Sandstone’s acquisition of the two Royal Train coaches of 1947 came to the attention of one of our readers, Dr Brian Austin, who is a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers.

We recently received two articles from Stewart Currie at  the RSSA Reef Branch, both from Allan Jorgensen, published many years ago in South African Transport magazine.  “7 Light Rails”, from September 1978, has a piece on the Lawley locomotives of Buzi Sugar, Mozambique, two of which survived in the Peter Rampton collection in the UK.

We recently ran a story about the AY Hoppers we sold to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway (WW&F) and the Edaville Railway in Maine, USA. The units were delivered directly to the WW&F which is some distance from the Edaville Railway. Following on from our previous post (https://www.sandstone-estates.com/index.php/railway-heritage-58/2ft-narrow-gauge/3769-the-usa-rolling-stock-arrives) we received a mail from the Chairman of the WW&F, David Buczkowski, detailing the move of the wagons destined for the Edaville Railway.

David takes up the story:

We recently discovered two coaches from the 1947 Royal Train  of South Africa near Ladybrand.

“Voie Libre” is a French magazine , produced in both French and English editions, for small gauge railway modellers. It is generally accepted as one of the finest magazines in the world on the subject of railway modelling.  The title, “Voie Libre”, literally translated, means “Clear Path”

 OK 11112 Ermyntrude

After a successful gauging test two more locos have been passed to run on Sandstone’s shorter system, Seb’s Railway. These are O&K 0-6-0WT 11112 of 1925, “Ermyntrude” and O&K 0-6-0WT 12140 of 1930, “Anna”. These locomotives along with other locomotives were acquired from Fazenda Tentativa Sugar Estate in Caxito, Angola.

We thought you would enjoy this picture of the smallest locomotive in the Sandstone fleet and the largest. The 1919 built 0-4-0ST “Little Bess” and the 1968 built (and modified in 1990) NGG16A Garratt locomotive number 155. Truly the largest and smallest!

The AY hoppers and SM flat wagons recently supplied by Sandstone to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway and the Edaville Railway in Maine, USA have now arrived on site in Edaville. Our picture gallery shows the stock being unloaded and a first train lashed together for a short trip down the line. The two railways are planning a “South African” day when the stock has been fully  commissioned and we look forward to seeing pictures of that.

ACCOMMODATION AT SANDSTONE

If you are visiting the Eastern Free State, you may like to choose Sandstone Estates for your accommodation needs.
Sandstone offers accommodation on a working farm which also houses the internationally renowned Sandstone
Heritage Trust collection. Various attractions are available to visitors to the farm.
Our affordable accommodation offers self-catering accommodation in our Victorian Cottages for up to 24 people.
The six Victorian Cottages can sleep four in two twin bedded rooms and have a fully fitted self-catering kitchen and
bathroom with shower. Braai facilities can also be arranged.
ACCOMMODATION AT SANDSTONE - CLICK TO VIEW

BOOK ACCOMMODATION AT SANDSTONE

ACCOMMODATION IN SURROUNDING AREAS

Sandstone has excellent but limited accommodation on site for our visitors. Accommodation in the surrounding areas has changed over the last few years so we have drawn up a current list of establishments available in the Ficksburg, Fouriesburg and Clarens area that our visitors may wish to use. Please note that publication of the establishments listed does not imply any endorsement of the establishments by Sandstone Estates.
ACCOMMODATION IN SURROUNDING AREAS - CLICK TO VIEW

Sandstone has just concluded the sale of two AY ballast hoppers to the Wiscasset,Waterville and Farmington Railway in Maine, USA, to assist them with maintaining  their line and a possible extension in the future. You can read the article on this link. https://railfan.com/wwf-to-purchase-narrow-gauge-south-african-ballast-hoppers/

Another Fowler from Mount Edgecombe Sugar Estate, Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa. Sandstone’s “Sandy” has a sister!

Click here to read the article.

Sandstone Estates has been the chosen location for numerous film shoots over the years. These have ranged from Feature Films, including a number of “Bollywood” productions, Corporate and launch video productions, Music Videos, International News features and over 130 productions, on our world famous  2ft narrow gauge railway, featured on the YouTube channel.

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.

The jewel of the Sandstone 2ft Narrow gauge collection is, without doubt, the small Decauville 0-4-0T locomotive, works number 302, built in 1899 in France. Since its discovery at the Dombe Grande sugar estate in Benguela Province, Angola, in 2003 we have believed the name to be “BATHALA”. Some research by railway historian, John Middleton has unearthed the attached picture of the locomotive at the Dombe Grande Museum in 1970 where Sandstone ultimately found it some 33 years later.