Sandstone Estates
 
| |
Location of the Sandstone Estates in South Africa |
The Sandstone Estates (Pty) Ltd, in German about "Landgut Sandstein ", is a 7000 hectare farm in South Africa , which is located near Ficksburg in the Free State province not far from the border with Lesotho . Operating under the name Sandstone Heritage Trust a large collection of old agricultural machines , narrow gauge - steam engines , military vehicles , buses , stationary steam engines and machinery connected.
history
The farm was owned by the German missionary family Wille from the 1840s and was taken over in 1994 by entrepreneur Wilfred Mole, managing director of Nokia South Africa. The farm produces wheat , soybeans , maize and sunflowers - since 2005 according to the guidelines of organic farming .
Sandstone Heritage Trust
Mole bought the farm for recreational purposes and as a repository for his collection of old tractors . With the dissolution of the museum Midmar that the Kwa-Zulu Natal Parks Department in cooperation with the Transnet the state railway was Department for the management of the historical heritage out auctioned Mole 1997, a larger amount of material mm 610 for a narrow-gauge railway with gauge what laid the basis for one of the largest collections in the world in this gauge. After a few tracks had been laid, the first thing to do was to refurbish a Garratt locomotive of the NGG 16 series .
As a lover of old agricultural machinery, Mole first organized an event in 1999 to demonstrate old agricultural machinery. With 99 tractors built before 1960, a world record was set for the highest number of old tractors working in one field at the same time. In order to make the occasion more interesting for the public, a short railway line was built with the material from Midmar, on which the Garratt locomotive ran with some cars. The enthusiasm of the railway enthusiasts did not go unnoticed, so that the management of the estate decided to expand the route. After the material from Midmar had been installed, additional rails and sleepers could be bought at auctions for the auction of construction site material of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project that was no longer required .
After the world record with the tractors in Australia had been surpassed, another attempt to record started in 2002, in which 797 old tractors were working at the same time, bringing the record back to South Africa.
Most of the objects in the collection come from South Africa, but some also come from other countries in southern Africa such as Angola and Mozambique .
The ten-day Stars of Sandstone event takes place regularly in spring , where the exhibits are demonstrated in operation. It attracts over 1000 visitors each time, more than 70% of whom come from overseas.
Agricultural machinery
In the area of the Caledon , which flows along the Lesotho border , where the Sandstone Estates are located, many farmers still work their fields using traditional methods. When Mole took over the estate on Hoekfontein Lanz Bulldog and John Deere 720 tractors were found that were still in use every day. Today the collection includes over 700 tractors, most of them in roadworthy condition. Another attraction is trips with a covered wagon with a team of oxen .
railroad
610 mm narrow-gauge railway
| Sandstone Steam Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_SAR_Class_NG6_a.JPG) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 12.7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 610 mm ( 2 foot track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 34 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
route
From the Hoekfontein boarding station, where the workshop is located, on the one hand a 2.3 km long route leads south to the vicinity of the border with Lesotho, which ends with a turning loop at Grootdraai, on the other hand a much longer route leads north. After the station, it passes the Mooihoek siding and crosses the access road at Pandora before it rises at over 30 ‰ and ends in a six-kilometer-long turning loop. This is where the Vailima crossing station and the Vailima Village stop are located. The tracks are 12.7 km long, a trip over the entire site is 18.8 km long. The route is secured with signals. The locomotives can be supplied with water at three points.
vehicles
The foundation owns 43 steam locomotives, 25 of which were operational in March 2016 and three were being refurbished in the Bloemfontein steam locomotive depot. Sandstone Estates have been renting the depot since the late 1990s. The workforce at the depot, headed by Lukas Nel, had previously waited many decades for South African Railway steam locomotives and has already refurbished 15 locomotives for the narrow-gauge railway. The depot also functions as a training facility for young people from the region who are involved in the renovations.
To the operational steam locomotives in addition to many smaller locomotives each a locomotive of the series include NG 4 and NG 15 and a Garratt locomotive NGG series 13 and three Garratt locomotives the NGG series 16. A special feature is derived from Mozambique F2 of Beira Railway . There are also 13 diesel locomotives, four of which are operational.
In addition to the locomotives, 13 passenger cars and 125 freight cars are available. In 2015 alone, 37 more freight cars were added, with 12 cars still standing in Port Elizabeth.
762 mm vehicles
The foundation has taken over two small three-axle diesel - hydraulic locomotives from the Alfred County Railway that were previously used at the Pongola Sugar Estate near the border with Swaziland . It has not yet been decided whether these vehicles will be re-gauged or sold, because in their current form they will not be of any use to the operable railroad of the estate.
Cape track vehicles
In addition to the 610 mm locomotives, the foundation also keeps Cape Gauge locomotives that are not operational.
This includes 21 South African steam locomotives on loan from the British painter David Shepherd , such as two Garratt locomotives of the SAR class GMAM and three locomotives of the SAR class 25 NC . There are only eight Shepard locomotives on the estate, the rest are in Bloemfontein , in Kommandonek - a siding four kilometers from the estate - and at Reefsteamers in Germiston .
In addition to 16 passenger coaches and 18 freight wagons, the foundation also owns the last two locomotives built by Peckett in Bristol, as well as four other tank locomotives, a steam crane and a motorized trolley .
Military vehicles
The foundation formed a joint venture with the Armaments Museum of the South African Defense Forces in Bloemfontein , which resulted in an important collection of old military vehicles. The aim of the collection is to bring the visitor closer to the development of defense technology in South Africa after the Second World War . Bloemfontein Tank School plays an important role during the Stars of Sandstone events with daily demonstrations and convoys of military vehicles.
literature
- Dave Richardson, Joanna Molynueux-Killik: The Sandstone Steam Railroad - The First Ten Years . 2006.
Web links
- The Sandstone Heritage Trust & Sandstone Estates (Pty) Ltd. Retrieved March 6, 2016 (Official Site of Sandstone Estates).
- Natasha Gartside: Latest Sandstone stock list. Sandstone Estates, accessed March 6, 2016 (Rail Vehicle Inventory).
Individual evidence
- ^ A day with the King of Lesotho. September 30, 2007, accessed March 6, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Lindi van Rooyen: Locomotive collector and his toys . Farmers Weekly. June 28, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- ^ A b c d Wilfred Mole: About The Sandstone Heritage Trust. In: www.sandstone-estates.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
- ^ Three rare vintage tractors in record attempt. (No longer available online.) In: Volksblad. June 10, 2004, p. 8 , archived from the original on March 6, 2016 ; accessed on March 6, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ OpenStreetMap. Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Natasha Gartside: Latest Sandstone stock list. (No longer available online.) Sandstone Estates, archived from the original on March 6, 2016 ; accessed on March 6, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ex Pongola Sugar Estate 6WDH. Sandstone Estates, May 5, 2006, accessed March 7, 2016 .
Coordinates: 28 ° 50 ′ 41.6 ″ S , 28 ° 0 ′ 8.6 ″ E