South African Railways
 

Hi to all,
When I was a kid we used to take the overnight train from Durban to Johannesburg and return for the July holidays. It was a fantastic experience, cheaper than air travel and very comfortable. The journey typically started out at 5 to 6pm, dinner from 7pm, breakfast from 5 or 6 am (full hotel-style 3 course meals), arrival by 10am. Very memorable experiences, unfortunately train travel is no longer the same in S.A., except for a few very expensive rail enthusiast societies.
Best regards
Ralph

Welcome to the Forum 27vet. Look forward to more stories of South African Railways.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Welcome to the Forum 27vet

Thanks guys, when I next go there I will post some photos.

Hello 27vet and welcome to the Railway Forum. I'm an ex-Rhodesia Railways Footplate man. I have done the Ndola (Zambia) to Cape Town route, the Jo burg to P.E. and the Cape Town to P.E. over the Garden Route all as a passenger. Must say I have never had a bad trip and remember the wake up call with the gongs and Tea or Coffee. I can still remember the taste of that coffee 50 years later.
I was lucky enough to spend a hour on working on the Saiccor Class 19D in September last year as it shunted the yard at Umkomaas.

Those were the days! We used to do the North and South coast from Durban on the weekends in the late 60s. Some of the lines were single tracks only and they had a tablet system. The assistant would hang out the window and exchange tablets passing each station. At home, I bent some wire coat hangars and pretended to do the same with my brother running around the garden.:D

The Orange Express
 

Hi Ralph,

<<When I was a kid we used to take the overnight train from Durban to Johannesburg and return for the July holidays...Very memorable experiences, unfortunately train travel is no longer the same in S.A., except for a few very expensive rail enthusiast societies.>>

I have just joined the group ( you will probably recognise my user name), I was in Cape Town in 1990 and needed to get to Durban to run Comrades the next week.

Having time we took the train ... the Orange Express (forget the fulln ame). Leaving late afternoon from Cape Town, we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant car (including a bottle of Cape wine) and retired to our cabin. Next day, we had a two hour break in Kimberley and were able to walk the dusty streets then continued.

If I remember right we were steam hauled for the following section - seeing many steam engines at work before heading down towards Durban.

A second evening in the restaurant car - the menu was already wearing thin, it was not the Blue Train and back to our cabin.

After 27 hours we arrived in Durban - a bit tired by now but would not have missed it for anything!

Ted

Hi Ted
How did the 'Comrades' go. My sisters eldest daughter also ran the 'Comrades'. She completed the run but her shoes were full of blood at the finish. She refused to stop as she had set herself a goal and was determined to complete the run. For the other members of the forum, The 'Comrades' is a run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, approx. 733 Kilometer's.

Just a bit of topic but it's interesting - I did the 93km for the sixth time that year - lots of hills will glorious views of the Natal countryside around you.
Over the year's it got easier - less cramps after and quicker recovery. If you want to read more, follow this link :

http://www.southafrica.info/news/spo...des-271109.htm

There is a steam engine in the picture - probably one of the 4-8-2s which were still in common service but disappearing in 1990.

Ted