Umgeni Steam Railway
(29.10.06)


For me, this was a bit like "The Day". While organizing the vacation, I had realized that this was to be the only occasion to see cape gauge steam on this tour, so a lot of scheduling had been centered around being in Kloof in the morning of October, 29th. And what a morning it was. Sky was clear, and Umgeni happened to have scheduled GF 2380 "Billy" for today's tours to Inchanga. Can you imagine how lucky I felt? I knew that Umgeni have two 'normal' locos and two Garrats, and of course I would have appreciated the 'normals' as well, but a Garrat is - well - something special (and even more so since I was lucky to drive one a couple of years ago in Bulawayo :)

Before we go for the pictures, I would like to  inquire some details about the history of the loco. What I know is: It was built by Hanomag in 1927, works nr 10522 and delivered to SAR. John Middleton's "Railways of Southern Africa" 1994 edition lists her in "Frankfort: Station Forecourt". So I guess she was on display (plinthed) there?  For 1999, I recorded her belonging to THF, being operational in a shed with the acronym of 'HIL' which probably indicates a lease-lend to Umgeni's Hilton branch. So, what happened between 1994 and 1999?

And now for the pictures. Sun mostly disappeared for the second tour, but it was still great. Pictures are arranged following the course of the line:


Some morning shunting in Kloof:









Working towards the grade in Hillcrest:



In the middle of the Hillcrest / Bothas Hill grade:








taking it easy near Drummond:





Arrival at Inchanga:











On the way back through the Valley of 1000 Hills near Drummond - what a scenery...




and, finally, at the little Station of Bothas Hill (which is in an excellent shape!)



BTW, I do have a few spare slides. They are not of A+ category, but still quite acceptable. Feel free to contact me if you want to trade some. Offers should be either steam or good Southern African linesiding.
And another BTW, I did a good amout of videotaping with a couple of nice runthroughs, all with tripod and in good quality. So, at some point in the future, there will be a DVD. Contact me if you're interested in a copy once it's finished. It's free for active members of Umgeni Steam Railway; others are welcome to offer me a copy of something from their media archive. Be aware that editing will take a great bit of time still.

Thanks to everbody at Umgeni for this very special day. Let me know if I can help you with pictures or movies.

Ralph Timmermann, 25. July 2007

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