Hartbeespoort Line

[HenryLazenby]

I would like to enquire what the current status is on the Pta - Magaliesburg line is...?
Did anybody apply for the consessioning of the line?
In my mind's eye I can envision a English-type Steam Railway being established, especially now that FOTR is establishing a future depot at Hermanstad. What are the chances of convincing authorities and then private donors to granting money to reinstate the line, albeit only to Meerhof, in future establish a turning Y at Meerhof, more into the future, even establishing steam engineering facilities at Hermanstad and even restore some national heritage from SA's Barry Scrap yard which is SANRASM, (Kitty, Barclay, Class 14, 13?, modified 19D, GM, industrial locos, ETC...!),...
We have a friend with a diesel loco at Waterval Boven... There are so many possibilities to run a financially viable train service to the tourism Mecca of Hartebeespoort.
What happened to Damrail, or was their tracks also stolen from under their rail vehicles?
Am I on CRACK, or TIK or is this not a viable option???
Hmmm?

[John Ashworth]

Henry, I know that Damrail is still trying, and I believe their business plan includes FOTR as operator, but I don't have any details. Hopefully someone else does.

[Luca Lategan]

Henry, unless I'm also a tikkop, you're not mad, yet ;) !

[Chris Janisch]

Total lack of willngness by Transnet to do something about the line, despite years of trying, now being stolen away every night as we speak...

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

I have driven along the line.............. line............ line...........

What line?

What am I saying??????

There is a nice railbed mostly......!

But having made this comment I think the idea should be not dismissed out of hand - I just feel the effort required to provide a decent business plan that would be realistic, do-able, viable and would secure the revenue for its refurbishment/reconstruction is beyond our capabilities at the moment - in terms of time and effort.

The same issue really that bedevils many areas of rail heitage - the need for time, skills, a relealistic approach and finally funds....

[John Ashworth]

The detailed business plan is there - far more detailed than anything FOTR could ever have come up with! Anyone who is interested can contact James Smith of Damrail for details. But, as Steve says, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere at the moment.

[Steve Appleton]

Damrail have had ever-growing bad odds stacked against them, yet still they have persisted with the dream to re-open and run trains on at least a portion of the line.

Over the years the DR folk have dealt with Transnet, with a slew of local authorities, with two provincial governments, with national government and with common vandals and professional thieves. They have worked with and given employment to local informal villagers to clear and patrol kilometers of the track at great personal expense. All to nought. Nought to concessioning, despite the fact that they had the structures to do so years ago, and nought to any recognition for overseeing Transnet's property which they protected in vain. Time and again they came out as bottom dog. Times and again both corporate and governmental malaise, inaction and intransigence won through.

That said, amazingly the DR folks have put in an expression of interest and have included FOTR as one of the potential users of that line. We, at FOTR, would love to use it. It is scenic and is a natural for tourism. It is ideally located near both Johannesburg and Pretoria urban areas, crosses Hartbeespoort Dam on a stunning bridge and also runs very close to the Cradle of Humankind. The potential is huge - up there with the preserved heritage lines of the UK. FOTR's Hermanstad depot and station could easily be directly connected to the line by a relatively simple extension of one of the western head-shunts.

But... the concessioning process, the n'th such exercise, seems to be yet again stalled. There has been no word for months now on what the outcome is or might be.

Meantime, as I have said before, the line is not so slowly evaporating - being carted off into the night, being melted down into new ingots for some other cause. The cost of repurchasing those ingots to fix the line keeps escalating as more and more of them are needed to fill the gaps.

I fear that a fantastic opportunity for heritage and tourism, not to mention for commuters and jobs is almost -- perhaps is already -- lost forever. Who do we blame? Not the folks at DR. As entrepreneurs and enthusiasts they tried every legal avenue available to make their dream come true. The other side used every tactic and trick in the book and some more to ensure that it didn't.

[Aidan McCarthy]

Hi,

There seems to be a culture in government and parastatals like Transnet that if you are in a meeting you are working, even though there are never any outcomes of the meetings. This makes dealing with these organisations very difficult for volunteer organisations as their members have limited time while they are dealing with people who have infinite time to attend meetings where there are only vague promises and nothing concrete. Sadly what this also results in is that even if permission is given, by that time whatever asset the organisation was interested in it has been stolen/vandalised/neglected so much that it is not in a condition to be used for the original purpose without huge expense.

I taky my hat off to the tenacity of the Damrail guys and hope one day they may actually succeed while there is still some left on the line. This line would provide wonderful opportunities for both Reefsteamers and FOTR. Imagine if Reefsteamers could offer their passengers a hour run along the dam using a dam rail train as part of the attractions at Magliesburg.

[Dylan Knott]

Aidan, well done that about sums it up.

Same problem down here at Elgin. Four years of meetings later and what have we actually achieved? In fact the dithering around has actually led to this concessioning issue blocking all progress.

Yes, I too think that the Hartbeespoort line would be great for RS and FOTR. However, the expense of relaying what has been stolen is going to be too high. Last I checked it cost R1000.00 per m to lay track!!!

[Luca Lategan]

mmm, Last I heard was that Transnet has not included this line in their latest consessioning process because there is the possibility to reinstate the line to reroute ore/mineral trains from the north away from the jhb-pta corridor when going south...

When and if this will happen is of course the million dollar question...

[Steve Appleton]

1. The line would require considerable upgrading, re-alignment and re-laying for that to happen. Effectively it would need to be completely rebuilt. The existing line is no more than a light branch railway with very small radius curves.
2. I am sure that the local residents and environmentalists in the vicinity of the dam and of Magaliesburg would object strenuously.
3. Then it would be classed as a core/main line which means sadly that steam would be banned as per current TFR policy.

[HenryLazenby]

Thanks for the comments guys. It truly is a sad situation.
But, If it only costs about R1000 / km, I'm up for that! Km for km it can be done!
Can't we relay all the rails with red tape?

[Steve Appleton]

Henry, I think that should read R1000 per meter, not per kilometer. The difference is small: only just short of R 1 million per km! You would need lots of red tape to cover that!

[HenryLazenby]

Ouch! I reread and saw that I misread...
However, I'm confident there already is enough red tape to cover the section to Meerhoff!
;-)

[John Ashworth]

From: <William.Mothibedi@transnet.net>
Date: Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Subject: Latest developments on Transnet branch lines concessioning
To:

Good Day

Transnet published a non-binding Registration of Interest (“ROI”) in June 2010 to request indications of interest from private parties in possible branch lines concession opportunities and adjacent properties leases. By the closing date of the ROI, one hundred and fifteen (115) registrations had been received.

We have undertaken to inform all parties that registered interest and those who have since contacted us for branch lines information, about the next steps in the branch lines concessioning process. I am therefore pleased to advise you of the following latest developments:

1. Transnet will publish a call for Expression of Interest (‘EOI”) in the media from Sunday 12th September 2010.

2. The website http://www.transnet.net/branchlines.aspx will provide information about this EOI from Monday 13th September 2010.

3. Transnet will hold an industry briefing on branch lines concessioning in Gauteng Province at 10h00 on Monday 27th September 2010. Details about the venue and attendance registration forms will be available on the branch lines website from 13th September 2010.

Thank you for your interest.

Kind Regards