| Tuesday 19th October 1999 At 7:00am on Tuesday October
19th 1999, 25NC 3484 was gleaming in the sun at Capital Park,
blowing off at regular intervals. She was the centre of attention as
the Rovos steam team made last minute checks and adjustments before
her first serious road test. Phil Girdlestone came up from Durban to
advise during the day. Pretoria boiler inspector Johann Smith was
the man behind the oil-burning conversion, and was looking pretty
pleased with the loco, and Rovos chief fitter John Dadford was also
there to advise.
At around 8:30am the loco with Friends of the Rail caboose left the
shed and fuelled up near the Rovos station. Shortly afterwards she
reversed around to Capital Park goods yard. At 9:30 am the train
departed amidst clouds of oil smoke and a bit of wheelslip. Quite a
nice load, 32 wagons, mostly FSJ's giving a weight of around 700
tons.
It seems the train was delayed in the Pretoria station area for 90
minutes or so, probably due to the Trans Karoo departure and Metro
trains. According to other gricers-who-were-late-for-work along the
line, it climbed up to Centurion fairly slowly, and stopped at Irene
for a while while a few things were put right. Irene departure was
11:30 for Germiston.
On my way back from Jo'burg to Pretoria I stopped in at Germiston,
where the NC was just turning on the balloon. By 2:00pm the loco was
being watered, departure time expected to be around 2:30, again with
the same load.
3484 is now back at Capital Park, receiving some attention for
faults found on the test trip and other minor work. We are looking
forward to seeing her in regular service on the Rovos Rail trains
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