As winter approaches on the high veld the cosmos flowers bloom alongside the line between Kendal and Dryden. Some Class 18E, 10E and 43 action with heavy coal drags on a beautiful Easter Sunday
A break from Stars of Sandstone posts went out to the Natal mainline around Greylingstad, this area is very prone to mist in the morning and the 28th was no exception. Got PRASA 18 425 with a late running Durban passenger and 43 115 & 43 116 with a load of container coal for Tutuka power station near Standerton. I chased the train to the power station but really any photo ops on the branch due to limited access. Spent the afternoon around Redan but not much traffic probably due to the long weekend
Selection of photos taken on the 21/03/2014 on the Natal Mainline and around Vereeniging. Aim of the day was get some photos of the second last running of the Durban sitter, this brought out almost all the Gauteng gricers Mark Berry, Eugene Armer & Jean Dulez and myself. Saw lots of trains but the weather forecast was partly cloudy and tended more to cloudy, so not great for photography. Had a look at the new branch to Grootvlei power station, most of track has been laid so hopefully will be opening soon.
On the way back from Cullinan I managed to capture some 10Es and 18Es on empty coal trains traveling north from Sentrarand yard
Visited the section between Heidelberg and Greylingstad, the morning started off very misty but otherwise a good morning. Of interest was the pair of 43 class diesels on a load of coal containers, from research on the internet I believe these loads go to the Tutuka power station near Standerton, there is a 34 km branch from Standerton to the power station so hopefully will be able to visit in the future. Also got some 10Es at the Balfour tunnel, makes a bit of a change from the usual 18Es used on the Natal mainline.
Aidan's blog 