Spurts of steam action

Our second morning with the remarkable 25NC produced spurts of action, carefully timed to try and match up with the short lived bursts of sun under otherwise cloudy skies on the banking away from Broadwater, just outside Douglas.

25NC 3437 climbs the bank at Broadwater

The landscape here was more agricultural, with a distinctive red earth in the ploughed fields beyond the track. This was followed by a long and tasty brunch on the terrace in the Broadwater Estate with a view across the river Vaal.

In the afternoon we made a return to the rocky outcrop we climbed yesterday, a little further down the line towards Belmont. The sun had completely disappeared by this point and the weather radar indicated that heavy rain was about to hit. We managed to squeak in a few runpasts before the rain arrived, heading on to Kimberley when it became clear that the rain had set in for the day.

Steaming out of the history books

After our little steam tasters in Pretoria everyone was eager to move on to the main event, photographing a run from Belmont to Douglas with a class 25NC (non-condensing) 4-8-4 steam locomotive hauling a freight train.

25NC 3437 on the line between Belmont and Douglas

The 25NCs were the most powerful steam locomotives on the South African Railway network for many years, along with 90 condensing versions of the 25 built at the same time. Fifty 25NCs were constructed between 1953 and 1955: 11 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow and 39 by Henschel at Kassel in Germany. All but three of the 90 condensing versions of the 25 were later converted to non-condensing, in the 1970s and 80s. Our locomotive for the day, 25NC 3437, was one of the original batch of non-condensing locomotives built at Kassel.

The class first saw service in 1953 and some were still in commercial use as late as 1997 due to the locomotive shortages in the country. It took a quite extraordinary effort of engineering, negotiation and paperwork, as well as considerable investment, to bring these locomotives back to use on the mainline, in spite of the seemingly endless difficulties to be overcome. And at the end of all that, here we were by the lineside at sunrise waiting for the seemingly impossible to happen. After more than two decades a 25NC would once again grace the tracks.

Over the course of the day we photographed 25NC 3437 hauling her freight train between Belmont and Douglas, with some terrific views from a hilltop near Sheephouse, before finishing up with some shots around the derelict station at Douglas in the last light of the day. I’ve never seen these massive locomotives in action before but what a majestic sight they cut crossing the South African landscape. It was worth coming out here to see this.

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