John Deere celebrates 100 years in 2018 and one of the earliest examples of a John Deere tractor in South Africa is Sandstone’s 1924 Model N, Waterloo Boy. This has been loaned to John Deere for the duration of the largest agricultural show in South Africa and is on display at their stand at NAMPO 2018 in Bothaville in the Free State.
Sandstone is a major user of John Deere equipment and wishes John Deere another successful 100 years.
As per our last report we needed to mate the NG10 with its tender which were on different lines in the Bloemfontein Workshop. Lukas and his team built a temporary traverser to move the locomotive across the workshop and re unite it with its tender. Now work continues to the finish. There are still a large number of small parts due back from suppliers in the next few weeks to bring the restoration to its conclusion.
Our pictures show the temporary traverser and the locomotive complete with its tender.
The tender is now close to completion and will be moved behind the locomotive to finish the intermediate pipe work. A completely new blast pipe, blower nozzle and vacuum exhaust nozzle has been manufactured and fitted into the smokebox so not long to go! The number plates and Baldwin works plates will be completed soon and we will feature those when they arrive.
One of Sandstone’s great supporters, The Model A Club, has produced a calendar for 2019 with a steamy scene from Sandstone on the cover page. Certainly worth downloading and printing for your own use. Click here to read
With some gaps in the recent good rains at Sandstone it is now time to bring in the wheat harvest. While we were all enjoying a long weekend, Sandstone was hard at work harvesting. Our delightful pictures by Minke Hohls give a different perspective on the harvest.
Some time ago we made an offer to purchase the redundant locomotive turntable at Assegaaibos on the Port Elizabeth to Avontuur 2ft gauge line which was accepted by Transnet. Over the last few days we have dismantled the turntable and loaded it on our low bed for transport to Sandstone where it will be re-erected close to our loco depot. The turntable was erected at Assegaaibos in the late 60’s when the whole depot was upgraded but since the demise of steam in the early 70’s has seen little use although it was used to turn 91 Class diesel locomotives occasionally.
Originally a 3’6” gauge unit, it is believed to have come from Greytown.
The turntable will be a useful addition to the railway infrastructure and give the railway added turning capabilities over and above the existing triangle which can become congested at times being part of the main running line.
Our pictures show the turntable in situ and being uplifted and loaded for transport by the Sandstone team.
Lukas Nel and his team have been very busy prior to the holiday break. The tender tank fitment to the frame has now been completed and a handbrake plus the required levers have been fabricated. We have also acquired a number of spares to complete the water valves for the tender. Those magnificent tool boxes we showed in our last report have also had a repaint. This detail work has taken a lot of time and the steam test will now only be in January.
Our Sentinel Steam Waggon had some issues recently with its injector which is of the high pressure due to the high boiler pressure of vehicle. The water feed pump has been rebuilt by Keith Stevens in Howick and he has also fabricated a new high pressure injector from scratch as nothing was available. We did manage to purchase a set of cones from the UK for Keith to complete the injector. The pump and the injector will be fitted in the New Year and thoroughly tested prior to Stars of Sandstone 2019. Our images show the new parts and the Sentinel in action.
