You did a wonderful job with that, Tim - and how great that the organisers rescued what could have been a disaster and turned it into such an interesting tour. It's so sad to see all the locos and rolling stock in such a pitiful condition, from which almost all of it will never be recovered, I guess. Thank you!
@Timsvideochannel1
29 күн бұрын
Hello Jim. I'm pleased you enjoyed it and all credit to the organisers for turning a disastrous turn of events into a worthwhile experience. Many of the locos are owned by people from outside of South Africa such as those owned by Ian Welch, owner of Mainline Steam in New Zealand. I'm guessing that locos belonging to foreign owners are more likely to survive than those owned by the State operator 'Transnet'. My understanding was that many of the electric and steam locos stored at Bloemfontein by Transnet were intended to become part of a national railway museum collection, sadly many looked too far gone to be rescued.
@neilforbes416
23 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 It's a situation not too dissimilar to the plight of steam locos, carriages and some rail motors left to rot away at Dorrigo in Northern NSW, acquired by a con-artist who claimed to set up a rail museum that *never* eventuated.
@Timsvideochannel1
23 күн бұрын
@@neilforbes416 There are two ways of looking at the situation, would the locomotives have been saved or scrapped had they not been bought together to create a potential museum collection? even though in both cases the museum never materialised. The locomotives might not be in the best of condition, but at least they still exist. Here in the UK all the Barry scrapyard locomotives were either saved or used to create classes of locomotive that had become extinct and believe me some of those locomotives looked beyond saving. We can only hope that some of the locomotives will be saved.
@neilforbes416
23 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 Well, this *supposed* museum at Dorrigo, NSW was never more than a con-job. The engines, carriages and sundry other bits and pieces are just left to rot away. they haven't been *saved* at all.
@peterstowell2976
29 күн бұрын
Wow Tim absolutely magical footage! Brings back memories of the time when I lived in RSA, during 1975/1976 with plenty of Steam still in daily operation.Even managed to travel to work each morning in the Cape Town area behind Class 19C 4-8-2s and occasionally Class 15Fs on country passenger trains. Had many rail trips around the country behind Steam including Classes 25, 23, 15CA, GMAM, 24 and 14s. Looking forward to your next episode. Cheers from PBR. Puf’n-Pete in OZ!
@Timsvideochannel1
29 күн бұрын
Hello Pete, I learned about this trip from another regular on RTC trips. When I read the itinerary, I made my mind up to join the tour and as it turned out this might well be the last tour where South African steam will be seen at the head of freight trains. It must have been awesome to travel behind steam in the mid 70's back in the days when SAR was in much better shape than it is now. We visited the Sandstones Estate railway with is wonderful collection of narrow gauge Garratts, I'll think you'll really love seeing them in action. As always it's nice to hear from you. Take care. Tim.
@martinpeter4089
25 күн бұрын
Great video of what looks like an amazing tour (despite its difficulties)! I am very much looking forward to part two.
@Timsvideochannel1
25 күн бұрын
Hi, I've just finished editing Part 2 and the massive locomotives dwarfed by the dramatic scenery really reminds me of just how awesome this tour was. Part 2 should be available on YT this coming Saturday.
@OtiAdventureToller
29 күн бұрын
Lovely that you got shots from outside the train too!
@Timsvideochannel1
29 күн бұрын
Hello Abi, the railway carriages we were to have travelled in were left in a siding overnight where they were vandalised rendering them unusable, as a result all shots were of the train rather than from the train.
@OtiAdventureToller
29 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 Ah, I hadn't realized it was that one! A real shame that you didn't travel on the train, but I must say it looks lovely in these clips 🙂
@Timsvideochannel1
28 күн бұрын
@@OtiAdventureToller The scenery becomes spectacular in Part 2, big locomotives in a big landscape.
@OtiAdventureToller
28 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 excellent, I look forward to that!
@annawitter5161
29 күн бұрын
Aha Tim! You made it to my country. How did you find South Africa? So amazing that you got onto this steam trip. Reminds me so of my train chasing days. Quite emotional really.
@Timsvideochannel1
28 күн бұрын
Hello Anna, I don't think South Africa liked me, I stayed in an hotel in Johannesburg before starting the tour, unfortunately I suffered the worst bout of food poisoning I've ever suffered, it took 3 days to be fit enough to travel and the symptoms remained with me for the rest of the break, on top of that I caught Covid on the return flight, I finally tested negative yesterday. It's now one month since I first jetted off to South Africa and I've finally recovered from the experience, I've also lost 20 kg in weight. We travelled by coach from Johannesburg to Kimberly where we were due to start following and travelling on our chartered steam trains, unfortunately the overhead contact wire on the main line had been stolen, causing all available working diesel locomotives to be commandeered to replace the overhead electric locos, as a consequence the passenger carriages we were to have travelled in were parked in a siding where the doors and interior was stolen. Heavy rain elsewhere in the country damaged bridges causing our water carrying tank wagons to be trapped in the wrong place and the coal purchased for our locomotives was also stuck in a siding many miles away. Somehow our tour organisers to their credit did managed to actually run trains for us to photograph, although without passenger carriages I couldn't travel by train or capture any driver's eye style video. Once we reached Bloemfontein, the scenery became really beautiful as will be seen in the next video to be posted hopefully at the weekend. I was somewhat taken back by the number of townships where accommodation was at best rudimentary. The children were fascinated by the presence of around 70 people descending on their local railway station armed with cameras on tripods, they had never seen a steam train so really didn’t understand what was going on. Passenger trains ceased running on the branch lines during the Covid years, today the only trains are occasional freight trains, even the rail served grain silos are no longer served by rail. The younger women decided we must be from a TV station, so whenever they saw a camera they danced and the teenage children were curious, they wanted to know which country we were from, difficult to explain when the group was made up of people from all over the world including Japan, USA, Australia, all over Europe and South America. The men could be a bit intimidating, they just wanted money. My favourite village was Clarens, a touristy place on the edge of the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. I mistakenly packed to visit a warm country, no gloves or warm coat, so it came as a shock to wake up to frost on the ground every morning with temperatures dropping as low as minus 7C at night and taking until gone 9 o’clock before it started to warm up, reaching 19 to 25 C by mid-day. I spent 4 days at Sandstones Estates, home to a fascinating 2 foot gauge railway with a wonderful collection of 2 ft and 3ft 6 ins gauge locomotives. My overall impression was that this is a country of contrasts, where the rich are rich and the poor live in poverty with fences topped with razor wire dividing the two. There was no evidence of a lack of food, everyone looked healthy, especially the children with their perfect white teeth and bright white eyes accentuated by their dark skin, I was also pleasantly surprised to see how well the animals were looked after, all were well fed and in good condition. Most of the time we were at an altitude of 4000 feet plus in an area referred to by our guide as the Karoo, we weren’t visiting tourist areas, so I guess we got to see the real South Africa. How does my description compare with your experience?
@annawitter5161
27 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 Tim, believe it or not, this is the real South Africa that people have to deal with every day. That is why so many of us are living in other countries now. I come from well educated middle class people who are not rich. We left the country for very good reasons. Mostly to secure a decent future for our children and grandchildren. Sorry to hear you have been so ill, hope your wife was there to look after you. I have also been down with food poisoning on holiday and it's no joke! At least you were safe and suffered no damage to your person, which can and does happen! In spite of the drawbacks, you have put together an awesome video. It's so lovely to see the old steam locos again. They were a big part of my childhood. Standing with my dad next to the track and feeling the earth shake as the great snorting dragon chuffs by . Clarens is my favourite too, and the whole of Golden Gate. I wanted to go live there and paint. Yes, there is plenty of food to go round, but so much gets dumped and wasted by industries. 😥 The situation is very sad and not likely to improve. Looking forward to your next vid. ♥️♥️♥️
@Timsvideochannel1
26 күн бұрын
@@annawitter5161 Hello Anna, Mother Nature dealt South Africa a good hand, sadly that hand is being played so badly that most people there are needlessly living in poverty. The work ethic simply isn't a part of the indigenous culture, although to be fair the women do most of the work whilst the men appear to do nothing other than hang around, with a bit of leadership and organisation, things could be so much better. Not all the indigenous men were the same, the guys driving our coaches worked from 5 o'clock in the morning to 9 o'clock at night, they were very helpful and did everything with a smile. I have met and worked with a number of people who married white South African women and in each case they settled in the UK for security reasons and in spite of the UK allowing the whole world in without permission, these women had to jump through hoops for over two years to be allowed to settle in the UK. It's nice to know this video brought back nice memories from your train chasing days. The mountainous country of Lesotho dominated the skyline for much of our trip, it would have been nice to cross the border to get another stamp in my passport. I had a strawberry cider in Clarens and really enjoyed it, I also brought a few things to take home to my wife such as fluffy nougat in a jar and Biltong. Many of the people I spoke to lived 5 months of the year in Clarens and 7 months in the UK. I’m working on the next video now, the scenery in the background is beautiful.
@harrisriyandi6021
Ай бұрын
Sepertinya menyenangkan keliling dunia naik kereta api seperti anda tims. Salam dari Indonesia dan sehat selalu
@Timsvideochannel1
Ай бұрын
Halo, saya harap Anda tetap sehat di Indonesia. Saya beruntung bisa bepergian dan merekam video untuk dibagikan di KZitem. Saya senang Anda menikmati menontonnya, dunia adalah tempat menakjubkan dengan begitu banyak hal untuk dilihat dan dilakukan.
@neilforbes416
24 күн бұрын
The vintages of these locos go back into the dark past, long before South Africa gained its legitimacy in 1994. Before then it should've had *no official recognition* and been referred to as "the cape colonies.
@Timsvideochannel1
23 күн бұрын
Hello Neil, they referred to the rail gauge as "Cape Gauge". Mother Nature dealt a good hand to South Africa with mineral wealth and fertile soil, sadly the country hasn't made the most of the years since apartheid ended. Seeing the townships first hand was a moving experience, especially when you consider people live in those makeshift tin huts and the temperature dropped well below freezing at night.
@rogertemple7193
Ай бұрын
This is an awesome train video very nice thank you.🚂🚃🚃:)
@Timsvideochannel1
Ай бұрын
Thank you, I'm pleased youenjoyed it 😊.
@johannperaus6890
Ай бұрын
Hi Tim! How long will it take until these steel giants have disappeared from the tracks? Anyone who knows the Africans knows that everything is only repaired in a makeshift manner. And then they drive until the whole thing falls apart. The locomotives are impressively large and the tender must weigh 70 to 80 tons, I would estimate. Very nice video, Tim👍. Best regards from Hans and cheers🍻🇦🇹.
@Timsvideochannel1
Ай бұрын
Hello Hans, some of these locomotives are owned by wealthy men living outside South Africa and it is likely that those locomotives will be looked after, as for the rest of the locomotives shown in the museum, they were intended to be part of a national collection, but from their deteriorating condition, I think they will simply be left to rust away. Compared to European locomotives the tenders are massive, some are bigger than the locomotive !!! Cheers. Tim.
@sellier-bellot22
29 күн бұрын
Big diesel trains still in active use ? LOL🤔Was this last loco real freight train !!!
@Timsvideochannel1
28 күн бұрын
Hi, I was good to see some big diesels in action on real freight trains. The steam locomotives and the rolling stock were all staged, you won't see these trains in normal service, indeed this might well be the last time these photographic opportunities can be created.
@sellier-bellot22
27 күн бұрын
@@Timsvideochannel1 OK😄
@robertcoleman4861
26 күн бұрын
Nice pictures thanks Tim, It's a shame to see those wonderful locomotives just rusting away cheers Bob.🚂🫖☕🍩
@Timsvideochannel1
25 күн бұрын
Hello Bob, I'm glad you enjoyed it and "Yes" it is a shame to see so many locomotives rotting away. 🍺 Tim.
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