A series of excerpts from an hour's footplate ride from Gwaai to Kennedy siding (within Hwange National Park) on the Bulawayo - Dete - Victoria Falls main line in Zimbabwe. Filmed in June 1998 during a memorable trip on Geoff Cooke's steam-hauled 'Train de Luxe' to Victoria Falls, the opportunity to ride the footplate of NRZ (ex Rhodesian Railways) Class 15A No. 406 was too good to miss. The line runs dead straight for scores of miles throughout the section featured, unfortunately almost directly into the sun at the time which was not good for filming forward down the length of the boiler. The track was well maintained but trying to hold a video camera steady at speeds of up to 60 mph on a steam loco footplate was not easy, so apologies for the frequent jumpy footage. The Garratt loco was built at Beyer-Peacock's Gorton Works, Manchester in 1950, so was almost 50 years old when this footage was taken.
21 окт 2009
