LEADING South African preservation centre Sandstone Heritage Trust added two newly overhauled 2ft-gauge locos to its fleet in early 2017.
1919-built Class NGG11 Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2 locomotive number 52 (Beyer Peacock, Manchester 5976/1919) and the more modern 1973 GE-built ex-Transnet Class 91 diesel electric locomotive 91-010 both undertook commissioning tests on the Sandstone system on March 22.
The Garratt is believed to be the second oldest in existence anywhere in the world and was overhauled by Sandstone’s team in Bloemfontein after being bought in 2010.
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Its last operational use was in industrial service at Rustenburg Platinum Mines after being sold by South African Railways in the 1960s; it had not been used in steam since 1972 before this year.
Read more in the May issue of The RM – on sale now!
