Christo's Coastal Trip Train Report 2004

Christo's Coastal Trip 2004 - A Report on trains from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth

December 2004

SAR Steam's visit to "Littlest Traintown"

SAR Steam had three friends, The 3 Mousketeers (Mightymouse, Chicoman and Gilbert). They spoke often on the chat groups about the littlest trains (Narrow gauge) of Littlest Traintown (Port Elizabeth).

Now SAR Steam has not seen these littlest trains before so he wanted to visit them to see for himself. So very eagerly he arranged with
Mighty mouse and the others to visit them.

The big day arrived, SAR Steam jumped into his little Toyota and made his way to "Littlest Traintown" but before he arrived there he made a
turnoff to Riversdale and Voorbaai where he saw the BIG trains he was used to and this is what he saw:

Riversdale		Number		Condition
Class 7	~	970	~	Looks good on outside


Voorbaai		Number		Condition

Class 19D	~	2649	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	3321	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	3322	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	3323	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	3334	~	Looks good on outside
Class 24	~	n/a	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	n/a	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	n/a	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	3606	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	3632	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	3635	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	3675	~	Questionable
Class 24	~	3693	~	Questionable
Class GL Garrat	~	2351	~	Looks good on outside
Class GMAM Garrat	~	4070	~	Looks good on outside
Class GMAM Garrat	~	4122	~	Looks good on outside
Class GMAM Garrat	~	4128	~	Looks good on outside
Class GO Garrat	~	2575	~	Looks good on outside
Class 14A Garrat	~	508	~	Looks good on outside
Class 16A Garrat	~	615	~	Looks good on outside
Class Unknown	~	2054	~	Questionable
Class 19B	~	1412	~	Was zooming past me in yard with a local enthusiast trip
Class Unknown	~		~	Standing on sleepers (Cab, Boiler and frame)

Off he went on his journey again to Littlest Traintown and he was scarcely on his way and he turned off again, into George to see live Steam trains!

This is what he saw there:

George		Number		Condition

Class 6J	~	645	~	Looks good on outside
Class 7A	~	1007	~	Looks good on outside
Class 7A	~	1009	~	Looks good on outside
Class 7BS	~	1056	~	Looks good on outside
Class 16B	~	805	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	2749	~	Looks good on outside
Class GB Garrat	~	2166	~	Looks good on outside
Class GEA Garrat	~	4023	~	Looks good on outside
Class GF Garrat	~	2401	~	Looks good on outside
Class ZASM (Roos)	~		~	Looks good on outside
Class ?? (Stormberg)	~		~	Looks good on outside
Class Saddle tank (Swartkops)	~		~	Looks good on outside
Class Emil Kessler 14 Tonner	~		~	Looks good on outside
Class NG 15	~	122	~	Looks good on outside
Class H2	~	330	~	Looks good on outside
Class S2	~	3706	~	Looks good on outside
Class 19D	~	Choo-Tjoe	~	Was working perfectly

George Number Condition

Eventually SAR Steam arrived in "Littlest Traintown" and was welcomed by Mightymouse and Chicoman. Mightymouse showed SAR Steam all the trains on her server, sorry, computer and his mouth just hung open at the sight.
Poor Mightymouse he thought, she has to work till early every morning to have the website updated every day and now she
has no social life :) and she looks after everybody in the house 24 / 7, ohh what can we do, busy, busy, busy….

The next day he went with Mightymouse to visit the notorious "Littlest Diesel" depot… Everybody was so exited, but we
knew that it can be difficult to go into the Diesel Depots of the "Littlest Traintown" because the Big Railway Boss doesn't like it
when you take pictures of his trains, so when they arrived there Mightymouse summoned all her breath and barked at the Little security
man "WE HAVE COME TO TAKE PICTURES, BAAI" and off we went…

Mightymouse introduced SAR Steam to all the guys at the depot and we talked very briefly as there were a lot of work to be done…
So little time, so many pics to take!!!!

That evening Mightymouse and her hubby "Mr S" took SAR Steam on a scenic tour in their merc. They drove through all of "Littlest
Traintown" and saw some big trains and some small ones. They also went through the harbour, we always had one eye on the the boats and one eye looking for the Big Harbour Boss, he is also like the Big Railway Boss, you shouldn't be taking pictures of his boats.

There SAR Steam saw 5 lines of CR wagons and during daytime they offload with a big machine that tips the wagons over, making the
tummies of the CR feel all bad.

By now SAR Steam couldn't hold out much longer and he wanted the next day to arrive so that he can take more pictures.

Mightymouse decided to take SAR Steam to the most important place of all "The House of the Apple Express" ! (Humewood Road). The
anticipation was almost unbearable. He followed Mightmouse closely as not to lose sight of her vehicle and there it was!!!!!!!
NGG 16 No 131 all shiny and polished up. He took a lot of pictures to prove it!!
SAR Steam decided to walk through the whole of the "House of AE" and what would he see….
A horrible discovery, even to horrible to mention…
He saw death, all over the House!!! It was creeping in from the sea and was eating up all the Littlest Locomotives of Traintown.
He stared in disbelieve…

SAR Steam walked over to NG 15 No 132 and asked, "How long have you been standing here No 132?", her rusted boiler shuddered and a cranky voice moaned, "I forgot how long it was since I was left here, all I do all day is look at the waves down there and dream of my happy
past, there is not much for us NG's to do anymore you know, there are little fast diesels that is running up and down the line these days, the sooner you accept it the better for you."
As SAR Steam is standing there he fights the sadness inside him and then he said with a loud voice, "I will not accept this, I will tell the story to everyone that crosses my path. I will not let this go by unnoticed".
The little NG was so tired and went off to sleep…


Humewood Diesel Depot		Number		Condition

Class NG 15	~	119	~	Questionable
Class NGG 11	~	54	~	Questionable
Class NG 15	~	117	~	Questionable

Humewood Road		Number		Condition

Class NGG 16	~	131	~	Very Good
Class NG 15	~	124	~	Questionable
Class NG 15	~	132	~	Questionable
Class NG 15	~	144	~	Questionable
Class NG 15	~	148	~	Questionable
Class NGG 16	~	154	~	Questionable
Class NGG 13	~	79	~	Questionable

Uitenhage		Number		Condition

Class 10BR	~	758	~	Looks good on outside
Class				Missed this one, place was closed

Other depots visited during the last year:

Epping CWRS) (Month ago)		Number		Condition

Class 6J	~	641	~	Being restored
Class Saddle tank	~	3056	~	Looks good on outside
Class 24	~	3655	~	Went to Spier in CT -Being converted to Oil firing by end January 2005
Class Hunslet 1956 S/Diesel	~	500184	~	Looks good on outside

Dal Josafat (Month ago)		Number		Condition

Class 15CA	~	1970	~	Looks good and working
Class 15F	~	2916	~	Looks good and working
Class 16DA	~	879	~	Looks good on outside
Class 24	~	3668	~	Looks good and working
Class 25	~		~	Questionable
Class 25	~	Bethlehem'	~	Questionable
Class 25	~	3417	~	Questionable
Class 25	~	3481	~	Questionable
Class 25	~	3422	~	Questionable
Class 26	~	3450	~	Looks good on outside
Class 23	~	3153	~	Questionable

Heidelberg (Year ago)		Number		Condition

Class 16CR	~	816	~	Looks good on outside

Fauresmith (Year ago)		Number		Condition

Class 8BW	~	1153	~	Questionable

That's all for now.

SAR Steam

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