Things have been a bit quiet on the blog recently as I have been very busy at Reefsteamers upgrading our sleeper train set for the SAR steam tours ( http://www.sarsteamtours.com/ ) and crewing the tour in mid-November. Here are a selection of photographs of the first leg of the tour visiting Friends of the Rail at Hermanstad and having day on the Cullinan branch with their 24 class 3664 on a short mixed. Please visit SAR steam tour’s website for exciting upcoming steam tours.
Friends of the Rail double headed their trip to Cullinan on the 1st September spring day due to the large passenger demand. Double headed steam trains are extremely rare in the preservation operation. Ironic that spring day fell on one of the coldest weekends in Gauteng this year.
The next morning we were out early on the branch for early morning light with out short mixed train. Interestingly the silver wagon behind the locomotive is one of the original milk cooler wagons. These worked by having water tanks on the top with the water trickling down the sides that are filled with charcoal, the wind blowing through the sides cooled the contents.
The class 24 was positioned in Cullinan station for some floodlight night photography
The afternoon session with FOTR class 24 3664 started at Montrose on the Cullinan branch and we worked our way to Cullinan and back to Montrose for the final shots of the day
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