Mack recovery vehicle.

The last of the Defence Force recovery vehicles has arrived on the farm and has been offloaded. This is a non-land mine protected Mack recovery vehicle which will be restored all the Bulperd.

We would like to play tribute to Thabiso, our long distance HGV driver, who did such a splendid job in moving four of these vehicles from the Army Depot north of Pretoria to both Bloemfontein and Sandstone accordingly.

Bulperd Recovery Vehicle

The Bulperd recovery vehicle recently received from Pretoria in terms of our outsource Preservation agreement with the School of Armour in Bloemfontein has been loaded and delivered to the Sandstone Heritage Trust's Mechanical Workshops in Bloemfontein in the Eastern Free State.

A significant upgrading of our ability to restore Military vehicles is currently being planned and a new workshop has been assigned for the purpose.

Co-operation between the South African Armour Museum and Sandstone Heritage Trust goes from strength to strength 

In a recent meeting between The SA Armour Museum, the Sandstone Heritage Trust was advised that the Museum had acquired four military recovery vehicles and that two of these would be given on loan to the Trust to broaden the Sandstone collection. It was agreed that Sandstone would recover the vehicles on behalf of the Armour Museum and move two of the vehicles to Sandstone and the other two to the SA Museum located at the Tempe base in Bloemfontein where they will be displayed.

The two vehicles a Bulperd, a mine protected recovery vehicle, and a MACK with a 'paper' (soft-skin) cab were parked at 4 VRP (Vehicle Reserve Park) north of Pretoria and a team from the SA Armour Formation and Sandstone went out to inspect the vehicles. Because the vehicles were not operational Sandstone decided to enlist the help of Rieks Towing, a company based in Pretoria with huge experience in moving heavy vehicles and which had in the past assisted Sandstone with the recovery of a Crusader tank. 

Moving and transporting the vehicles was run with military precision. The following morning a truck with a low bed from Sandstone together with a truck, a low bed and a recovery vehicle from Rieks towing were on site at 4 VRP. By early morning two vehicles were loaded and taken to a staging post in Midrand and by early afternoon the third was on its way to Midrand with the fourth headed directly to Bloemfontein. 

The three vehicles will be loaded in Midrand with one being delivered to Bloemfontein and the other two taken to Sandstone.

Sandstone has every intention of restoring and refurbishing the vehicles it has been loaned and hopes to have them operational as soon as possible. These two military vehicles will be the largest on display at Sandstone.

We have many treasures at Sandstone Estates, not the least of which is our Mk IV Sherman, seen here receiving some TLC and a good wash.

Our trusty Unimog, which has been in the family since we bought the farm in 1995, is still going strong.  I am not sure how old the Unimog is but it was probably 20-years old when we obtained it.

For Military vehicle enthusiasts here is a cross-section of photographs taken by various photographers during the Steam Gala.

Photos by David Benn

Photos by Wilfred Mole

SHT enjoys a close working relationship with the SA Armour Museum

Sandstone Heritage Trust enjoys a close working relationship with the SA Armour Museum, based at the School of Armour in Tempe, Bloemfontein.

The Museum consists of the following:

An exterior display of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (within the lines of the School of Armour and 1 SA Tank Regiment)
A vehicle hangar with several restored vehicles in running order – Lesakeng
A National Monument with Indoor displays
An auditorium - the 2 SSB Room
The Garrison Hall
The Wall of Remembrance
An Annex - Hull-Down - with indoor displays
A Research Library
A Museum Shop - The Gun Barrel

Now the Museum has launched a Fund Raising scheme.

Dear Friends of the SA Armour Museum,
 
We trust that you enjoyed the SA Armour Progress Report ?? (will it also be published?) that you received recently and also enjoyed the Museum website at: http://www.saarmourmuseum.co.za/index.html.

The guys in Bloemfontein are doing an incredible job to preserve our Armour Heritage.

They really deserve our wholehearted support!
 
Why don't we all consider to adopt a brick in Lesakeng and support the museum in this way?  We can adopt a brick (or a wall) for ourselves, but why not for all our family members as well?
 
Such a small contribution can go a long way towards cementing our Heritage and supporting the hardworking and loyal team in Bloemfontein.
 
Please consider this!

If you are willing to support this worthy cause kindly complete the attached "Adopt a Brick Letter" and email it to the School of Armour at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Payment can be done via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). See banking details on Adopt-a-Brick letter/application form.

We thank you for your kind consideration.

Yours in Armour!

Click here to download Adopt-a-Brick letter/application form - 75KB PDF (opens in new window)

SA Armour Museum progress report

The Sandstone Heritage Trust has a formal working agreement with the SA Armour Museum. We have attached a copy of their progress report dated July 2010.

We draw attention to the banner that was displayed at the Bloemfontein Show.

Click here to view the report - 1MB PDF (opens in a new window)

Military Archive photos

Louis Boshoff, one of our supporters, has sent us these pictures which he obtained from the military archives in Pretoria.

Photos kindly supplied by SANDF documentation centre

Louis used to be a recovery vehicle driver during his Army days.

Thanks Louis, keep them coming!

Sandstone Heritage Trust - Military Vehicles

MILITARY VEHICLES
Saracen (2)
Blesbok
Eland
Buffel
Caspir
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