Friends of the Rail Forum

Historic locomotives run out of steam

A Transnet decision to sell assets may mean end of the line for many decommissioned engines

* 30 Jan 2011
* Weekend Argus (Sunday Edition)
* LEILA SAMODIEN

SOUTH Africa’s rail tourism is in a shambles – and some of its most historic steam locomotives are in danger of ending up as scrap metal.

One of them is the renowned Red Devil, the only one of its kind in the world.

The Transnet Foundation is believed to own about 200 old steam locos, but most are deteriorating at station sidings across the country.

Rail tourism took a knock last year when the Outeniqua Choe-Tjoe, which ran between George and Mossel Bay, was shut down. Soon afterwards, the Apple Express in Port Elizabeth also ground to a halt because of a lack of funding.

Now, steam locomotives such as the Red Devil could be scrapped as part of Transnet’s strategy to dispose of some of its assets.

“Transnet has listed all its heritage assets and is making preparations to get rid of them,” said Chris Janisch, chairman of the Heritage Railway Association of Southern Africa.

While some might be bought by enthusiasts, the locos were likely to be sold at market value, which meant that scrappers would get the bulk of them. Those that Transnet held on to faced an uncertain future, he said.

Transnet Foundation spokeswoman Thandi Mlangeni said the SA Heritage Resource Agency (Sahra) was identifying Transnet’s heritage locomotives before “disposal and preservation of heritage assets” went ahead.

Rail enthusiasts and steam clubs in Cape Town, Germiston, Durban, Pretoria and Creighton in KwaZulu-Natal say they can do little more than watch over some of the foundation’s locomotives.

Ian Pretorius, director of the private vintage steam train operator Atlantic Rail, which houses the Red Devil at Cape Town Station, said that despite their efforts, the engine had been stripped of copper pipes and Atlantic had to remove some parts to prevent further theft.

The Red Devil is a former Class 25 steam locomotive, built in the 1950s and later modified to significantly decrease its coal and water consumption. Now a Class 26, and the only one of its kind in the world, it has been out of action for eight years.

Pretorius said that although Atlantic was desperate to fix the locomotive, it could not do so without Transnet’s permission.

“We’ve been trying to secure permission for years, but there’s so much procrastination in coming to a decision. Even if we do get permission, we probably wouldn’t be able to run her on mainlines because Transnet has a ban on running steam locos on mainlines.”

Mlangeni denied that Transnet had received any requests from steam clubs or associations in the past two years.

She said some steam clubs that had Transnet locomotives had neither spent any money on them nor operated them for years, resulting in some engines being in a state of disrepair.

She added that Transnet’s mainlines were predominantly used for its core business, freight rail. Any other requests were secondary.

Pretorius said most of the steam trains still in operation were privately owned, and were run at a huge cost because of high coal prices, as well as pilot and rail fees.

“If these assets… are left to rust, and then go out on tender, the scrap merchants will win and our railway heritage will be lost and turned into cars or tin cans. This is the reality of the situation that faces us all in railway preservation in South Africa.”

There are some serious misunderstandings and a blinkered view of reality on the part of Transnet Foundation's spokesperson Thandi Mlangeni as quoted in this article.

First up is the denial that "Transnet had received any requests from steam clubs or associations in the past two years. She said some steam clubs that had Transnet locomotives had neither spent any money on them nor operated them for years, resulting in some engines being in a state of disrepair."

Many steam clubs. directly and indirectly through HRASA, have been in constant dialog with TF over the preservation and ownership of key heritage locos, right up to and including the past two years. It is true that many, if not most, clubs do not have spare money to spend on restoring those locos that are not runners, but that is against a backgound where they are paying Transnet Frieght Rail some 40% (in the case of FOTR in 2010) of their gross revenue for pilot and access fees. A rebate of those fees, in the form of a social responsibility grant by TF, would go a long way to enabling some of thsoe locos to be restored to running order. Transnet is its own worst enemy here.

Certainly, FOTR has spent all the money it can spare on maintaining its locos. 3664 recently ate money in repairs necessary for the renewal of its boiler certificate and in ensuring its on-going reliability and safety. 2650 is about to do the same. 3117 was derailed due to no fault of FOTR and needs expensive repairs. Apart from the recovery of the loco (a big thank you to the TFR breakdown crews) there has been no financial help forthcoming from the loco's true owners, Transnet (revenue in 2010: R35.6 billion - total assets in 2010: R138.7 billion. Source: http://www.overendstudio.co.za/online_r ... et_ar2010/). Financial support was quickly forthcoming from a variety of individual private donors worldwide, but nothing from its owners, our local multi-billion rand transport company, Transnet. 2850 is making slow but steady progress towards restoration, again no thanks to its real owners, Transnet!

I know that many other "clubs" have similarly spent big money year after year on TF-owned assets -- Reefsteamers, Umgeni, Atlantic and Apple Express (until it was forced to shut down) come to mind.

The second point she makes: "Transnet's mainlines were predominantly used for its core business, freight rail. Any other requests were secondary" implies that the mainlines are accessible, at a low priority, to steam locomotives and that the clubs and HRASA could be fibbing about not having access to mainlines. The reality is that TFR has placed a solid blanket ban on steam locos running on mainlines (actually all its "core" lines many of which may not necessarily be mainlines) which although regularly challenged, has not to date been overcome. This limits the steam clubs choice of destinations and prevents the operation of long-distance "steam safaris", a potentially lucrative source of tourism revenue. Both translate into a reduction in revenue available to, you guessed it, carry out restoration and preservation.

some steam clubs that had Transnet locomotives had neither spent any money on them nor operated them for years, resulting in some engines being in a state of disrepair

I presume she is referring to SANRASM. According to reports elsewhere on this forum, that would be an accurate representation.

a potentially lucrative source of tourism revenue

See a much more enlightened approach by Kenya Railways here. "KR has recognised a business opportunity in operating Luxury Steam Safaris using the steam locomotives".

[quote="John Ashworth"]I presume she is referring to SANRASM. According to reports elsewhere on this forum, that would be an accurate representation.[/quote]

I don't think any of the locomotives at SANRASM are THF locomotives they were either donated before THF or purchased/donated from industrial owners

Thanks, Aidan. I hadn't thought of that.

The shame that is (or rather was) SANRASM has unavoidably blighted the industry as I think we all knew it would. However, SANRASM is not typical of most steam clubs. SANRASM's locomotives, although consigned to the scrap heap though neglect, did not belong to Transnet - they were either owned by SANRASM or, in some cases, placed (misplaced) in SANRASM's care by donors.

I don't think any of the remaining "steam clubs" has deliberately neglected Transnet heritage locos. One, Oosterlyn, went bust and its hopeful successor has never been able to operate due to the ban on steam locos over the core lines that it has no option but to use. If the locos there are neglected and deteriorating, then Transnet must shoulder much of the blame for that reason. Kimberley has a similar problem in not being able to run over the local core lines. Another, namely Outeniqua, was shut down by Transnet itself, despite the Western Cape Provincial Government's huge efforts to find a solution to keep it running. For all those "steam clubs", not being able to run means no income and no revenue for preservation.

I honestly think Transnet would be only to glad to rid itself of all steam locos. They have not exactly helped keep them running, if anything they are part of the problem. While its true freight is their business they seem to spend their time trying to avoid passengers who could become money spinners for them. Its all to do with an organisation run by bean counters and not railwaymen.

Statement from HRASA

Transnet Foundation are committed to a path of ridding themselves of
all heritage assets, in an accountable and transparent manner. HRASA
acts in an advisory capacity to TF. We have made strong
representations regarding the safeguarding and future of our heritage
railway assets. We do not however have the power to force TF to do as
we please. Even though we have an MoU with TF we do not have teeth to
enforce our recommendations. We have engaged with SAHRA who are now
going to be responsible for the identification of assets which should
be retained. The precursor to our meeting with SAHRA in August last
year was the compilation by Mike Myers assisted by HRASA and private
individuals notably Les Pivnic, of the list of rolling stock assets
remaining, and a suggested outcome for them, based on heritage value.
SAHRA however need to verify the information contained in the
document, and have called on some individuals for their assistance.
Until such time as this process is complete, the status quo of the
heritage assets remains unchanged. Nothing will be leased, sold or
disposed of until the final verification is done. So the ball is
firmly in SAHRA's court.

Regarding the statement from TF that they have received no
applications for rolling stock in the least 2 years, this is false. A
number of groups have requested assets, especially as many are
suffering daily attrition and need rescuing as soon as possible. Once
again TF have indicated that no lease-lend or sale will be entertained
until the end of the SAHRA process.

Regarding branch lines, the Transnet vision is to concession or close
them by the end of 2011. The latest information I have is that this
date is not set in stone, and anything is still possible, although the
policy decision has been made. It is true that many steam operations
that remain will be badly affected by the policy, as it is highly
unlikely that there will be many takers based on the conditions
attached to concessioning. We are looking at the Maritzburg branches
as a possible pilot project, involving the Sisonke Stimela, timber
companes and local government, in order to form a powerful
concessioning group. Steam clubs and minor industry cannot maintain a
line without major investment, so this is very worrying. There is
engagement ongoing however.

Chris Janisch

Chairman, HRASA

Here's a scan of the original article with pictures.

Whats happened since 2011? This story looks frightening, not only for the Red Devil (another Glasgow built loco?), but for the many others, let alone rolling stock.

Is there a register of Locos and Rolling stock, available?