Railway Storage facility for 3'6" locomotives and rolling stock

It is not well known but we have a major Railway storage facility for 3'6" locomotives and rolling stock in Ficksburg itself. This facility recently came under attack from scrap thieves and we lost a considerable number of valuable parts from some of the locomotives. It has been decided to shut down this facility and so we are currently debating where to locate the items.

Our Ficksburg Loco Shed contains the following items:

LOCOMOTIVES

· Class 15 F number 2910

· Class 15CB number 2071

· Class 25 NC number 3496

· Class 25 NC number 3536

· Hunslet Diesel Loco ex FSG number 9

· Barclay Steam Loco ex Douglas Colliery

· Funkey Bessinger

PASSENGER WAGONS

· Parcel Wagon number 4574

· Driver Training Coach number 14275

· Suburban Coach number 5909

· Articulated Coach number 14 033

· Passenger Coach number 14 166

· Passenger Coach number 14 175

GOODS WAGONS

· Flat wagon number 13 015060

· Flat wagon number 13 014064

· Caboose number 94 050538 from Bethlehem

· Caboose number 94 050929 from Bethlehem

KOMMANDONEK

· DZ number 51 05773

· DZ number 51 118416

SANDSTONE COAL STAGE

· DZ number 13 929

· Suburban Coach number 5909

· Passenger Coach number 14 166

· Driver Training Coach number 14275

The entire building over these items needs to be moved urgently because of consistent vandalism, theft and crime. Like most things in South Africa it is not viable to guard these items due to the fact that over a period of time the security costs exceed the value of the items in the shed.

We are looking for suggestions from friends of Sandstone as to what should be done. The alternatives as they stand now are:

(a) Return the two 25NC's to HRASA.

(b) Move the Sandstone 15F and 15CA (recently badly vandalised) to Sandstone Estates, 14-kms away. This will involve very heavy road haulage costs.

(c) Scrap passenger and freight wagons that are in very poor condition but save the key components.

(d) Move the two diesels to Sandstone Estates by road.

In order to gain access to these items the shed has to be removed. The contractor who erected the shed has quoted to move it to Sandstone Estates for a very reasonable price. It is likely therefore that the shed will be dismantled and re-erected at Sandstone where it will be used as an extension to the undercover storage of Sandstone's collection of Narrow Gauge locomotives and rolling stock. We have a large number of unrestored Narrow Gauge locomotives, principally NGG16's and NG15's and we need extra covered space for these. Our wooden rolling stock, much of which stands outside, also needs to be protected.

Reluctantly Sandstone has to accept the fact that it is not really a player in the Cape Gauge arena and therefore we need to focus our efforts and attention on our Narrow Gauge collection. A big investment is taking place in hauling and restoring a wide variety of Narrow Gauge items and therefore it is appropriate that they should receive the necessary attention.

Once again we invite suggestions.