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CLASSIC MILITARY VEHICLES
	ADDED 5th June 2009 Excellent Cooperation continues with SANDF. The School of Armour recently invited the Sandstone Heritage Trust to support their prestigious exhibit at the Bloemfontein Show. This we duly did with a number of items from the joint School of Armour / Sandstone collection. We are delighted and proud to be in receipt of a letter acknowledging this contribution from the School of Armour... Click here to view the letter and the report...
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE MILITARY PAGES >>>

The Bloemfontein Shed

19D - JULY 2009 - no words, no stories are required...

The Bloemfontein Shed

	UPDATED 16th June 2009 \| 8th Jun 09 \| 26th May 09 \| 20th Apr 09 \| 17th Apr 09 \| 2nd Feb 09 \| 6th Oct 08 \| 16th Sep 08 \| 2nd Sep 08 \| 19th Aug 08 \| 29th Jul 08 \| 25th Jul 08 \| 21st Jul 08 \| ADDED 19th Jul 08 Latest report on 19D, No. 2654 It is always a happy day when a locomotive starts receiving its final cosmetic touches. That is exactly what is happening with our 19D, No. 2654 in the Bloemfontein workshops... View the reports...
	UPDATED 2nd July 2009 \| 22nd June 09 \| 15th Jun 09 \| ADDED 1st Jun 09 Old crane saved Our Bloemfontein team in association with Transnet has saved a venerable old crane which is now in the Sandstone secure area in Bloemfontein... Crane now stripped... View the report...
	UPDATED 30th March \| 2nd March \| 12th January 2009 \| ADDED 17th October 2008 O & K (Orenstein & Koppel) No. 11112... Attached is a photo of O&K 11112 and the newly fabricated sand boxes. 4 required. Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 8th June 2009 \| 17th April 09 \| 30th March \| 2nd March \| 12th January 2009 \| ADDED 17th October 2008 NGG16 Number 88 The two ends of NGG16 number 88 are receiving attention. Repairs were done to the cow catchers and buffer beams... Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 13th February 2009 \| ADDED 8th December 2008 Updates from Bloemfontein Shed Lukas Nel who is far too busy restoring locomotives to produce long reports does nonetheless keep us up-to-date. Click here to view the article...
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE INFORMATION PAGE FOR THIS LOCO >>>

Geoff Cooke Tour

The Geoff Cooke tour (www.geoffs-trains.com) visited the Sandstone Heritage Trust on 3rd-5th May 2009. They had arrived the previous day from overseas, and having made a quick visit to Reefsteamers in Germiston proceeded down to the Free State for their 3-day trip.

Top view all the articles, click here.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COSMOS 2009 ARTICLES

Now available in Europe and in South Africa...

A professionally produced DVD of our Maluti Magic event,
together with a free CD of hundreds of photographs,
has been released. The prices are as follows:

UK £9.00
SA R90.00
(including postage & packing).

Please contact either
Joanne West in the UK ()
or Babita Hira in South Africa ()
if you would like to purchase a copy. Click here or on the DVD image for testimonials.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MALUTI PICTURE GALLERY

22nd June 2009
Dick Manton who has been to Sandstone many times
has sent us these magnificent photographs taken during the Maluti Magic event.
Dick's work is to the highest order and I am sure that everyone will agree that
these pictures are to be savoured and enjoyed one by one.

Click here to view the photos

OVK magazine

See the attached article on Maluti Magic which appeared in the June 2009 edition of the OVK magazine and an article on tractors at Clocolan...

Read the article...

INTERNATIONAL PRESS COVERAGE (other latest articles are further down)
	ADDED 22nd June 2009 Double header in Old Glory Here are two articles which appeared in the July edition of the highly respected publication Old Glory. Click here to view the articles
	ADDED 8th June 2009 Sunday Times Accurate and well written article in last weeks' Sunday Times says it all... Click here to view the article (740Kb PDF opens in a new window)
CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS PRESS CLIPPINGS

STEAM IN ACTION

Steam in Action was formed by the Sandstone Heritage Trust, Reefsteamers and Friends of the Rail. If you really want to know what is happening with regard to Rail Preservation in Southern Africa you need to join Steam in Action. We send out detailed and informative newsletters on a regular basis and handle individual queries from people wishing to participate in the turnaround of South Africa 's steam tourism and steam preservation programme. Not a day goes by that another locomotive is not saved, moved or worked on.

Updated with APRIL 2009 Newsletter - Visit the Steam in Action web site

Content Moved: Click here for Modern Farming : Click here for Sherman Mk IV : Click here for COSMOS 2008
Click here for the Lawley

AN AERIAL VIEW OF SANDSTONE ESTATES

An Aerial photograph of the main farm HQ on the farm Hoekfontein at Sandstone Estates.

Click the image on the left for a larger version in a new window, or click on the image on the right for an "interactive" map using Google Maps.

LATEST ARTICLES
Don't forget to click here to look at our Reefsteamers newsletters archive ...and here for the RSSA Reef Branch Newsletters
	UPDATED 29th June 2009 \| ADDED 1st June 2009 Sandstone attends The Carrington Rally Lincs 2009... Great weather, amazing selection of machines, particularly early tractors. Click here for a full report with great pictures (3Mb PDF opens in a new window) Click here to view the earlier report...
	ADDED 29th June 2009 Perils of Pioneering John Allen who donated a bus to Sandstone many years ago has sent us this fascinating article which adds substantially to the Lawley archives... Click here to view the article
	ADDED 26th June 2009 Improved security at Sandstone Estates There continues to be ongoing problems with security in rural areas of South Africa and it is important that our valuable collection of heritage items be kept safe at all times. The second electric fence around the complex has been completed and a new guard hut erected... For a recent article on farm security click here
	ADDED 22nd June 2009 Newly restored items arrive at Sandstone Estates A W Series Kenworth dating back to 1953 and an additional Saracen have been restored by Jan Fouche & Sons and have arrived at Sandstone Estates. Both these items make excellent additions to the Commercial Vehicle and Classic Military Vehicle line-up at the Sandstone Heritage Trust. Click here to view the pictures...
	UPDATED 22nd June 2009 \| ADDED 16th Mar 09 AFRIKANER OXEN The Sandstone team of oxen, although they have survived a full on attempt from Lesotho to steal them, are still working. The attached picture is timeless in many ways and perhaps that is what makes them so attractive... Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 8th June 2008 \| 5th Feb 09 \| 14th Oct 08 \| ADDED 4th October 2007 GREENS ROLLER UPDATE An update from Phil Braithwaite on the Greens Roller.... Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 5th June 2008 BREAKING NEWS… NOT LITERALLY… THIS ONE NEVER GOT BROKEN The Sandstone Heritage Trust 65 ton lifting capacity Cowans Sheldon Steam Crane No. 578 has completed its journey to Reefsteamers from Danskraal in Natal. More updates will follow. Click here to view a larger image... (opens in a new window) Crane... more photos... They aren’t of good quality, being taken at night without a tripod, but you will get some glimpses of the historic arrival of your pet beast. Thanks to Lee Gates for the pictures... Additional pictures also added from Aiden McCarthy and Pat Ackerman. Click here to view them all.
	UPDATED 1st June 2008 \| 17th Apr 09 \| 16th Feb 09 \| 9th Feb 09 \| 30th Jan 09 \| 12th Jan 09 \| 5th Jan 09 \| 29th Dec 08 \| 24th Dec 08 \| 4th Dec 08 \| 24th Nov 08 \| 21st Nov 08 \| 10th Nov 08 \| 3rd Nov 08 \| 20th Oct 08 \| 17th Oct 08 \| 29th Sep 08 \| 23rd Sep 08 \| 19th Aug 08 \| 12th Aug 08 \| 22nd Jul 08 \| ADDED Jan 07 Compagnes Drift Mill Update... Report 81: Tun and Bridge Tree Report 82: Bridge Box and Caulking Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 1st June 2009 What goes around, comes around... Looking at the lines of this tractor... what goes around, comes around! Click here to view the pictures...
	ADDED 1st June 2009 From the archives... Some interesting pictures around a watering point somewhere in Africa at the turn of last century. Our thanks to Aidan Mc Carthy for these superb images… Click here to view the pictures...
	ADDED 26th May 2009 Railways Africa... Railways Africa magazine picks up on recent purchases of Steam Crane Narrow Gauge wagons and other items... Click here to view visit their web site...
	ADDED 14th April 2009 Autumn - Sunset photos taken from the white house Autumn is well on its way and the cold fresh clear winter nights are approaching in the eastern free State... Thanks to Hester at Sandstone for these evocative images... Click here to view the pictures...
	ADDED 7th April 2009 Colonial Andries Keyser has come up with some extremely useful archive material. These photographs were taken at Mason Mill shortly after the traction engine was rebuild and before the steam workshops closed. The pictures show an excellent restoration job and in addition it is a wonderful snapshot of what a part of Masons Mill looked like when it was a proper depot... Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 24th March \| ADDED 9th March 2009 SURPLUS NG Wagons FOR SALE The Sandstone Heritage Trust in its attempt to save as much of South Africa's heritage as possible submitted a tender for 2-ft narrow gauge wagons in the Eastern Cape region that were marked for scrapping. We were successful in receiving an award for 114 wagons, details of which appear here... and David Payling has added descriptions of wagons on our list... here is their list upgraded... Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 23rd March 2009 Wagon Refurbishment Our wagon refurbishment programme is proceeding well. Over the years we have accumulated large numbers of 2-ft Narrow Gauge wagons which in many cases we had to purchase at short notice due to imminent scrapping plans by Transnet... Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 17th March 2009 Rumely Oil Pull 30-60E Heavyweight It is impossible to date this picture. The tractor dates from 1915... Click here to view the article...
www.oldengine.org/members/evans/africa/index.htm Keep the revs up (or down) Jerry Evans Near Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa. Etched Brass Engine Plates made to order
	ADDED 16th March 2009 NG 4 CAD Drawings Gary Barnes, one of our staunchest supporters and a regular visitor to the Sandstone Heritage Trust, has sent us a set of pictures drawn out in 3D Cad software. It covers the initial assembly of the NG4 which might be of interest to enthusiasts and model makers alike... Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 10th March 2009 Many people have followed with interest the restoration of the 50’s International pickup... In this final sequel it makes the long trip alone, with only Andy Selfe as driver /minder to the eastern Free State to join the Maluti Magic event... Andy takes up the story... Click here to view the article...
	ADDED 9th March 2009 A long and strong association with the Western Cape Vintage Tractor & Engine Club continues... Click here to view the article...

Revenue – the life blood of preservation...

The Sandstone Heritage Trust is funded entirely by the Trustees without any outside assistance. However the demands being made on us are growing all the time and we do need to give some thought to the revenue model. Our Web Master, Tony Phipps, has come up with an excellent idea for us to generate revenue without particularly inconveniencing our site visitors. Our site is fairly popular because it is dynamic and as a result we are considering some options, including working with Google to provide a scenario where the site generates revenue which will go straight back into preservation.

We are conscious however that one of the benefits of the site is that it is clean of interfering advertising but if our visitors can remain loyal to our site and can accept this on the understanding that it is actually beneficial to the overall programme and overall survivability of the heritage programme itself then we will probably do it.

We certainly invite comments. Please see the example (live) ad-box below.

Remember that we don’t receive revenue until people actually click onto the interesting ads which have started to appear. Please do so. The cost to you is nothing; the benefit to us is considerable.

COSMOS FESTIVAL APRIL 2008 REVIEW
	Cosmos Festival 2008 - A great success.... Click here for the COSMOS 2008 mini site

News from Andy Selfe in the Western Cape...
Last updated 6th June 2009 with Compagnes Mill update...

Click here to view Andy's pages...

Here we bring you selected editions of the Reefsteamers newsletters

View the list...

CONTRIBUTE > > >

There are some very clever people in the world and as far as Narrow Gauge is concerned or in fact South African steam in general. We are amazed at the number of people around the world who have access to top class archives, who have visited the country, who have made a study of our railways and the locomotives and rolling stock that used to traverse the length and breadth of the country. If you are one of those people and there is a subject that interests you, why not send us details, because we would be happy to assist you to share it with our very large body of internet visitors. Simply send the information to

LAWLEY

The Lawley is complete in steam and at work.

Article from Narrow Gauge World added 5th September - click here to view the Lawley pages

These are archive items from earlier, last month and previously
ADDED 6th March 2009	ADDED 2nd March 2009	ADDED 20th February 2009

National Vintage tractor and engine event. This weekend (March 6 and 7) sees SAVTEC holding its national event at Clocolan about 50Kms from Sandstone Estates. For further details contact Rob North (www.savtec.co.za or email ). Our archive Photos of this event date back to 1997. Click here to view the photos...	Things in the heritage sector are beginning to look up... A model agency in Pretoria recently booked our Hogsville facility as a venue for a fashion show. Perhaps with lateral thinking and good marketing we can start generating some innovative revenues. Click here to view the pictures...	IH Bakkie Trip / Technical Query on International Harvester R110 A Sandstone stalwart prepares to set out to Maluti Magic... in a 1951 IH truck... Andy from all of us at Sandstone... travel safely... we will be waiting... Click here to view the trip article... / Click here to view technical query...

ADDED 20th February 2009	ADDED 16th February 2009	ADDED 16th February 2009

Little Bess After her long and exhausting (and as it turns out futile) trip to the UK, our Wren Class locomotive "LITTLE BESS" is back after transiting via Durban and Bloemfontein where Lucas Nel and his team rebuilt her... Click here to view the article...	SHT site visitor's contribution One of the enjoyable things about our heritage activities is the amount of quality archive material that turns up out of the blue. Very often this information is sent to us by people who are not rail or steam enthusiasts but they are aware of the fact that there are people who are interested... Click here to view the article...	Aidan Mccarthy reports on Sandstones GMAM s latest outing… in her own small way this Steam Locomotive is carrying many flags… we ask steam enthusiasts to put their issues aside and join STEAM IN ACTION so that we may keep this flickering flame alive… click here to visit Steam in Action now Here are a few photos from Lyndie Lou’s run today out to Magliesburg. Unfortunately the overcast weather is still playing havoc with photography. Hopefully we will get nice sunny weather at the end of the month.

ADDED 9th February 2009	UPDATED 6th February 2009 \| UPDATED 14th October 08 \| ADDED 24th October 2007	ADDED 6th February 2009

South African steam train tours under threat... Ten years ago, steam train fans beat a path to South Africa’s door to ride behind beautifully-kept locomotives in some of the most spectacular country in the world. They came, they saw and they spent dollars and pounds and yen and euros by the bankload. Then they told their friends who hopped on planes to South Africa, and spent their pounds, dollars, euros… Click here to view the article...	Project to bring Sandstone Heritage Trust / Phil Braithwaite Greens Compound Roller up to scratch for the Rally season is progressing well.... Despite severe winter weather conditions good progress has been made by Phil Braithwaite with the mechanical refurbishment of the Greens Roller, during the winter months in the UK... Click here to view the article...	Bomford and Evershed Scraper fitted to David Brown Cropmaster in Villiersdorp Museum... From Andy Self... Koos Erasmus is the proud owner of a David Brown Cropmaster, which we in the Villiersdorp section of the West Cape Tractor & Engine Club call 'Koos' Power Steering tractor'.... Click here to view the article...
...and to see more archive articles from previous months please click here...

The Sandstone Steam Railroad The First Ten Years

		The long awaited official record of the Sandstone Heritage Trust rail collection is now available. Produced in full colour in an easy to manage A5 format, this 136 page informative publication documents the history of the collection with full details of each locomotive and rolling stock item for both 2" narrow gauge and 3'6" gauge. Fully illustrated with many historical photographs from some of SA's leading photographers it is also a comprehensive guide for the classes of locomotive and rolling stock held in the collection...

Click here for more information, or to order your copy...

RETURN OF THE GIANTS DVD - £12.95GBP

The Eastern Free State was once one of the world's greatest theatres of steam. At the end of the 1990's, the Sandstone Steam Railroad Company began a new initiative to bring back the glory days of steam.

This DVD tracks the development of the Company, the restoration of its locomotives and rolling stock, and the challenges that faced steam preservation in South Africa at the time.

It will also take you back to the days when powerful locomotives working daily trains were a common sight, when drivers and firemen were men of grit and mettle, and when it seemed that the Golden Age of Railways would never end.

The Sandstone Steam Railroad Company was committed to bringing back this glorious past, reviving a great scenic railway and preserving a piece of South Africa's unique steam heritage. Although circumstances have changed, the dream is still alive and being carried forward by the Sandstone Heritage Trust and its partners in the Steam-in-Action initiative.

This DVD is a reminder of the very beginning of that renaissance.

Click here to order, or for more info

Special Offer on Sandstone Videos

We accept the fact that the number of people with video machines is declining but many preservationists, due to their desire to continue to watch videos which will never be available on DVD, have video machines. This is an outstanding chance for you to acquire videos at rock bottom prices as a result of our stock clearance programme.... click here for DVD's / videos

Intrigued... many people email our site with questions about our Narrow gauge railway and our Cape Gauge locomotives. Many of the answers are in our reference book. Read this review by John Batwell (click the image to view the PDF in a new window), and click here to buy the book.

	SANDSTONE Desktop Wallpapers Download these images to use as your desktop wallpaper on your PC. Click here to open the image download in a new window
Request for assistance One of our supporters has asked for our help in locating his father. This is the e-mail he sent us....Click here to view the article...

	UPDATED 16th June 2009 \| 8th Jun 09 \| 26th May 09 \| 20th Apr 09 \| 17th Apr 09 \| 2nd Feb 09 \| 6th Oct 08 \| 16th Sep 08 \| 2nd Sep 08 \| 19th Aug 08 \| 29th Jul 08 \| 25th Jul 08 \| 21st Jul 08 \| ADDED 19th Jul 08 Latest report on 19D, No. 2654 It is always a happy day when a locomotive starts receiving its final cosmetic touches. That is exactly what is happening with our 19D, No. 2654 in the Bloemfontein workshops... View the reports...
	UPDATED 2nd July 2009 \| 22nd June 09 \| 15th Jun 09 \| ADDED 1st Jun 09 Old crane saved Our Bloemfontein team in association with Transnet has saved a venerable old crane which is now in the Sandstone secure area in Bloemfontein... Crane now stripped... View the report...
	UPDATED 30th March \| 2nd March \| 12th January 2009 \| ADDED 17th October 2008 O & K (Orenstein & Koppel) No. 11112... Attached is a photo of O&K 11112 and the newly fabricated sand boxes. 4 required. Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 8th June 2009 \| 17th April 09 \| 30th March \| 2nd March \| 12th January 2009 \| ADDED 17th October 2008 NGG16 Number 88 The two ends of NGG16 number 88 are receiving attention. Repairs were done to the cow catchers and buffer beams... Click here to view the article...
	UPDATED 13th February 2009 \| ADDED 8th December 2008 Updates from Bloemfontein Shed Lukas Nel who is far too busy restoring locomotives to produce long reports does nonetheless keep us up-to-date. Click here to view the article...
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE INFORMATION PAGE FOR THIS LOCO >>>

...and to see more archive articles from previous months please click here...

The Sandstone Steam RailroadThe First Ten Years

Click here for more information, or to order your copy...

...and to see more archive articles from previous months
please click here...

The Sandstone Steam Railroad
The First Ten Years