South African Railways - 16E 857 15F 3040 26 3450 25NC 3454 Bloemfontein Area 26 June 1999

[@foreversteam]

Fantastic Trev, as always your footage is brilliant and I think I speak for everyone in saying that we appreciate you sharing this wonderful history with us!

[@steamfreak]

Cheers Bryn

[@thejdmguru621]

Must of been amazing to see a 16E in action, I don’t think any are currently in working condition anymore.

[@steamfreak]

They are certainly a great loco! No, none currently in service.

[@bryanwest7223]

If it was not for guys like you, (To quote) All this would be lost. Thank you for sharing it with us

[@steamfreak]

Thank you! It was a pleasure to record these scenes.

[@irelandbloke]

Superb videos !

[@steamfreak]

Thank you!

[@irelandbloke]

@@steamfreak You're welcome !

[@stephensmith799]

Great exhaust sounds!

[@steamfreak]

Amazing loco

[@stephensmith799]

I was in contact with a fireman (stoker) who fired Garratts all the way to Zimbabwe and praised their performance to the sky. They worked out cheaper than diesel and were complete masters of the task. SAR steam was really something....to my eye a happy synthesis of German, British and American engineering practice. @@steamfreak

[@stephensmith799]

There was a great model of that Pacific at the Model Engineering Show in London (Wembley) ...maybe thirty years ago and I was lucky to talk with the friendly builder who had shipped it all the way from South Africa. It had a really nice black stove enamel finish which he'd got by fixing a massive extension to his kitchen cooker. This had made him 'unpopular at home'. Fantastic model it was... I think in 5inch gauge.

[@steamfreak]

Wow - that would be an amazing model to see.

[@steamfreak]

:-) It's always a pleasure. Better to share than to lock it in the cupboard. I had most of it on a hard drive, but for some reason it failed. I have now recovered the drive so I'm back in action!

[@26hannes47]

Great footage Trevor, thanks for sharing it hannes

[@steamfreak]

Thanks Hannes

[@cr10001]

Fascinating to hear the exhausts going in and out of 'sync' in the first couple of shots (because of the differing wheel diameters). 6 foot drivers are certainly very big for the 3'6" gauge.

[@steamfreak]

Yes they were indeed! A nice double header though!

[@reynocolyn3949]

Altyd mooi het dit glad nie beleef nie maar trots op al die manne van daardie tyd wens ons kan vandag daardie trots in ons hê.

[@steamfreak]

Baie dankie!

[@steamfreak]

There are only a small number of private clubs who operate steam there these days, and the core route main lines are off limits to steam now. Up until around 2003 or 2004 the Transnet Heritage Foundation (the railways' heritage arm) maintained a fleet of steam locos in various depots around South Africa to support its own rail safari trains (The Union Limited) as well as private charters such as this one. Reefsteamers operate a small number of longer tours each year, as do other clubs.

[@henryzimmerman6457]

So sad it's gone

[@steamfreak]

Yes, the SAR was a world class railway. How far it has fallen...

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Very good.

[@steamfreak]

Thanks!

[@vrfan]

Great video as always Trevor. When did steam tours like this wind up in South Africa? As I understand it, there's only a limited number of trips per year now over a small number of routes?

[@steamfreak]

It has all slowly petered out, there is still some steam in the Cape, Creighton, Durban, and a group trying to get going in Pretoria. The Cape guys Ceres Rail have run some multi-day enthusiast trips and are planning more but nothing like the locos and routes of days past...

[@TheBoysTopSecretisOrganization]

Since there's a propeller in the smokebox door.

[@steamfreak]

That's why the 16Es were so fast...

[@hanifloka130]

That chuffing sound.... I love it. Btw what happened to the Blue Train?? Any more recent vids about it??

[@steamfreak]

Yep sounds good. I think the Blue Train it not operating at present due to the incompetents in charge wrecking it...

[@locowerke]

Great video, thanks for sharing it!

[@steamfreak]

Thank you!

[@royireland1127]

I believe I shovelled coal into this engine back in 1968, in Bloemfontein, when I worked at the steamyard in Bloemfontein during college vacations.

[@steamfreak]

That must have been quite something back in those days! So much steam!

[@royireland1127]

@@steamfreak It was a blast, but it was also 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, during winter months! Alternated between freezing and boiling hot. I only did it for about two monthe each year (mid winter), but several guys worked non stop for years, intending to retire early and buy farms. We filled the locomotives with water and coal, and stoked the fires in prep for the daily routine. Of course, we had an engine driver who did all the important stuff, like blasting the pipes to remove scale and shaking the grates to remove clinker. We also had to ensure that the cylinders did not fill with condensate while the engines idled through the night - the fires were never shut down, and we had a special way of laying the coal so that it burned evenly with minimal input, then on to the next. We only had a triangle to rotate the engines, so I got to throw switches too, during those manuverings. Hard, tireing work, but no time to worry about anything else, so it was great, especially after building a team that worked well together. We mostly worked 19D's and a few 16E's, though I never thought to record engine numbers. A final thought, we were not allowed to make black smoke because of the location being very near to town and large industrial areas. The driver had to be on his toes!

[@psycotria]

Nice looking locomotives. How's the current railway situation in South Africa?

[@steamfreak]

Railways in South Africa are a shambles unfortunately.

[@ilikeguitars3511]

2:57 did they put a propeller on the front lol

[@steamfreak]

Yep! I think it helps clear the smoke from the driver's view...

[@TheBoysTopSecretisOrganization]

16e goes helicopter helicopter

[@steamfreak]

🤣

[@struck2soon]

Sad to think they let all this just slip away...

[@steamfreak]

Very sad... 😢

[@royireland1127]

Mostly worked on 19D's but every now and then a 16E waited for us to recoal and rewater in preparation for mainline work.

[@steamfreak]

All amazing locos!

[@koegelenbergandriesng.153]

Stoom treine bly romanties soos opsit by kers lig.

[@steamfreak]

Yeah - different times. More relaxing times.

[@stephensmith799]

I pity those who don’t feel the magic of the steam locomotive. It is impossible to convey it to those who do not have the instinct

[@steamfreak]

Er it isn't... Whites only make up about 20% of the population and only about 40% of these people have English as their first language.

[@jonathancollins6539]

why is south Africa mostly British descendant white

[@zenzaleni]

what colour should they be? yellow green blue pink or you guessed it black..

[@njabulomzulwini2436]

It actually dominantly dutch descendants

[@sydneymartin6941]

@@njabulomzulwini2436 Hi There were Dutch German and afterwards British so we are a mixed nation

[@steamfreak]

It's not.

[@jilanipathan7577]

Pm Ybex

[@steamfreak]

Ym pbex