The current COVID 19 legislation published after our February and Easter events were advertised prohibits all indoor and outdoor events as of 28th December 2020 and was subsequently extended on January 15th. This legislation will be reviewed on February 15th 2021. If the restrictions are not lifted and extended over a period that covers the end of February, the event scheduled for February 26 to 28 will be cancelled.

This will be advised on our web site and Facebook page.

Depending on whether such legislation is lifted prior to Easter will determine as to whether the scheduled Easter weekend event (April 2-5) will be held.

Questions relating to the security of the Sandstone Heritage Trust’s locomotive assets.

The collection of assets at Sandstone Estates is very securely housed, maintained and operated where necessary. At present we are involved in a high level dialogue with the Rail Safety Regulator concerning the need to adopt a Heritage Railway specification in South Africa, more specifically for 2-ft Narrow Gauge railways that are ring-fenced or isolated from any other railway network.

The Rail Safety Regulator has only one specification in South Africa and we are being treated as a Main Line railway and therefore we are having various restrictions placed on our operations and we are having to upgrade parts of our infrastructure at enormous costs to levels that we believe are entirely unnecessary for the axle loading and speed of operation of our railway.

Our current Rail Safety Regulator permit expires at the end of 2019 but going beyond that we have advised the RSR that we cannot comply with the demands being made on us with regard to Civil Engineering issues, nor can we comply with the requirement that all repairs to locomotives be placed under their control and be subjected to inspections.

One should appreciate that there are enormous costs which accompany each and every one of these regulations which are currently being promulgated quicker than we can deal with them.

We have worked hard for many years to accommodate the Rail Safety Regulator’s long list of demands but we have reached the stage where it is unsustainable for a railway that operates at slow speeds like ours.

We have forwarded copies of the British Heritage Rail specifications to the authorities with a strong recommendation that they implement something similar in South Africa. 

The rumours that are going around regarding the disposal of Heritage assets etc. are entirely incorrect.  We are simply in a state of limbo while we negotiate with the authorities to take a more realistic view of operations like ours.

On the last day of our Stars 2015 event, namely Sunday, 12th April 2015, we invited our employees and members of the local community with their families to join us for a train ride around the entire circuit. This was an ebullient affair with much laughter and perhaps for the first time on our railway ever dancing in every carriage.

The photographs below and the short video captures the spirit of the occasion.

Our Public Day as per details below will take place on Saturday, 11th April 2015.

Should you wish to attend any day other than the 11th you are very welcome to register. 

The tariffs for the special days are as follows:

• R 741.00 inclusive of VAT for the head of the family - per day
• R 285.00 inclusive of VAT  for the spouse  - per day
• R 285.00 inclusive of VAT  per person aged 13-18 years old - per day
• R 741.00 inclusive of VAT  for individual adult visitors - per day

All of the above tariffs include meals.

Should you have any queries please contact the Sandstone office on Tel: 051933 2235 or 076 0246188.

Classic Aircraft attendance – Stars 2015

The following aircraft will be operational during Stars 2015:

Helicopters:

ZU-ALO Allouette II
ZU-HHP Gazelle

Fixed Wing:

ZS-WZI Cessna 185
ZS-JKV PA-18
ZS-NHN Tiger Moth
ZS-BGN Tiger Moth
ZU-VAL Cessna 180
ZU-AOP Harvard AT6
ZS-COX Chipmunk
ZS-EUU Stampe SV4

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Sandstone's UK office number

Please note that with immediate effect Sandstone’s UK office number is now as follows:

Tel: +44 (0)1189 819600.

Interesting Visitor to the Farm

On Thursday (16 August) we had a visit from a guy called Neil Muller who left Cape Town Station on 2 June 2012 on his bicycle. He did the first 680 km on foot and is making his way through South Africa to Dar Es Salaam, he hopes to complete this in 8 months. He is travelling along the railway line and is doing this to create awareness for public transport and old railway buildings. He relies on people to give him accommodation and food on the way. So if you can help in any way - the contact details are on www.opsporetussenstasies.weebly.com

Kalahari Sunrise - two weeks after the event...

The Cosmos out flanked us this year but to celebrate its awakening we took Lawley No. 97 out early this morning (Friday, 14th April 2012) to catch the beauty of the flowers, the landscape, and the locomotive.