Railway Historian, John Middleton, is well known to South African railway enthusiasts for his numerous books on South African Railways main line and Industrial locomotives over the last 30 years or so. His latest book, Industrial Locomotives of South Africa (Volume 1) has been published. This covers the three Cape provinces, Free State (including a Sandstone entry), Kwa-Zulu Natal and North West provinces. It is available as a hardback book (B5 size) has 496 pages, almost 300 photographs (158 in colour) and 40 maps. Volume 2 which should be ready in 2024 (its already in draft form) will cover the rest of the former Transvaal plus Swaziland and Lesotho.The book is a magnificent work of reference and has obviously been part of the author’s life for some time.
To whet your appetite, here are some reviews from readers:
“For fans of South African steam an announcement of the launch of a much awaited new book on the complex history of Industrial Railways and Locomotives of this beautiful part of the world. Published by the Industrial Railway Society this is the latest of their series of hand books and is a most welcome addition to this excellent series…..The book is segmented by geographical region and the simplified maps show the locations of each of the sites featured. Importantly there is an index of sites / companies at the rear of the volume. Volume 2 will also feature an index by locomotive which will be most useful and is a great improvement on the Indian and Chinese volumes which lack this useful feature. The book is excellently illustrated with both historic and more recent images illustrating the vast variety of loco types that operated. The pictures are embedded into the body of the text rather than a separate section at the back of the book which to my eyes is also an improvement on other volumes in this series. This new book aims to be a definitive listing of all known industrial Steam, Diesel and Electric locomotives in South Africa, back to the first, a 7’0” gauge Hughes 0-4-0ST delivered to the Table Bay Harbour Board in 1862.” – Continental Railway Circle Review
“I have just received your magnificent publication. It was so big I could hardly pick it up.
It is incomprehensible to me that anyone could collect so much accurate date in a single lifetime and then record it in a meticulous way.
I cannot even imagine how many thousands of hours you must have spent working on this book. It is and always will be the definitive reference book for industrial locos in South Africa”.
Sandstone Estates.
Click below to see more details of the book and how to purchase it. There is a special price offer for South African buyers.
S A local price R890.00 plus R120.00 local courier
(For enquiries outside of South Africa, please contact Industrial Railway Society orders dept in the UK directly as per Ad Page 2 below)
Local contact: Jean Dulez
Also we have included, courtesy of the author, the section on Sandstone locomotives from the Industrial railway sector.