Cooperation between Reefsteamers and the Sandstone Heritage Trust continues

Details: Last Updated: 24 September 2015

Cooperation between Reefsteamers and the Sandstone Heritage Trust continues

Aidan McCarthy, Lee Gates and Philipp Maurer have sent us these excellent pictures of the successful passenger train that visited the Ficksburg area in November last year. One of the more interesting pictures is the agricultural tanker from Sandstone Estates supplying water to one of Reefsteamers locos.

The dysfunctional Ficksburg Municipality was unable to support the passenger train with water from the municipal supplier and so the locomotives had to relocate the 14-kms to Sandstone to receive water.

During the same trip all the locomotives and rolling stock previously housed in the large Sandstone locomotive shed at Ficksburg were relocated to Kommandonek Siding. The entire building was moved on site to the farm.

Our thanks go to Aidan, Lee and Philipp for the interesting and creative photographs.

Photos by Aidan McCarthy

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Photos by Philipp Maurer

Photos by Lee Gates

01_-_Relocation_-_Unshedded_Collection

02_-_Relocation_-_Mighty_Wheels

03_-_Relocation_-_Backing_move

04_-_Relocation_-_Shunting_under_the_green

05_-_Relocation_-_Three_tracks_deep

06_-_Relocation_-_really_big_shunter

07_-_Relocation_-_Pulling_Wagons

08_-_Relocation_-_Lots_of_action

09_-_Relocation_-_Wagons_under_the_awning

10_-_Relocation_-_Quickie_Lube

11_-_Relocation_-_15_and_25_Dominated

12_-_Relocation_-_First_25_moved

13_-_Relocation_-_Contrast

14_-_Relocation_-_Faceback_on_headshunt

15_-_Relocation_-_Ficksburg_Loco_Depot

16_-_Relocation_-_Shunting_past_the_gantry

17_-_Relocation_-_Coming_through

18_-_Relocation_-_Dominated_by_the_silo

19_-_Relocation_-_Early_Birds

20_-_Relocation_-_Looks_Promising

21_-_Relocation_-_Water_canteen_at_Vailima

22_-_Relocation_-_Charging_out_from_Vailima

23_-_Relocation_-_Rounding_the_bend

24_-_Relocation_-_25NC_gets_a_drink

25_-_Relocation_-_Hitch_Hikers

26_-_Relocation_-_Loco_Train_moves_into_cutting

27_-_Relocation_-_Banking_Engine

28_-_Relocation_-_Bowling_along

29_-_Relocation_-_Blase_Cows

30_-_Relocation_-_Water_Canteen_at_KommandoNek

31_-_Relocation_-_Insecure_Sheep

32_-_Relocation_-_Wagons_shunting_home

34_-_Relocation_-_Vortex_Tubes_for_oil_burning_25NC

36_-_Relocation_-_Crew

37_-_Relocation_-_Watering_Point

38_-_Relocation_-_Reassembling_the_borrowed_coupler

39_-_Relocation_-_Nap

March 2020 Steam Report

Click here to read the Steam Report

Easter Event 10th to 13th April Cancelled

In line with President Ramaphosa’s announcement on the prohibition of gatherings of over 100 people due to the Covid-19 virus situation, the event scheduled to be held at Sandstone from 10th to 13th April has been cancelled. If you have made any pre bookings for accommodation please contact Leigh Sanders on 051 933 2235.

Autumn Gallery

We think you will enjoy this short gallery of the farm in recent days.

March 2020 Steam Report

The Management of Sandstone Estates recently decided to invest in the restoration of the Class NGG 16 A Number 155.
The locomotive will be restored to the original condition called the Little Red Devil with the kind assistance of Shaun McMahon especially with regard to the modifications on this locomotive.
The locomotive was shunted out and the boiler was lifted from the engine units. The boiler was taken to Wonder Steam who will do the boiler work needed while the Sandstone Steam team will do the rest of the restoration. Click here to Read the full Steam Report

NGG16A number 155 under restoration. Update number 5 February 2020

Work continues apace at Sandstone on the engine units for 155. The frames have been thoroughly cleaned and painting them in red ochre has begun. The bunker of 155 has now joined the front tank in the cleaning line and ready for its first undercoat. Wheels and axle boxes have been cleaned and refurbished. Our gallery shows the various stages and conditions of some of the components.

Sandstone’s Decauville 0-4-0T live steam model in 7/8ths scale.

David Fletcher who designs live steam models for Accucraft visited us some time ago and we assisted him with pictures for the Decauville model. One of the examples is our own “Bathala”. Our picture gallery shows David Fletcher with the full size “Bathala” and some pictures of the smaller version. You can learn more about the

Accucraft Decauville on the following link : https://www.accucraft.uk.com/products/decauville-type-1-live-steam-0-4-0t-in-78ths-scale/

NGG16A number 155 under restoration. Update number 4 February 2020

The magnetic particle inspection is now complete and the wall thickness testing complete. No cracks were detected in the tube plates and all wall thicknesses are well within specs bar the two back corners but these are cleared by the engineer for welding up. All the small tubes are now annealed and are ready for swaging (all 152 of them!). Window patches for the damaged smokebox are being fabricated and the hollow stays, part of the GPCS inlet system, have bored out. This was quite a long job as the original weld had spread making them difficult to remove. As a critical part of the GPCS system this job has to be exact. Our picture gallery shows the firebox end tube plate after all the weld seams have been measured, the small tubes after annealing, forming of the smokebox patches and the secondary air inlets during machining to remove them.

Visiting Sandstone 2020

RS Regulator Permit

NCACC certificate

Sandstone Heritage

Modern Farming