This just popped up in my recommendation feed and brought back some great memories. I was on this tour, my second trip to SA, which was not that easy in those days with the sanctions still in place (I ended having to fly from Oz to Jo'burg via Singapore and London Must have been mad 😂. It's all gone now, the marvellous collection of locomotives, the historic rolling stock and the entire opportunity of being able to do it again. Thanks for the memories...
There was certainly a great selection of preserved locos available then, not to mention that lovely old clerestory coaching stock. What is available these days?
Not that much! As far as I know there are a number of Classes stored at Bloemfontein and a few other places which are static and a few private operators that run but are clinging on by the skin of their teeth. Two well known groups 'Friends of the Rail' and 'Reefsteamers' that have been going since the early 80's have had to close up shop due to the poor state of the decaying rail network - and the politics and unrealistic tarrifs - imposed on them by the current owners. It's all in the balance. We have lost so much because the people who now run the Railways don't have the same values on Railway Heritage that were in the people that helped preserve so much in the 80's and early-to-mid 90's.
That is a real shame. Even here in the UK which has very high safety requirements for all locos operating on the national network there is still an open access policy for steam, providing safety requirements are met. Not to mention how crowded the national network is, yet we still see plenty of steam!
