2009 - National Live Steam Meet Pietermaritzburg

It was a typical day Wednesday June 29th, the ballast lay undisturbed as the sleepers were sleeping, the last winter leaves clinging for deer life to grey trees, aloes in full bloom... and then it all changed.

The gates opened and by Friday the club grounds were flooded by vehicles with strange number plates, they came from all over. A frenzy of activity broke out as tailgates and trailers were opened spilling out engine after engine into the rapidly overfilling steaming bays. There was no stopping the flood! Soon fires were lit and steam started oozing out of cylinder draincocks. The compressors breathed a sigh of relief as the safety valves started lifting one after the other and steam took control of the engines.

Sylvia, the signal controller, had her hands full as the crowd of locomotives proceeded down to the station and onto the main line. One could stand at the station exit and wait only a few seconds for the next train to depart and come thundering past.

As the day progressed, the skies turned darker, not only from the smoke but the weather turned sour in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, the result... more rain fell those two days than in the entire year put together. But we're South African, so we're tough! Soon however the rain turned the dirt service roads to mush causing the campers to be stranded. Rescue inspiration came from the double heading UVE2 locomotives and it was not uncommon to see a Bakkie double heading a Combi with a caravan behind it!

It was none the less a magnificent weekend, all the hard work preparing it was well worth it. Whenever you're in the neighbourhood don't hesitate to give us a shout, the kettle is always steaming at the Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society!

Enough talk, let the pictures do the talking: