Friends of the Rail Forum

I came across this item on the Railways Africa website entitled "Dam Rail Track Theft".
http://www.railwaysafrica.com/2007/08/d ... ack-theft/

I thought it was a new article until I looked at the date: August 2007. We are now fast approaching August 2009, two full years on and still the situation remains just as bleak for Dam Rail and, beyond any doubt, the best tourism railway preservation opportunity available in Gauteng/North West. There has been no apparent progress at all, not even stagnation, just regression. All that has changed is that there is even less track in place now than there was then. In the intervening time, the scrap metal business has been the only the only beneficiary and is still benefiting, even now. An "Expression of Interest" submitted in response to an urgent Transnet request about a year ago appears to have been ignored or shelved.

Meantime everyone, bar the scrap metal thieves, has lost: Transnet, whose asset this line is (fast becoming 'was'); the local tourism and craft industries who would have benefited from foreign and local tourism train traffic; the "Cradle of Humankind" whose site is almost adjacent to this line; the local workers and residents who would have been provided with a cost-effective "short-cut" across the dam; Dam Rail, the major contenders to operate the line; Friends of the Rail who would have provided regular steam train excursions from Pretoria; and, last but certainly not least, the people of South Africa whose heritage, as exemplified by this line, is being sytematically destroyed by bureaucratic inaction, incompetance and inefficency.

Will this line ever be made operational again? Will it become an important contributor to the 2010 tourism scene (being very close to 5 out of the 10 major World Cup stadiums and 4 out of the 9 major host cities)? Will the long-suffering Dam Rail founders and visionaries ever see their dream come true? I doubt it. Previously allocated funds have been spent elsewhere. Both time and the rails are fast running out.

Posted on 23 August 2007 by Railways Africa Editor

Damrail, the organisation restoring part of the Pretoria-Magaliesburg line past Hartebeestpoort Dam, has been hard hit by thieves removing rails and sleepers. By November 2004, less than 6km of usable track remained. Prior to this, a Wickham railcar had been run over longer sections, both for maintenance purposes and occasional demonstration trips. The estimated cost of replacing the stolen track is in the region of R60,000. Previous track thefts were replaced by members of Dam Rail at a cost of over R200,000.

Since the agreement between Transnet and the North-west Parks & Tourism Board is still not signed, work during the past two years has focussed on restoring the three donated coaches. Two have been renovated internally and all still require exterior painting.

Damrail’s latest information from the Board is that a feasibility study on re-opening the line was supposed to be commissioned from Africon.

The Rail Safety Regulator’s permission will be needed before operations can be resumed along the line.

Pathetic isn't it? Geoff Pethick and co put in so many hours to try and get it to work, yet in the end it all went pear shaped. Damrail would have become a major attraction in SA.

Oudtshoorn - Calitzdorp is another line that briefly saw a light trolley service, but now sees nothing. I have no idea what the terms and conditions are of the lease agreement, but one would expect it would be withdrawn if there is no traffic on the respective line.

Paarl - Franschhoek. Leased to a private individual or group called Fransrail. No activity since 2004 and the line is still unused. What a waste. As the only private line in close proximity to Cape Town it also has loads of potential, but alas it will most likely not see a train again. TFR have declared it "unsafe for traffic".

That Franschoek line has been cut off just before the station and there's something on their no if memory serves me correctly. The rest of the line is so over grown with Port Jackson and other aliens

Cut off where?

Yesterday while paging through an old SA Rail and Harbours magazine I found a photo of a FotR train pictured on this line which I found very interesting. That made me wonder about the following:

...Friends of the Rail who would have provided regular steam train excursions from Pretoria...

Clearly FotR operated on this line but up until when and also why then did this line just die if it was operational in the first place?

Yes, FOTR used to operate trains on the Magaliesberg line, but it was all before my time - longer-serving members can provide the details.

We used to run fairly regularly down to Meerhof, across the bridge and park on the line alongside the camp/recreation area. Passengers went down to the recreation area (I have forgotten its name).

We had planned a Valentines day train, I think it was 1999, the year we were also planning to celebrate the new century down there. There were heavy rains the week before, so we asked Spoornet to trolley the line, check it was OK as far as we were to travel. They phoned us back, a couple of days before the trip was to go, told us they had closed the line - storm damage. Well, that caused us some problems. We ended up having to go by bus. Not at all the same.

After that, it was never re-opened. Dam Rail tried very hard to keep it going, but the whole thing was doomed by a lack of decision making.

I still hope it can be brought back into use. Apparently, this line had been chosen as the National Museum line before it was decided to use George/Knysna instead. Just think what it might have been if the Museum had been here instead of George.

Turtle

I don't see why both could have been kept as Museum lines. At least with Dam Rail FOTR and Reef Steamers would have used the line as well.

Stefan said:

At least with Dam Rail FOTR and ReefSteamers would have used the line as well.

Indeed, Stefan, we do want to (re)use this line. It is the most conveniently situated line in Gauteng for FOTR to access. It also happens to be the most scenic, particularly around the bridge over the dam and in parts further down towards Magaliesburg itself.
As you know, FOTR has relocated its passenger station to the southern side of the Hercules yard (Hermanstad Station, we call it). As funds and other things permit we are slowly departing Capital Park and will ultimately be relocating the rest of our operations there too. This is coincidently most convenient for the Magaliesburg line. With just a short extension, the Hercules yard's western head-shunt could be connected to this line for direct access. As it is, this line leaves the former Pretoria-Pietersburg railway via the exact same set of crossovers and turnouts as the Hercules yard and FOTR station entrance do. These three routes share the same first 20 metres or so of track departing off the main lines. The line then skirts all the way around the northern edge of the Hercules yard.
See http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 146&t=3327 for Gabor's pic of the signal at the eastern end of the Magliesburg line where it joins up with the Hercules yard entrance. Despite the complete absence of any arriving trains off the branch for many years and the completely overgrown track, this lonely signal still patiently shows a mournful red aspect.

Was it the Magaliesberg line or the Cullinan branch where our 24 class derailed all those years ago?

Magaliesburg branch where sand had washed over the track I believe.

The piece I wrote has been posted by "Railways Africa" magazine to their website at:
http://www.railwaysafrica.com/2009/07/dam-rail/

Well done Steve. I read that. There was also an article on the OTR Choe Choe. They say it will resume running in August this year. That good news.