The new bissel castings and brake shaft are being prepared for some major machining work and welding over the next few weeks. Our pictures show the bissel being prepared by Isak vd Berg and a volunteer at work on the brake shaft. Lukas Nel has also retrieved the original boiler plate from number 61 showing its boiler is from 1916 and the last steam test was in October 1958. Renewal was due in November 61 but this was not done. This coincides with our information that the loco was withdrawn in 1961 for preservation but not in working order.
This stalwart loco of the Sandstone fleet had had the boiler unit lifted from the two engine units to allow access to the pony truck wheels which need attention. This will also allow a close inspection of the engine unit pivots and steam pipe fittings while the boiler is split from the units.
Keith Stevens is moving ahead well with the boiler repairs for NG10 number 61.The photographs show the progress we are now making with the NGG10 Locomotive Boiler. Completion is estimated at around end of September or probably first half of October.
As you can see by all the dismantled parts there is still a mountain of work to be done.
Riveting the dome to the boiler barrel
Heating up rivets
Riveting the dome
Job complete
Fitting butt strap on front boiler barrel section
Scaling back end of boiler
Riveting up butt strap
Riveting up butt strap
Putting the tube plate in position
Members of the MG Car Club from Johannesburg recently visited Sandstone while on a weekend tour to the Eastern Free State. You can read a report on their visit and thoughts on Sandstone by clicking on the link below to take you to their latest “Thumbs Up” magazine: Click here to view PDF
You can also visit the MG Car Club website on : WWW.MGCC.co.za.
Our updates lately have not been the usual “glamorous" ones as Lukas Nel and the Bloemfontein team tackle the real hard work on the loco.
Click here to read PDF
While boiler repairs continue at Keith Stevens Mechanical in Howick, Lukas Nel and his team have been hard at work on the frames of 61 in Bloemfontein. This is a long process after the locomotive was subject to extreme corrosion since 1961. Our pictures show the repaired buffer beam, the new bissel frame and stretcher and the new frame support. Our undated B/W pic courtesy of the Transnet Library show number 61 at Humewood Road still with its original chimney.
An undated pic from the Transnet Library of number 61 at Humewood Road still with its original chimney.
The repaired buffer beam
The new bissel frame and stretcher
The new frame support
Similar to our Type ZO-5 Caboose14856 at the locomotive depot, 14898 is of the smaller ZO-6 type being some four feet shorter overall than the ZO-5. The main difference being a reduction in accommodation by two to six people. 14898 was offered for disposal by Transnet in 2016 at Golele near the Swaziland border. Sandstone successfully bid for the coach which was in remarkably good mechanical condition, despite standing out of use for a number of years, although the interior had been vandalised. After the simple replacement of one brake pipe and repacking and oiling the bearings, 14898 was railed from Golele to Vailima Siding in April 2017.
It was then lifted off rail onto road transport bogies and moved to the Sandstone complex and remounted on rail and positioned behind 10CR 771 next to Hoekfontein Station.
