RAILWAYS ABROAD
A rail safari
Richard Gennis travels by road from South Africa to Namibia, chasing steam and diesel traction.
Hired in from African Rail & Traction Services, 1980-built General Electric U20 loco No. 034 is seen with a short train on the Luderitz line on March 23. These trains are normally doubleheaded, but at the time there was a problem with loco availability. A month after my visit on April 20, this loco and Class 33 No. 483 were wrecked in a fatal accident on the same line.
ALL PHOTOS BY
RICHARD GENNIS
IMADE my first trip to South Africa in 1983. My parents had moved there a year or so earlier for work, and it was time for my first real foreign railway experience. Steam was very much still active at that time, and I soon became a fan of the 3ft 6in-gauge South Africa Garratts, which – at close to 200 tons – looked and sounded wonderful.
Near to where my parents lived was a branch line from Pretoria to Magaliesburg, which had a daily trip formed of a few wagons and one passenger coach that was 100% steam-hauled with either a Class 19D 4-8-2 or, on rare occasions, a Class 24 2-8-4. It was a slow working, dropping off the odd wagon and picking another one up at some of the small stations along the way in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.
Scenes like this were something new to me and fascinating to watch. There were still local trip workings near to where I lived in Britain, but nothing like this. Witnessing these scenes 40 years ago certainly got me very interested in foreign railways, especially African ones.
Fast forward to 2023 and I decided to take this year’s trip to a new level. The plan was to hire a 4x4 vehicle from Bushlore – complete with rooftop tent and all the necessary camping equipment, including a small fridge, a couple of gas burners and BBQ – and head north towards Namibia.
Leaving Cape Town
Before departing Cape Town, however, one thing I had to do was get some shots of the Ceres Rail Company’s steam special that operates from the Harbour Hotel.
Luckily on the first weekend before my travels, it was running on both the Saturday and Sunday to the railway market at Elgin, so this gave me a couple of chances to get a shot departing Cape Town with Table Mountain as the backdrop. This trip is a must when visiting Cape Town, offering around 3½ hours of steam haulage (although diesels are used to assist with the climb up Sir Lowry’s Pass), with some wonderful views along the way of the Western Cape.
Ceres Railway Company’s Class 19D 4-8-2 blasts out of Cape Town on February 25 with one of the regular weekend trips to the Elgin Railway Market. The scenic route through the Western Cape and the climb up Sir Lowry’s Pass is stunning. Diesel assistance is required for the climb, and on this day they were unusually attached after departing Cape Town.