Steam in South Africa

Compiled by Ron White (Totem Publishing, hardback, £16.50 plus £1 p&p, Cheques payable to Transport Treasury, 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ, ISBN 9781913893026).

IT’S easy to like South Africa, writes Geoff Courtney. They drive on the same side of the road as us; jet-lag isn’t a problem even though they’re 6000 miles away; they enjoy their cricket and rugby; you get a decent sterling-rand exchange rate; and they make superb wines. Oh, and steam survived into the 21st century, way after it had been pensioned off in the UK, while British-built locos were a staple diet of the South African railway system – North British of Glasgow, for example, exported more than 2000 to the country.

Photographer Peter Gray visited South Africa in July 1967 and April 1971, and this limited edition publication is full of his colour images from those two trips.

To many British enthusiasts, the classes will be almost as familiar as those here at home, and include Garratts, 1A, 3BR, 4AR, 6B, 7A, 8C/DW, 11, 12AR/R, 14R, the Class 15, 16 and 19 variants, 23, 24, double-heading 25s and NGG 15/16, with captions by Ron White that are a rollcall of nostalgia.

What emerges from the 82 images is that in South Africa, steam locos were workhorses, not show ponies. Few are named, only a handful look as if they have had a recent date with a cleaner, the smoke is often either grey or soot-laden black, and the surroundings sometimes uncompromisingly industrial.

The romance of steam is something we Brits genuinely believe in, and rightly so. There is another view from the opposite side of the operational fence, and Ron White’s compilation illustrates that. Steam had a major role to play in the development of many nations and the transportation of their goods, and it was all about pragmatism, not romance.

Ron, who is no stranger to South Africa’s railways, says in the book of those who visited the country: “We did so simply to get our fill of real railways. We focused on lengthy freights and infrequent passenger and mixed trains. The latter were no longer known in the UK, but here they continued to serve remote dorps (small rural towns or villages), once a day at best, Monday Wednesday-Friday at worst.

“The memories, the final shenanigans with empty stock being rattled about by weird combinations of locomotives far from their home sheds. What fun it had been, what memories these pictures bring back after 50 years.”

Memories. Isn‘t that what steam locomotive publications are all about? SOUTH AFRICAN STEAM ODYSSEY FROM THE DAYS OF STEAM