[DSY011]

Thanks for the update Steve. In my day on the Rhodesian Railways, you would be hard pressed to chase a train. Not because it was too fast, but because most of the tracks were well away from the roads. Take the Dett Straight, it is over 70 miles of straight track, but only a few cart track crossing it. With single line working, you could see a train entering the straight 70 miles away at night due to the headlight. They could also see us. For about 35 miles we would both run towards each other. If we were on a passenger train and they were a goods, then we would approach them much faster as we would be at passenger speed. We seemed to get closer and closer all the time and as a young fireman, I would get very worried that we would run into each other. (although we also knew that there could not be two trains on the same section at the same time). Then we would get a amber turnout sig. or we would see the approaching train take a turnout. All of this track was in a game reserve which was once named as the Wankie Game Reserve, now renamed The Hungwe Game Reserve, which is the African name for the area.