16DA 850

Photos of locomotives and stock plinthed - can be steam, electric, diesel locomotives or other stockn items! Photos should be 800x600 pixels, maximum size 130K. Very good ones will be moved to the Online Gallery, the rest will be pruned away eventually to conserve space. If you have photos of FOTR Engines and Stock, please post them in the FOTR Gallery in the Friends of the Rail Forum above.
Post Reply
User avatar
John Ashworth
Site Admin
Posts: 23606
Joined: 24 Jan 2007, 14:38
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Contact:

16DA 850

Post by John Ashworth »

Paul Ash wrote:Hello, railfans

While leading the last leg of our Times Explorer journey around SA, I made sure we did a drive-by through Theunissen in the northern Free State to see what kind of condition no. 850 was in. The pics speak for themselves. The loco has long been stripped of all its cab fittings, copper and number plates and has severe rust issues.

I think the state of the loco pretty much mirrors the that of the town itself. Many Platteland towns might be thriving on the back of tourism and new money coming in from Joburg and Pretoria, but this is not one of them.

Meanwhile, the R30 that links Bloemfontein to Welkom is being entirely rebuilt, from end to end. Of course, because it's so slow these days, what with all the stop-an-gos, heavy trucks were overtaking each other on the newly tarred but not-yet-open sections, behaviour one has come to expect from various lawless elements in the trucking business. The road MIGHT be finished before the trucks destroy it again ...

Trains on the parallel Bloem-Kroonstad mainline were going much faster than the road traffic. A tanker train - complete with caboose - rattled by at high speed. You could almost see the thought bubbles from the various cars stuck in the traffic: "Hey, look, a train! Now THAT'S a good idea..."

Cheers,

Paul

Paul Ash
Deputy-editor, Sunday Times Travel & Food
+2711 280 5133
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/wanderer/
Attachments
16DA1.jpg
16DA1.jpg (96.58 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
16DA2.jpg
16DA2.jpg (112.29 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
16DA3.jpg
16DA3.jpg (126.25 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
16DA4.jpg
16DA4.jpg (149.2 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
16DA5.jpg
16DA5.jpg (95.69 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
16DA6.jpg
16DA6.jpg (113.43 KiB) Viewed 1743 times
Image
User avatar
Steve Appleton
Site Admin
Posts: 3605
Joined: 23 Jan 2007, 14:14
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Re: 16DA 850

Post by Steve Appleton »

Thanks, Paul.

Interesting detour. Not one I ever planned on taking.

I have long ceased being depressed by these sights. Most of the old stuff located around the country is simply unsalvageable, at least by the likes of the long-suffering railway heritage industry with its very limited finances and resources.

We have to resign ourselves to the realization that virtually all of these well-intentioned relics, no matter how unique or special they might be, are ultimately doomed. Like cancer sufferers, it's just a matter of when, not if.

So, the notices have gone up on them: "Don't pray for me, South Africa".

We are fast approaching the situation where almost the sum total of what will remain as our nation's railway heritage is what is now in the hands of those few preservation organizations that are able to look after them. And, that this is still by no means certain because most of those organizations are very fragile indeed, relying on aging volunteers and self-generated, limited funding from non-reliable, non-institutional and non-statal sources. Most are private non-profit companies that could go bust at any time if their resources dry up. For a few apparently more stable organizations, like Sandstone, this is a non-core activity generating little or no revenue, carried out as acts of enthusiasm and charity, which could be curtailed or axed at any time the owners of those companies deem it desirable or necessary.

I have witnessed several private or semi-private valuable collections come and go, to be sold off piecemeal and disappear into the wilderness, most of the exhibits never to be seen again, possibly not even in existence any more. For example, the Motor Museum in Johannesburg North, the Heidelberg Transport Museum, Alfred County Railway, Midmar, and no doubt others too.

On another topic, your observation:

"Trains on the parallel Bloem-Kroonstad mainline were going much faster than the road traffic. A tanker train - complete with caboose - rattled by at high speed. You could almost see the thought bubbles from the various cars stuck in the traffic: "Hey, look, a train! Now THAT'S a good idea..."

This says it all and sticks a finger up at those disconnected and unrealistic politicians who, possibly because they may be backed by various international railway construction interests (I won't speculate as to why), are badgering TFR to adopt and convert to 1435mm. We need railways that work, not railways that we cannot afford, to take freight off road onto rail, where it belongs. 1065mm is plenty fast and big enough for this.

I quote Business Day, 3rd June 2010, "Rail plans need careful thought":

"On Tuesday, the chairwoman of Parliament’s public enterprises committee, Vytjie Mentor, lambasted Transnet acting CEO Chris Wells for not adopting the master plan — as he had not started to lay out the new wider gauge across its 23 000km network.

"Wells quite rightly pointed out this was not a project that could be carried out overnight. It was hugely expensive, he said, and he did not think it “appropriate” to tackle such a project in the medium term.

"Transnet is barely able to keep its current trains on the track and already faces enormous operational challenges. It is also in the midst of a major infrastructure upgrade programme.

"While the wider gauge would allow Transnet to carry heavier loads at higher speeds, the parastatal is hardly in a position to pay for it or to physically lay it out."

End quote.
"To train or not to train, that is the question"
User avatar
Dylan Knott
Posts: 872
Joined: 17 Aug 2007, 19:44
Location: Cape Town

Re: 16DA 850

Post by Dylan Knott »

Yes partially agree. However, we must not adopt the "give up" attitude either by assuming everything is doomed. If thats true then why bother running trains when surely it all comes to nothing at the end of the day. We must be grateful for the very little we have left. No we cannot save them all and were are too many ill informed people who have tried to "play God" in the past by deciding what goes and what stays. I would say all plinthed locos can be saved and in some cases its better to go for these locos than dumped examples. Many of the plinthed locos were preserved not long after heavy repairs whereas dumped locos were taken out of service due to specific defects. A little out of the box thinking is required. The focus should change to branchline and not mainline machines though. Just my opinion.

850 is not beyond hope.

We are extremely fortunate in the railway industry. Take a look at whats left in the heritage maritime industry, not a hell of a lot!
Post Reply

Return to “Plinthed Locos”