upgrading and will be put up in the section between Mooihoek approaching Hoekfontein Station.
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From the Past…
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This photo was taken this week when I visited Oom Lukas Nel in Bloemfontein Station. In time, taking photos of our loved ones will be of the past. They will be gone, gone forever. All over South Africa they are cutting up these Giant machines of my heart without knowing that each of them has a personality, a soul and I can hear them cry for help. They were the pride of the Railway, the pride of long gone drivers, now they are abandoned and they are falling like all the Heroes of yesterday.

I met the guys who cut them up the other day in Welkom, they have no respect, no regret and even showed me a photo of 15F 3026, my regular locomotive on which I was a fireman in 1990, that they have cut up into pieces. I was so emotional, I had to leave the site before I lost control, but I will never forget.
PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK:
1.) To finish the refurbishing of the Douglas Locomotive
2.) To finish the refurbishing of the two Semaphore Signals
3.) To wash out the Kalahari and Fowler B 5 and to prepare for Boiler Inspection.
4.) To do Track Maintenance on the Hoekfontein to Mooihoek section.
5.) To move trolleys and spares from Pandora (Home Signal Semaphore)
6.) To go on with the restoration of 3210.
7.) To go on with the restoration of B 2968.
8.) To make Mooihoek Station Name board
9.) To make Safety signs for the Steam Shed.
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