South Africa - Garratt Country - English • Great Railways

Рет қаралды 45,309

Күн бұрын

NICK LERA presents an action packed re-staging of South Africa’s glory days of steam with a portrayal of the mighty Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotive in Natal and the Cape. Filmed in 2005 and 2006, four different classes of these 3ft 6in gauge leviathans are seen storming the mountain grades in the Outeniqua range, the Montagu Pass and the 1 in 33 climb to Greytown. On the 2ft gauge lines of Natal we see South Africa’s oldest working Garratt, NGG11 No 55 on the Paton’s Railway and close with the famous ‘Toy Train By The Ocean’, the Alfred County Railway with two NGG16 Garratts on the scenic Hibiscus Coast. An historical introduction includes rare 1946 archive of a test run with a newly arrived GEA Class Garratt.
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Пікірлер: 68

@mariusroux632 26 күн бұрын

My granddad was a garratt driver in south Africa. Born in 1906 he worked through the ranks quickly, eventually becoming a garret driver. According to my dad it was quite a prestigious and well paid assignment, maybe almost like a Boeing pilot today, as it was the most expensive piece of movable equipment in the country, at the time. Thanks for the great nostalgic program.

@lukasvisagie9513 9 күн бұрын

Thank you Nick for this amazing presentation, you have done a wonderful, magnificent job! I have many fond memories of playing amongst these amazing monsters at Pretoria station, of travelling on these and other trains between Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Will I ever forget the day I said goodbye to my Parents on the Pretoria station, to board one of these trains, heading to career in the SA Navy, starting at Saldanha?

@NicholasLera-kd5tj Күн бұрын

I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed viewing my Garratt film as much as I enjoyed making it! Although all the trains I and my associate Alex recorded were photo charter operations it's one of the few films I've made where it has such a genuine feel of a past age.

@Duececoupe Ай бұрын

You can't beat a steam locomotive, the smell, the sound, the living soul of it! 😍🥰😍😎

@mrsaturngamingandstories Ай бұрын

Garratts are some of the most interesting type of steam locomotives the way they look is kind of intimidating

@neilrobson8426 Ай бұрын

A great record of wonderful engines working hard for years. Thanks for sharing 😊

@rudolfhough6226 Ай бұрын

Very good to see my old driver, Oom George van Niekerk again. I worked many years with him.

@michaelsaayman2802 27 күн бұрын

My father Basil Saayman was a Garrett driver and we lived in Mossel Bay. He was the driver on the Queens visit when she was still a princess. He later went on to teach at the college in Uitenhage.

@masonallenbuskirk5648 Ай бұрын

Thank you for uploading these great programs shedding light on the worldwide spectacles of steam. 😄

@biffjones2601 Ай бұрын

Brings back so many memories from my younger days.

@lighthousertf5855 Ай бұрын

Great scenery and beautiful steam engines

@Herriot7 Ай бұрын

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing the insights, history and localities of the Garratt story. A real visual feast. South Africa's NG loss is at least being (somewhat) redeemed in Wales.

@peterwhyte-zl1kv Ай бұрын

Thank you for the best steam fest I have ever seen,

@patricknoveski6409 Ай бұрын

This channel is so amazing. The calm English host who explains in detail the histories. And beautiful clips of these engines and their people who look over them. Love it. More steam 🙏!! Note: I've grown sick of hotel developers in my life time. As they destroyed the Island Where I grew up. Maui Hawaii. Disregarding a century of local traditions and soul. Their disease has spread to So. Africa I see. Turning their backs on that perfect railroad which the tourists would have loved. Head shaking.

@NicholasLera-kd5tj Ай бұрын

I'm so glad you seem to have enjoyed viewing the film as much as I enjoyed making it! You are probably aware that a lovely 3ft gauge 2-4-0 steam locomotive was bought from Hawaii and beautifully restored by a Californian collector in the 1990s. I saw it when it visited the Sacramento Railfair in 1999. I don't know where it's kept, but the railfan community would know.

@davidpetzer5725 Ай бұрын

Thank you ever so much . Free the Cape and steam will live on !!

@davidvlok1755 Ай бұрын

Thanks for posting this fantastic footage. Very fond memories of steam train travel 👍👊🤗

@petracollins8623 27 күн бұрын

So wonderful to see. Memories of trips from Bulawayo through Bechuanaland to Cape Town on the sleep train.

@astridvallati4762 Ай бұрын

One other NGG16 went to the Puffing Billy Railway Victoria Australia, which already runs Locally built Garrats and Baldwin built Engines. the Two Foot Gauge SAR Garrat was rebuilt to 2'6" to work the Puffing Billy Heritagge Railway in the forests of the Dandenong region of Victoria.

@ambindia Ай бұрын

That sound.....wonderful

@goupigoupi6953 14 күн бұрын

All Garratts are awesome, but I really love the narrow gauge models.

@leonvanderlinde5580 Ай бұрын

I remember as a kid on the 18 to 21 coach passenger trains, I used to run from one side of the coach to the other so I could wave to the driver and the conductor on the tight curves. It is still my top favourite loco.

@William-y2j Ай бұрын

Excellent photography

@gazzas123 Ай бұрын

I grew up in central NSW and lived 200 meters from the main western line and a regular train the W44 ore train from broken Hill was pulled by a AD60 Garratt and sometimes 2 AD60 Garratts. It was a sight to behold.

@forrestrobin2712 13 сағат бұрын

Brilliant! Subscribed ❤

@GlennHaley-k7s 28 күн бұрын

Great pictures, and good story.

@chillerfrigotek9121 Ай бұрын

Teşekkürler güzel video için.. :)

@CollinBlack-j1y Ай бұрын

Whan K1 went Beyer,Peacock for her 100th the tram loco beside her was a New South Wales tram which worked on the Sydney tram system.

@vishal_electrodharwad7678 Ай бұрын

Excellent coverage

@mral3694 Ай бұрын

Brilliant video, loved it! When was it filmed?

@tankmicr00man Ай бұрын

The title page says 2010...filming took place around 2006

@prabniksandhu4648 Ай бұрын

Cape to Cairo next please.

@fatpigeon008 Ай бұрын

How can they film the cape to cairo line if it was never even fucking completed

@prabniksandhu4648 Ай бұрын

@fatpigeon008 There is a film called Cape to Cairo by Nick Lera you ignorant 🙄.

@thejdmguru621 17 күн бұрын

The GMAM and GMO Garretts were basically our Big Boys. Also, that GF Garratt in Umgeni is now parked at Millsite and is considered scrap after sitting for so long because her boiler plate expired and needed new tubing. That 19D, nicknamed Wesley still regularly does revenue service every last Sunday of the month. And now, he is accompanied by Maureen, a newly restored Class 3BR. We also have a Class 12R and a 14R that still needs restoring.

@Tauraco00 Ай бұрын

The Van Stsdens Pass, Bridge named after my Great Grandfather, Apple Express is s part of me

@zolanipenxa3520 Ай бұрын

The new government must revive the steam engines and the tracks for our tourism we cant loose that rich history of our country.

@Tom-Lahaye Ай бұрын

Excellent video on my favourite subject. Sadly much has gone even in tourist operations, I had the chance to ride the ACR as far as Paddock and it was one of the most beautiful trips one could make. GEA operation at Montagu was also impressive, I have seen 4023 out of service at Coronation Colliery shortly before it went for restoration. I just missed one class which also has ran in preservation, the GB class. And for someone also knowing his diesels the pack of EMD class 35s with GE sound was really odd, a small mistake in sound editing.

@Mason58654 Ай бұрын

Please upload the World Steam Classics programmes on New Zealand 🇳🇿 and Austria 🇦🇹 steam next!

@frankliebenberg1609 Ай бұрын

Travelled the Pietermaritzburg -Franklin route 8 times a year from 1955 till 1965. What good memories. There is a vast tourism potential in that line, something a more capable Government could exploit. Alas.....

@transistor754 Ай бұрын

Fantastic, thank you so much! Please could you give a date when it was filmed, for example the Umgeni Garratt? I mean are they still there now in November 2024?!?

@NicholasLera-kd5tj Ай бұрын

Umgeni and Paton's were videotaped in 2006, while the Garratt on the Montagu Pass and the coastal narrow gauge Garratts at Port Shepstone were done the previous year. I'm not up to date on the scene nearly 20 years later but I'm told that opportunities to film, photograph or ride live steam in South Africa are now greatly reduced. Umgeni and Paton's locos are reported as still in place, but their current status is uncertain. Port Shepstone closed in 2006.

@transistor754 Ай бұрын

@@NicholasLera-kd5tj Thanks for that... so we were lucky to have done those sorts of rides back then! Lovely sounds on your videos, thanks for posting!

@NicholasLera-kd5tj Ай бұрын

@@transistor754 I'm glad you like the audio. You'll be interested to know that more S.African material from the early 2000s halcyon days of heritage steam are in the pipeline. They take time to produce, and other topics are also in demand, so I have to ask for your patience!

@ЛЬВИНИ Ай бұрын

Nice video, likes from me

@Sugarmountaincondo Ай бұрын

@10:50 you say the turntable is just big enough to fit a 2-ft. Garratt, but they are Meter Guage 3'6" right? That #2 is a fast starter!! Question: Were any of the freight cars hauling revenue products during the filming of this? I know the tank cars were for hauling the extra water needed and maybe coal in the gondolas, but what about the box cars.? Or were the freight cars added in order to make it look like a mixed train for the photographers? No matter what part of the world it is, I am glad that we have so many dedicated people that preserve and run the steam heritage loco's and vintage passenger cars.

@nstars100 Ай бұрын

Not all railways in South Africa were 3'6" gauge. A couple of them were only 2ft and some of the 2ft Garretts even wound up at the Welsh Highland Railway in Wales.

@Sugarmountaincondo Ай бұрын

@@nstars100 But my point was that the railway in question was a meter gauge railroad and the narrator said they were building a 2-ft. turntable! So, what did I miss? I watched it twice and didn't misconstrue the comments

@nstars100 Ай бұрын

As mentioned at 4:55 it’s a 2ft railway, not 3’ 6”.

@danstephens9500 Ай бұрын

@@nstars100 I rode on one of those several years back. Delightful.

@railwayjade Ай бұрын

Believe it or not, the boxcar is actually a grain wagon. They tip it forwards/backwards to unload it. Some of these were specially chartered trains, so they just hired some freight wagons from the railways with the passenger coaches. My friend and I organise charters like this for photographers. We are able to use Steamnet 2000 in Northern Cape, Ceres Rail Company and New Cape Central Railway in the Western Cape and Wonder Steam Trains in Gauteng. There is also Sandstone Estates in the Freestate with 2' gauge equipment.

@AndriesduPlessis Ай бұрын

Is this recent? Does the Ixopo run still take place?

@isverque74 Ай бұрын

Estação ferroviária do Recife/pe/br tem uma locomotiva GARRATT.

@Tauraco00 Ай бұрын

🍏 Express🎉🎉🎉❤❤

@srfurley Ай бұрын

Why two vacuum hoses connected two the same pipe? I’ve seen the same thing on the South African locomotive, a 25NC I think, at Quainton Road.

@chrissmith2114 Ай бұрын

Problem with Garratts is that as the water and coal was used up and the weight on driving wheels reduced they lost some traction...

@LegacyIvyTerascale Ай бұрын

never seen a white choo choo before

@harvinderubhi5540 19 күн бұрын

Where are the present day visionaries pushing affordable innovation in transport ??

@AustNRail Ай бұрын

Has anyone else noticed the decline of railways, infrastructure and manufacturing around the world in white settled countries after the Lima Peru Accord in 1972? Australia, South Africa, UK, Canada and Europe suffering from this treaty.