Steam in S Africa - Sandstone Estates Railway - "Kalahari" Class NG15 No.17 & NGG13 Garratt No.49

Sandstone Estates is a large commercial agricultural enterprise covering some 17,000 acres, located close to Ficksburg in South Africa's Eastern Free State province near the border with Lesotho and the Maluti Mountains. The Wille family, originally German missionaries began farming on the site in the1830s and today it is part of an international 100% organic agricultural-business producing wheat, soya beans, maize and sunflowers. The owners of the Sandstone Estates were known to be keen steam enthusiasts when Alan Clarke of the “Transnet Heritage Foundation” approached them for help in rescuing the collapsing “Midmar Museum in KwaZulu-Natal”. An agreement was reached resulting the collection going on to form what was to become the “Sandstone Heritage collection”. The Estate isn't just home to a railwayana, locomotives and rolling stock, it has grown to become a transport and farm machinery museum with an impressive collection of road and military vehicles. In this video we rise with the lark on a very cold morning to photograph narrow gauge trains against a backdrop of impressive mountainous bathed in the golden glow of the rising sun. To give the scene a sense of authenticity, various scenarios were staged using modes of transport from a bygone era when steam still ruled the railways. Both myself and the group I was travelling with owe the people at Sandstone estates a massive "thank you" for making us feel so welcome and putting on a wonderful show. Whilst a video can never do justice to the real thing, it gives viewers some idea of what one can expect to see at this unique museum experience. The 2ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway runs from Grootdraai in the south, to the Vailima in the North via Hoekfontein and Mooihoek. The main workshops are located at Hoekfontein and the estate is now home to one of the largest 2 ft narrow gauge locomotive and rolling stock collections to be found anywhere in the world, with 24 working narrow gauge locomotives. Visitors can also see a number of 3'6" gauge locomotives on static display around the site. Map at 00:36 - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb... To find out more or maybe to arrange your own visit, please click on this link - https://www.sandstone-estates.com/ Tour arranged by FarRail - https://www.farrail.com/ Locomotives featured - "Kalahari" Class NG15 No.17 & NGG13 Garratt No.49 Track gauge - 2ft (610 mm) Tour date - 17th July to 1st August 2024 Recommended reading - https://www.sandstone-estates.com/ima...