Tag Archives: train

Rolling Stock

Down on the South Coast the trains no longer run. Transnet Spoorweg and Railways Pty Very Limited managed to neglect the tracks, bridges and overhead cables to the point where they got varktap beyond all repair – fully FUBAR. This put a million trucks on the highways and started wrecking the roads and bridges nicely. One pleasant little side-effect if you live near the tracks is peace n quiet.

Rail Track overgrown
Road Bridge varktap

Now up here on the North Coast there are also a million trucks on the road but the railroad track that runs – close by but unseen – in the forest in front of our wooden cottage on stilts does still run about twice a day.

And I’m no trainspotter*, but it is my uninformed opinion that neglect of the track and the rolling stock is happening right in front of our ears. Cos the trains make an almighty racket going past. Like Rolling Thunder! And it’s not the diesel locomotives making the din. It’s metallic Track n Truck noise IMO. Like Naas’ Truck n Trailer. You have to listen carefully to even hear that there’s a diesel belching smoke to provide the locomotion. The locomotion. C’mon baby, DO the locomotion with me.

So I’m just giving advance warning that before long there may be peace and quiet here too.

~~oo0oo~~

Top pic taken from our deck shows the track about 50m straight ahead. Somewhere there.

Locomotives like this one pass by invisibly:

~~oo0oo~~

  • * ain’t no doubt about that. Seven weeks later the trains seem much quieter and less cacophonous, less metal banging. Can it be they’ve done something?  Over xmas/new year!? More likely I was just not used to having rolling stock thunder past so closeby.
the line passes our cottage about on that horizon

varktap – colourful way of saying ‘damaged;’ or, ‘not in a good way;’ see FUBAR

Luke Flew out the Train Window

There were two birthdays on the steam train and the pictures are from Tom’s. He turned four. 2005. Aitch arranged a magic day after much preparation, cake-construction and Mom-liaison. Here she orchestrates:

Inchanga Steam Train - Tom 4th Birthday-003.jpg

I was on the train and we had a lovely day. Later Luke, Tom’s big china, turned four and had the same birthday. On Luke’s birthday I was a designated driver, taking a car to the end-point to take stuff and ferry passengers.

So I wasn’t on the train on Luke’s birthday trip when he flew out of the window.

But first: These pictures are of Tom’s birthday:

DSCN0149

That cake:

Tom 4th bday Inchanga Steam Train collage 1Tom 4th bday Inchanga Steam Train collage 2Inchanga Steam Train tracks

Here’s our Luke-fella with Mom Terry. Both on the train and at the stop for Tom’s party (you can see TomTom’s cake). On his way up he was without make-up, and on his way back he was all face-painted:

Luke flew out of the window! Inchamga Steam Train collage
Luke flew out of the window! Inchanga Steam Train

On his big day the same train journey was arranged; Up, then a party in Inchanga and then down: the return journey. Afterwards, I got back to Hillcrest; To Stokers where the journey starts and ends; When the train puffed in I heard a strange tale: Tom huffed and puffed, “Dad, Dad! Luke flew out the window!” The adults said Luke had fallen out of the train and been taken to hospital. I was aghast! What!?

Later the tale unfolded. Luke had fallen out while the train was choofing along. His Dad Steve had leapt up and wanted to jump out after him, but the train was going too fast so he hared through the carriages, rushing through the gaps till he got to the front and could attract the attention of the driver who stopped the train. Steve ran back and found Luke with some railroad trackside dwellers, who had found Lukie-boy –  maybe even seen him fall.

The hospital checked our Lukie-boy over bone-by-bone and organ-by-organ and pronounced him all intact. Massive sighs of relief!

Amazingly, Luke later also said he’d “flown out the window” so who knows what actually happened? Weird!

Phelophepa! – Good Health!

A combination Sesotho / Setswana word, ‘phelophepa’ means ‘good clean health.’

I had volunteered on the train before, in Bergville; Now Trish and I joined it in Underberg. At the time it was a pet project of Jannie Ferreira, optometry professor at RAU (now the University of Johannesburg). So it was full of RAU students. We had a kombi and on the way up from Durban to act as volunteer supervisor, we repaired to the bottle store and bought champagne, thinking we’d load everyone up and drive off to where we could watch the sun set behind the Drakensberg and its foothills and quaff champers.

Well, we did the quaffing, but well after sunset, as we couldn’t stop till we’d seen the last patient. No way we were going to say, ‘Sorry, come back tomorrow’ to poor people who had come from afar.

Phelopepha (1)
Phelophepa Train Eye Clinic coach
Phelopepha (2)
Phelophepa train eye clinic

After that we went to a farmhouse (the local vet, I believe) where we were treated to a lovely braai.

~~oo0oo~~

There are now two Phelophepa trains and the services it provides have increased. Long may it thrive and arrive at remote stations to provide needs and care and happiness – both to the people waiting at the sidings and to the students onboard.

~~oo0oo~~