The Sandstone Steam Railway – The Story Continues
By David Richardson (hardback, Sandstone Heritage Trust, www. sandstone-estates.com, 220pp, £29 including p&p).
THIS book is a fascinating history of how Sandstone has evolved over years into what has become a major world collection of 2ft gauge railways. However, it is not all about 2ft because, over time, 3ft 6in Cape Gauge locomotives and rolling stock have been transported and preserved there.
Sandstone Heritage Trust is a private preservation initiative established on a commercial arable farm growing wheat, maize and sunflowers covering 20,000 acres near Ficksburg in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. The farm is located under the Maluti Mountains along the Caledon River, the border with land-locked Lesotho.
It was bought by its present owner, a British-owned company, in 1995, and the sale included all tractors,
harvesting and farm machinery, which was left in a time warp and became the catalyst of the collection driven by one man, Wilfred Mole.
At that time there was never any mention of a railway. One year later a telephone call from Alan Clarke, of the Transnet Heritage Foundation, advised that a venture near Pietermaritzburg was being terminated and a considerable amount of rails and locomotives needed a home.
After transportation to Sandstone, NGG16 No. 153 became a weekend project for staff member Graham Strydom to return it to steam. Rails were laid and a railway was born.
The railway has expanded considerably over the years, with the collection branching out into tractors and farm machinery, buses, military vehicles, stationary and traction engines, and also oxen trains. Huge barns have been constructed to protect these important items from the weather.
This book is a major piece of work, not only describing how Sandstone became a railway, its locomotives, freight, and passenger stock, and where the collection came from throughout Southern Africa but also covers the complete variety of Sandstone’s extensive collection. It goes into great detail, right down to the humble freight wagon, of which there are many.
Anyone with an interest in what can and should be preserved will find this volume eye-opening.
For those who have been to Sandstone it’s a must.