THE ULOLIWE
The Railways of Southern Africa: Past & Present SpoorweĂŤ van SuidelikeSuidelike-Afrika: Toeka tot Nou A monthly railway historical and research publication ‘n Maandelikse spoorweg historiese en navorsing publikasie Vol 4 No 5 UnUn-official / Nie Amptelik - Gratis Everything to do with the former SA Railways: i.e. lighthouses, harbours, staff, photos, books, RMT, stations, tugs, SAR Police, SAA, catering, pipelines, stamps, models, rolling stock, armoured trains etc Hennie Heymans, Pretoria, ZA heymanshb@gmail.com May 2013 2013
Photo: Nathan Berolowitz
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Welkom Welkom by hierdie besondere uitgawe van ons blad wat fokus op ons spoorweggeskiedenis en ander interessante aangeleenthede. Ons belig ook die huidige spoorwegopset. Weens tegnologiese ontwikkeling gebruik ons Engelse opskrifte omdat dat dit makliker bv op GOOGLE gevind kan word. Die gebruik van Engels stel ook ons vriende in die buiteland in staat om meer van ons spoorweĂŤ te wete te kom.
Welcome Welcome to our May-issue of the Uloliwe, our magazine that focuses on our Southern African transport (railways & harbours) history. We are apolitical and look back objectively and truthfully on our railway and transport history. We also try to focus on our railwaymen; here and abroad. We also place articles that we think, you the reader might find interesting.
Patron Les Pivnic
Editors Editor & compiler HB Heymans MA: Strategic Studies. (Ret: Brig SAP & SSSC) Assistant-editor: Johan Jacobs (Former CPO, SA Navy Instructor and SA Marine.)
Hennie Heymans (HBH)
Johan Jacobs
Bruce Jones Technical
Col L Els, SC Legal
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Front Cover Front cover by Nathan Berelowitz from Friends of the Rail-fame.
Policy The Uloliwe is a laymen’s electronic magazine and we try to foster an interest in our past transport history. Today we have so much in the line of technical assistance that it has become easy to record the past. Let’s do it now; we even do digital recordings to record our oral history. We are not publishing a literary magazine, but rather a factual railway and transport magazine therefore we publish the stories with the minimum of editing. We are not going to change the “language” or parlance of a story teller! We will only rectify the spelling mistakes. Even the way we spoke, is also a matter for those interested in philology and subcultures. All things of transport are of impotence to us. We like to think that we act as a reservoir to preserve some our history. People and events create history – therefore people of all ranks and stations in life and their biographical data is of great importance to us. We also like to record and preserve interesting items of mutual interest. The protection of our fauna and flora was taken for granted; today our natural heritage is being plundered; even in museums.
Editorial I have taken the liberty to use my editorial for the eNONGQAI in this edition of Uloliwe as well. The SA Railways was world class! See my note on the SA Railways Police. They also had an APC developed by the SAR Workshops. What I think about the former SADF & SAP is also mutatis mutandis applicable on the SAR. As die redakteur van die eNONGQAI wil ek verklaar dat dit ons doel is om ons nasionale veiligheidsgeskiedenis na te speur en vir ons nageslag te bewaar. Die tydskrif trek in sy vierde jaar. Ons plaas gewoonlik stories onveranderd (hoogstens maak ons net die spelfoute
As the editor of the eNONGQAI I have stated that our goal is to research and publish our national security history. As factually and unbiased as possible. The magazine is now in its fourth year. We usually publish stories unchanged (only the spelling errors are corrected) because 3
reg) omdat ons "ARMY- en POLISIE- our "ARMY and POLICE-parlance" is taal" ook deel van ons geskiedenis was. also part of our history. Mense en gebeure is belangrik. Hoofsaaklik stel ons belang in ons magte se personeel, ons spioene en gebeure / insidente/ operasies wat van veiligheidsbelang was. Ons hanteer die geskiedenis van die gewese SAP / SAW / SSVR en ook ons nasionale veiligheidsgeskiedenis.
People and security / historical events are important. We are mainly interested in the personnel of our forces, our intelligence operatives and events / incidents / operations of security interest. We deal with the history of the former SAP / SAW / SSSC and our national security history.
Daar is so baie mense - joernaliste en akademici - wat 'n verwronge beeld van ons veiligheidsgeskiedenis weergee. Ek moet bieg; ek kom mense tee wat totaal onkundig oor ons geskiedenis is en dan idiotiese uitsprake maak. Dit is hoofsaaklik te wydte aan onkunde, vooroordeel of ‘n gebrek aan kennis en insig.
There are so many people, including journalists and academics that have a distorted image of our national security history. I must confess; some people are totally ignorant of our history and make idiotic statements. This is mainly due to ignorance, prejudice or a lack of knowledge and/or understanding. The more and bigger the lies about us, the easier they are believed by the gullible Ons taak is om die feite weer te gee. Feite public or those with a nefarious is en bly belangrik. Die toets is: Is dit objective. waar, is dit regverdig, is dit billik teenoor die ander deelnemers. Hoe vertolk ons Our primary task is to give the facts. dit en waar pas dit in, in die groot Facts remain important. The test is: Is it prentjie? true, is it fair, and is it fair to the other participants? How we interpret the facts Ook moet ons onthou dat daar ander and where these facts into the big rolspelers was: die inligtingsmanne, die picture? operasionelemense, die polisie, die lugmag, die vloot en die leer; almal is as Also we must remember that there were ‘n span gesamentlik betrokke. So; other role players: the information men, heldedade moet soms ook teen die groter operational people, the ordinary police, agtergrond van spanwerk gesien word. the air force, the navy and the army; Persepsies is ook belangrik; wat het ons everyone acted collectively as part of the vyand van ons gedink? team. So, heroics must sometimes be seen and judged against the wider Ons doel is juis om vir ons nageslag te background of teamwork. wys wat ons gedoen het. En o ja! Ek 4
moet dit ook sê: "In my oë was almal wat geveg het ysters!” Ons in die ou RSA het goeie opleiding gekry – van wêreldgehalte. Ons polisiemanne is in die 1960’s deur die SAW voorberei en opgelei vir die “bosoorlog” bv in Durban en in Oudtshoorn. Ander polisiemanne is weer deur die Rhodesiërs opgelei.
Perceptions are also important; what did the enemy think of us? We need to collect these perceptions to complete our history.
Ons het uiters goeie toerusting en goeie uitrusting gehad. Dink maar aan ons wapentuig. Selfs die SAP het sy eie gewapende personeeldraer ontwikkel in samewerking met die WNNR. (SAP + CSIR = CASSPIR! Die naam Casspir het niks met spookvoertuie te doen nie. Van ons eerste voertuie in Rhodesië was wel“spookvoertuie” genoem.)
In the old RSA we received training of the highest calibre. During the 1960’s we policemen were prepared and trained for the "bush war" by the SADF e.g. in Durban and in Oudtshoorn. Other policemen were trained by the Rhodesians.
Ons inligting was goed. Ons het inligting van drie bronne gekry: Overte bronne, koverte bronne en tegniese bronne. Mense en voorvalle laat “spore” na wat deur kundiges ontsyfer en gelees kan word. Gevange terroriste het ook inligting gegee asook ons spioene. Vliegtuie het sekere lugfoto’s geneem. Inligting is soms duur en soms spot goedkoop! ‘n Voorbeeld van lospraatjies is kroegstories – daar is altyd iemand wat luister wanneer ander fluister! Ons het goeie baie goeie mediesedienste ervaar. Die gewone troep (selfs as wag by 'n NSP) en die gewone konstabel het ook sy taak vervul. Sonder hulle sou daar chaos gewees het.
Our goal is not only to show our descendants what we did; we would like to amaze, to amuse you and to pay recognition where it’s due.
We had very good equipment. Think of our weapons. Even SAP has its own armed personnel carrier; developed in collaboration with the CSIR. (SAP + CSIR = Casspir! The name Casspir has nothing to do with ghost or “spook vehicles”. Our first “mine protected vehicles” in Rhodesia literally called “spook vehicles”.) Our information (or intelligence) was good. We received information from three sources: Overt sources, covert sources and technical resources. People and incidents leave "tracks" which can be picked up “read” and deciphered by experts. Captured terrorists have given information as well information from our intelligence people, infiltrators and informants. In some cases our SAAF took some aerial photos to substantiate information received. Information is sometimes expensive and sometimes dirt 5
En ja, ons het spesialiste gehad ... vir elke bedreiging het ons 'n spesiale mag gehad. Nog onbesonge helde is die manne van Koevoet en Spesiale Operasies, met inbegrip van daardie “ander manne” van wie ons nie sal praat nie! Hulle het ook hul kant gebring.
cheap! An example is loose talk in bars there is always someone who listens when others whisper! We services.
experienced excellent medical
The troopie (even as a guard at a National Wat ek vir ons kritici wil sê, is: "Kyk na Key Point) and the ordinary die telkaart." Die SAW en die SAP het sy constable fulfilled their task. Without kant gebring! Ons het ons taak getrou tot them there would have been chaos. die dood vervul. Laastens: Die aspoestertjie van die VMe And yes, we had specialists ... for every in die ou RSA. Ek wil graag ‘n lansie vir threat we have a special task force. Other hulle breek: unsung heroes are the men of Koevoet and those of the Recce’s who performed Die ou Spoorwegpolisie was puik! Ons Covert Special Operations, including vergeet so maklik daardie ouens se goeie those "other guys" of whom we will not werk. Hulle het die landwaartse talk! They also did their bit. verdediging van ons hawens hanteer saam met die SAV wat die seewaartse What I want to say to our critics: "Look at verdediging gedoen het ------- en onthou our SADF & SAP scorecard." We fulfilled hulle het ons hawens, treine; vliegtuie en our task; faithful unto death. pyplyne veilig gehou. Hulle het ons hawens verdedig in die sin dat ons vrylik Finally: The Cinderella of the security kon handel dryf. Hier het hulle forces in the old South Africa, our uitstekend met die mariniers en die SA brothers in the old Railway Police: Vloot saamgewerk. Ons SAL-vliegtuie het gevlieg (en behalwe vir die kaping The old Railway Police was excellent! We van die SAL Boeing in Malawi) het ons forget so easily that they did good work. geen kapings ervaar nie. They handled the landward defence of our ports with the SAN and Marines Ek was gewone konstabel op die grond - who was responsible for our seaward later was ek bevoorreg om die Magte se defence ------- remember our ports, werk van "bo af" op strategiese en trains; aircraft and pipelines were kept taktiese vlak te beskou. En ek het ek diep safe. They defend our ports making free onder die besef gekom wat ons manne en trade possible. They performed excellent vroue hier; en in die buiteland vermag work in conjunction with the Marines het. and the SA Navy. Our SAA aircraft flew (and except for the hijacking of the SAA Die beste wat Moskou, Hanoi, Havana of Boeing in Malawi) unhindered and we 6
Beijing in die veld kon stoot; het ons suffered no hijackings. getroef! Ons het ook ons mense in die Kremlin gehad. I was ordinary constable on the ground and later I was privileged to view the Ons salueer u almal wat hul kant in performance of our Forces right from the hierdie stryd onvoorwaardelik gebring "top" - both from a strategic and tactical het – soms onder protes. Ek salueer u level. We deeply appreciate and realize almal maar ons moet ons gevalle what our men and women here; and kamerade – wat die hoogste offer abroad have accomplished. gebring het - altyd onthou! The best Moscow, Hanoi, Havana or Onthou: Al dink u so, NIEMAND het ter Beijing could push on to the battlefield vergeefs gesterf nie. we could beat! We also had our people in the Kremlin. Saluut We salute all those who fought or took part in this struggle - sometimes under duress. We will always remember our fallen comrades who paid the supreme sacrifice and we will look at our elderly brothers in need! Remember: No one has died in vain!
Salute
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Table of Contents Editorial .................................................................................................................................... 3 Front Cover ............................................................................................................................ 11 Wepener’s Perambulations .................................................................................................. 11 •
Welkom: Railway History ........................................................................................ 11
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2013-03-14 .................................................................................................................... 12
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Railway History: Some Steam Locomotives, Welkom, Free State c2000 ........... 18
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Harmony Mine: Livery.............................................................................................. 22
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20 April 2013 ............................................................................................................... 28
The 1947 Royal Visit: The White Train of the South African Railways......................... 32 •
Introduction HBH ...................................................................................................... 32
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Horses, the enemies of my youth – PC Swanepoel ............................................... 35
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Photos .......................................................................................................................... 46
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Railways Police ........................................................................................................... 49
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Royal Security: Rhodesian Police: Sgt Cliff Podmore ........................................... 50
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Royal Security ............................................................................................................. 50
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End of the Tour........................................................................................................... 51
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Letter from White Train ............................................................................................ 52
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King’s Message to the SAP ....................................................................................... 52
Nederlandsch Zuid-Afrikaanse Spoorweg Maatschappy (NZASM) ............................ 53 •
G.A.A. Middelberg (1846 – 1916): biography - Leo Middelberg ......................... 53
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Middelberg’s Coach (SAR No 18) (HBH) ............................................................... 55
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Kruger’s Coach Mk 1 (SAR No 17) (HBH) ............................................................. 56
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Anglo Boer War 4th Class on NAZM (HBH) .......................................................... 57
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Anglo Boer War 5th Class on NAZM (HBH) .......................................................... 57
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NZASM: Kruger Medallion (HBH) ......................................................................... 57
Anglo-Boer War: Railway History ..................................................................................... 58 •
Mafeking...................................................................................................................... 58
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HMS Forte in Natal .................................................................................................... 58 8
The Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe: Andrew Stevens .................................................................... 59 •
The Choo-Tjoe ............................................................................................................ 59
Adrian Hill ............................................................................................................................. 61 •
Premier Classe ............................................................................................................ 61
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15F ................................................................................................................................ 63
Paul du Preez: SAR Greytown ............................................................................................ 64 Dutch Railway Museum: Utrecht ....................................................................................... 64 Albert Nel: Welbedag ........................................................................................................... 65 Filler ........................................................................................................................................ 66 RRL Grinrod: Chris Van Wyk ............................................................................................. 66 •
In the Congo................................................................................................................ 73
Chris Van Wyk: Pretoria to Durban Harbour ................................................................... 74 From the lens of Andre Kritzinger ..................................................................................... 80 •
Worcester: English as she is spoken in South Africa ............................................ 80
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Queenstown ................................................................................................................ 81
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Salt Trucks for Botswana .......................................................................................... 82
Jaco Holtzhausen: New Trucks for Botswana - ................................................................ 82 •
Kaalfontein Car siding .............................................................................................. 83
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37-094 at Sasolburg: ................................................................................................... 84
43-014 - Wickus Heymans.................................................................................................... 85 Gary Meyer ............................................................................................................................ 85 Jacobus Prinsloo: Exxaro Locomotives: Pretoria .............................................................. 89 Smittie van Zyl ...................................................................................................................... 91 Jacobus Marais ....................................................................................................................... 92 •
Lidgetton ..................................................................................................................... 92
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Historic Hilton Station .............................................................................................. 93
Robert Maidment Wilson..................................................................................................... 94 CFB: Luau – Anton van Schalkwyk.................................................................................... 95 9
South African Airways ......................................................................................................... 97 •
Statue at Jan Smuts, Johannesburg Airport now O Tambo Airport ................... 97
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SAA – Johannes Botha ............................................................................................... 97
Gautrain .................................................................................................................................. 97 •
Gautrain News: Compiled by Jeanette Jacobs ....................................................... 97
Railways and the Media..................................................................................................... 100 •
Sies, Transnet! ........................................................................................................... 100
Books and Rail Magazines ................................................................................................. 102 •
Natal: An Illustrated Official Railway Guide and handbook of General
Information; published by Natal Government Railways during 1903. .................. 102 •
On Rails under Paris: Francois Gunter (France) .................................................. 106
Natal Newsletter: Railway Society of Southern Africa – Ashley Peter ....................... 108 RMIG – Lionel Penning ...................................................................................................... 109 Railway History Group – Wally Greig ............................................................................ 109 Around the Globe ............................................................................................................... 110 NZ steam: Wynand van Brakel (Fromerly Durban) .................................................. 110 Letters ................................................................................................................................... 111 •
Les Smith ................................................................................................................... 111
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Ian Roberts ................................................................................................................ 111
Pandora’s Box ...................................................................................................................... 112 •
Grand Central: New York ....................................................................................... 112
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WW2: Rail Gun ......................................................................................................... 113
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Pakistan ..................................................................................................................... 113
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Beckenridge, Colorado ............................................................................................ 114
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Tobruk Station .......................................................................................................... 115
Disclaimer and Greetings .................................................................................................. 115
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Front Cover A lovely photo by Nathan Berelowitz.
Wepener’s Perambulations • Welkom: Railway History The tank locomotive (pictured below) Die tenklokomotief het by Free Gold se stood at the offices of Free Gold in kantore gestaan in Lindsay-weg, dink sy Lindsay Rd; I think she left for is Sandstone toe. Sandstone. Die ander twee lokos het by die goud The following two locomotives stood at raffinadery gestaan voor hulle ook the Gold Plant before they left to SANRASM toe is, ek dink dit was so SANRASM, I think it happened during middel 90's... J & J. the middle 1990’s … J&J Free Gold Tank Loco
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2013-03-14
Hi Guys. The Northbound signals were green at Theunissen. Brandfort told us a train was on its way to Theunissen, we missed this one, only seeing it from the road near Theunissen. At Hamilton 2x orange 36 class diesels were shunting the remaining industrial 12
sidings. Again, no photos as the train was deep in the private siding, only seen from afar. Has anyone got a few photos of Bloemfontein in its heyday with steam shunting the sidings? The rows of scrapped diesels at the workshops in Bloem is alarming... Nothing new at the coaching yard or old steam loco.
The old sign is at Glen.
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Now we need some help, near De Bloem station we found this abandoned line in the veldt, seems like it went to Olive hill quarry?? The line, amazingly, is still intact but overgrown and disappears into the long grass.
The two light locos are waiting at Theunissen for the per-way to finish with track work before proceeding to Bloemfontein. To the left of the units the Winburg branch can be seen, sections have been uplifted.
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Then some shots of the old alignment between Smaldeel Junction and Theron.
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Lastly, Harmony Surface Rail, heading back to the loco shed, dust is blowing off the slimes dams. Cheers. J & J.
• Railway History: Some Steam Locomotives, Welkom, Free State c2000 Die is geneem, laat 1990's vroeë 2000's, die lewendige stoom. Vandag is daar niks oor nie en dis te gevaarlik om daar te kom. Nommer 2 is ook SANRASM toe... J & J. •
Photos taken c2000 during late 1990’s early 2000’s – Today to dangerous too and take pictures J & J
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• Harmony Mine: Livery Hi
Hi Hennie.
Here are the various liveries used on the Hier is die verskillende kleur skemas wat Harmony mine, the orange/red colour Harmony gebruik, die oranje/rooi scheme is the latest. is die nuutste. According to John Middleton they are Volgens John Middleton is hulle "klas" class “UM10B – Universal Modified 1000 UM10B - Universal Modified 1000 Horse hp Bo-Bo Power Bo-Bo. J&J
J & J.
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• 20 April 2013 Hi Guys. Not much this week. 34 039 was shunting the ballast siding at Virginia, the sleepers are now also being removed on the uplifted Glen Harmony line. RRL's 31 class was spotted crossing State Way with a load of ore for the gold plant, again the 31 class heading through Friedesheim en-route to Odendaalsrus. The 2x 36 classes are shunting the petrol sidings at Hamilton. Have a look if you zoom into the photo of Hamilton station's name board on the left... The railway line behind Sheltam's depot to the old Gold plant is being uplifted, the waste rock dump at old Saaiplaas 4 shaft is being reworked, so Sheltam has got some more work - they are not very busy. An old "Sparky" from Anglo Gold told us that before the railway line was built between Saaiplaas 4 & 5 shafts they had an underground electrical railway between the two shafts running on 250V DC. They used a modified battery loco for this. Don't know how true this is... Cheers. J & J.
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The 1947 Royal Visit: The White Train of the South African Railways
• Introduction HBH On invitation of Field Marshall JC Smuts the Royal Family, the House of Windsor, visited South Africa during 1947. The whole tour was constructed around the show piece of the South African Railways, the new White Train. One can go so far as to say that the White Train was a royal palace on wheels. The SAR had coped magnificently before with Royal visits to Southern Africa. The White Train did a lot to enhance South Africa’s standing in the British Empire; South Africa was one of the Dominions in the Empire along with Canada, Australia and New Zeeland. The SAR took the lead in this illustrious event and here I assume railway time tables played an important role in compiling the royal itinerary. South Africans are hospitable people and upon reading about this tour I found that everything possible was done to enhance the image of South Africa locally and abroad. Our vast natural resources were used to promote South Africa’s image. Our food, our fauna and flora were lauded. Even traditional South African timber and fibres were used to decorate the White train so that opulence became a bench mark. 32
However one has to take the political situation in South Africa into account during 1947: During September 1939 General JMB Hertzog was defeated in parliament on a major issue; to wit, should South Africa declare war or stay neutral. Gen Hertzog lost the vote because he wanted to stay neutral. The Governor General, Sir Patrick Duncan, then without calling for an election appointed General JC Smuts – then deputy prime minister – to form a new government. Gen Smuts was for the war and South Africa went to war on Britain’s side. Going to war on Britain’s side caused new and serious divisions in our country. Merely 37 years before; the two Boer republics, the ZAR and the OVS, were locked in battle against Great Britain. Many people of Afrikaner decent thought it a bad idea to fight for Great Britain; it was their chance to get their country back, they said! Never the less, war was declared. HM regulations, rules and orders as published in the War Book1 and Government Gazette were followed. Aliens (not from Mars, but from enemy territories) were interned in camps and enemy property, like ships, was confiscated. The Union Defence Force was then more or less nonexistent and the Union Defence Force mobilised its reserves. A year or so before the war was declared; during 1938 a great event of cultural importance took place. Afrikaans members of the cultural wing SA Railways – the ATKV – had organised an ox wagon trek to celebrate the 1838 Great Trek from the Cape to the Transvaal and Orange Free State. Thousands of Afrikaners were mobilised nationwide. The first sod was turned for the Voortrekker Monument during that year – and even Mr Alan Paton the world renowned author was present at the event. (But that is another story). Maj Harry Klein of the UDF’s Division of Military Intelligence was also present throughout the
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When South Africa left the British Commonwealth during 1961 we had to write our own War Book (Oorlogboek). This new edition was called Administration Total War (Administrasie Totale Oorlog - ATO) and each state department had to write its own “Departmental Administration Total War” (Departementele Administrasie Totale Oorlog - DATO). (The SAR also had a chapter.) It was done during the tenure of Mr PW Botha. From a strategic viewpoint a very interesting document. The SADF, SAP and the SAR al had a specific role during war time. The Secretariat of the State Security Council performed the staff work for the Administration Total War - HBH
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ox wagon trek. He was also a reporter for the news papers but he sent all the information he could gather to his chief, Col Thwaites. After the corner stone of the Voortrekker Monument was laid the Ossewabrandwag was formed during January 1939 by Lt-Col Laas of the UDF. The mobilised Afrikaner masses then joined this cultural organisation. During the war thousands of Germans and Italians were detained in South Africa. A large number of Afrikaners were also detained in places like Koffiefontein for the duration of the war. (Afrikaner ladies, there were only eight, were detained in Rhodesia.) Many Afrikaner saboteurs were arrested and convicted in court and sent to jail. Many policemen were also arrested as being members of the Stormjaers of the Ossewabrandwag. Afrikaner people and heroes like Robey Leibbrandt (related to Robey Joyce a.k.a. Lord Haw-Haw) were also convicted and sent to prison. Johannes van der Walt, a hero amongst the Afrikaners was a world renowned wrestler – he escaped from police custody and was shot in the back by police. During 1945 FM Smuts was on the side of the victors. During 1946 he had organised the Victory parade at Gosforth Park near Johannesburg and during 1947 he invited the Royal Family to visit South Africa.... The name of FM Smuts was on the lips of every person and he enjoyed a lot of publicity here and abroad. He wrote the preamble of the charter belonging to the United Nations. When the Royal Tour took place, there were many Afrikaners and Boers highly upset because of this Royal visit. Dr HF Verwoerd was then the editor of the Die Transvaler and as far as he was concerned the Royal Tour was a non-event. Many Afrikaners were still in prison or poor and destitute because they were former political internees “out of work”. A tremendous responsibility rested on the shoulders of the “police” and in this case four police forces were involved: •
The King’s three own personal detectives from the UK;
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The Commissioner of the SA Police was personally involved as well as various members of the SAP.
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SAP Royal Orderlies were stationed on the white train;
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The SAR & H Police; and finally the
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British South Africa Police (Rhodesia) when the train visited Rhodesia.
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Thus when the Royal Family arrived in the HMS Vanguard at Cape Town everything was ready for the Royal Visit. We now invite you to read the following account by Oom Pieter Swanepoel who was a youngster of 18 on the Royal Tour. He said I could use it conditionally2 as he had not yet completed the editorial work on the typescript of his memoirs, but I said we were interested in railway history and not in literature:
• Horses, the enemies of my youth – PC Swanepoel There are people who cannot stop talking about the horses in their life. I am one of them, but what I remember about these animals is not flattering to their race. Horses have not been good to me. Growing up on a farm one could not but be aware of the animals. No farm that I knew of was without them. Motor cars were still fairly rare on the platteland and many farmers still used a cart drawn by two horses. On our farm there was a gig. This little vehicle was also called a buggy. It had a single bench on which three slim lads fitted uncomfortably. My experience of it was restricted to two trips a week the seven miles from home to school on a Monday morning, and from school on a Friday afternoon. It was pulled by a single horse. I have no fond memories of those trips. Fortunately they lasted only one year. The position in our household was that the eldest boy had been more or less adopted by a childless uncle and his wife. They farmed many, many miles away on what had been my grandfather’s farm. That left three of us children on the farm; Marie, who was nine years older than I, and Gert who was my senior by five years. Marie and Gert received their schooling from a governess who lived on the farm. Theoretically she was also to teach me, but this was in practice restricted to the three R’s. At the end of 1936 Miss Bornman, the governess, found a husband and new arrangements had to be made. It was decided that Marie was fully learned and that Gert and I would henceforth attend the government school at Kleinfontein. This establishment boasted two teachers, a Mr. Jacobs who was the headmaster and a
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Jy kan daarvan gebruik wat jy wil op voorwaarde dat jy dit duidelik maak dat dit
geneem is uit ‘n onvoltooide manuskrip – PCS.
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Miss Van Rooyen. She taught the children in grades A and B and standard one, while Mr. Jacobs taught those in standards two to five. Marie was a sweet and supportive sister, but she had a thing about Miss Van Rooyen. She told me that the woman was a dangerous bitch. It transpired that Solly Scheepers, a small-time farmer who lived near Kleinfontein, and who was later to become my brother-in-law, had also been calling on Miss Van Rooyen, which fact no doubt influenced my sister in a negative way. The problem about going to school at Kleinfontein was the transport. My father shared my views about horses. He had spent a large part of the Anglo-Boer War on a horse’s back and was one of the first people to buy a motor car in our family. He was quoted as saying that he’d swop the farm and his wife for a car, just as long as it enabled him to stay away from horses. I was his name-sake, a nine-year old chubby and spoilt little brat. No ways was he going to let me ride a horse to school and back every day. So it was arranged that I would board with the Spies family who lived only a few hundred yards from the school. Before setting out for school that first day Marie told me not to stand any nonsense from Miss Van Rooyen. “But for heaven’s sake Pietie, don’t let on that you are my brother. And when the headmaster asks you what standard you are entering, you tell him: one.” That was how it came about that I never went through the grades A and B. Attending school and boarding with the Spies family posed no problems, but those seven miles from and to the school were terrible. Our cousin, Coenie, whose parents farmed very far from the school, boarded with us. He and Gert were the same age, so on Mondays and Fridays I sat squashed in between them in that gig. Our schoolbags and my pyjamas were stacked on my lap. The road was corrugated all the way and the horse took a fiendish delight in trotting as fast as it could, delivering us bruised and shaken at the end of the journey. It was too terrible to bear and I complained incessantly. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Gert and Coenie rode donkeys to school and on Wednesdays they used their bicycles. They took great delight in telling me how much pleasanter these trips were compared to the Monday and Friday torture drives. Fortunately neighbours who ran the store at Calverts, a mere three miles away from our farm, but in the opposite direction from Kleinfontein, informed my parents that they had engaged a governess from January 1938 to teach their two children and two of their nearest neighbours’ children. They said I could board there during the week, but of course that still left the Mondays and Fridays to be arranged 36
for. The solution arrived at was that I was to go on horseback! Much as my father disliked this arrangement, he simply had to acquiesce - driving to Calverts over unmade farm roads to take a child to school in his brand-new 1938 Chevrolet was unheard of. The kid just had to learn to ride a horse like all the other children in that community. That ushered in a new phase in my development. The horse I was given was called Don. I assumed that this was short for Donner, which is a useful Afrikaans word. As a noun it means a real low-life bastard. As a verb it means beating the life out of a guy, but Don did not scare me. What troubled me was getting on top of him. The saddle is a piece of equipment which comes with two stirrups and these are adjusted so that when you sit in the thing your feet just rest comfortably in them. The problem with very short people, (the category into which I fell) was that the stirrups, when adjusted for my short little legs were way up there on the animal’s back. The accepted way for the rider to mount the horse is to get your left foot into the stirrup and swing yourself onto its back, but this was absolutely impossible for me. As a rule the problem was solved by leading the horse to some object, such as a chair or an ant-hill, climbing onto it and then getting your foot in the stirrup, but this was no solution at some of the gates in that farm road. Just to be spiteful the ants built no nests in the vicinity of these gates. And of course one could not open the gates without getting off the horse. And then there was another problem. My father was convinced that his precious last-born would one day be riding along that farm road and suddenly the horse would be spooked by the sight of a snake or the noise of a startled bird. It would take off like a mad thing, race across the veldt, trip into a hole, fall down and break my neck. The solution to this problem was that I would not travel alone. I was to be accompanied by Ntini Buthelezi. Ntini’s family were tenants on our farm. His two elder brothers took six months turns to work on the farm. The other six months they worked in towns or cities. His sister worked in the house for my mother. His father and mother were given a field to cultivate near their kraal, where they also kept a few head of cattle and chickens. Ntini was my age, but he was stronger, more agile and much more resourceful than I. He could ride any horse or donkey on the farm without a saddle. All he needed was a bridle. He needed no chair or ant-hill to mount the beasts and no horse was going to run away with him. He could even stay on a grown calf’s back for several seconds. Having Ntini accompany me to school on Mondays and fetching me again on Fridays was not such a big problem for me. What inflicted deep psychological 37
wounds in my young and impressionable mind was my father’s insistence that there was to be a halter from Don’s neck to whatever horse Ntini would be riding. This was deemed necessary to prevent Don from running away with me. This arrangement led to my losing much face every time we arrived and departed from the school. Fortunately that governess also found a husband so the agony only had to be endured for a year. The suffering also had its rewards. When my father took me to the big school in town the next year he was slightly unsure about what standard I’d been in the previous year, the governess not being known to issue reports and documents of any kind. So between him and the headmaster they decided to try me in standard four, which in present parlance, would be grade six. It turned out that I was the youngest and most backward child in that class, but living in the hostel meant that I had no more need to ride a horse. Had my father lived longer and been able to send me to a university I would no doubt have become something important and lived happily ever after, but he died while I was in high school, forcing me to become a labourer on the Railways for a few months. Here again, there were no horses to worry about, but the pay was miserable and the dirt of those steam locomotives was unbelievable. To escape it all I joined the Police and was sent to the South African Police Depot in Pretoria as a recruit. On arriving there I heard disquieting rumours that somewhere in that vast establishment there were horses. It suddenly dawned on me that there had been mounted policemen in our part of the world. I prayed earnestly that I should be spared from landing among that lot. For three months our training progressed peacefully. The war had just ended the year before and hundreds of ex-servicemen had opted to join the Police. All the bungalows were full and hundreds of tents had been erected to accommodate the overflow. Our troop had not been anywhere near the stables and I felt safe at last, when suddenly destiny struck again. Until the year 1946 the South African Police only enlisted recruits who were 19 years and older. In the first week of May a major experiment was launched. About 200 boys between the ages of 17 and 19 who had passed matric were taken in. We were called “Juniors” and we wore a special khaki band on our caps. These had to be worn at all times, especially after 5pm when the wet canteen was opened for an hour. The reason was that Juniors were not allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages. Not that they really would have if they could have, because their pay was considerably less than that of “Senior” recruits. This form of discrimination in the Depot gave rise too much underground moaning from the Juniors. 38
The inmates of the Depot and indeed the whole uniformed branch of the Police were divided into two major “disciplines” - footmen and mounted men. The footmen were contemptuously called “magalle”. Nobody knew what the word really meant. It was pronounced in a kind of gutteral way and believed by mounted men to refer to some overgrown under-brained species of mankind. The mounties were called “bosluise”, the extremely unpleasant blood-sucking ticks which plague most animals in South Africa. For the first three months of our training in the Depot the Juniors were all categorised as Magalle. We comprised Troops 28 to 33. On that fateful Monday morning all six troops were ordered to stand in one long row, all facing towards the instructors, who were huddled together and staring at us as if they were seeing us for the first time. By a tortuous process of shifting us from one place in the line to another, which lasted almost a whole period, they eventually had the tallest man on the left and the rest all sloping down. The O.C. of the Depot, Major George Bestford, declared himself to be satisfied that the 33 shortest men had now been identified. “Congratulations men”, he said. “Henceforth you 33 will comprise Troop 33 and you shall be a Mounted Troop”. I was dumbfounded. I was now in Troop 33, and a Bosluis. The stables suddenly loomed large in my life. To make the art of riding a police horse more difficult than it should have been, we were immediately whisked off to the Quartermaster Stores at Police Headquartes in Pretorius Street and issued with ill-fitting riding breeches. These garments were designed to be worn on horseback, but unfortunately prevented the rider from getting there. You could lift your leg only about two feet, but the animals in the Depot were huge creatures. The stirrups were way up there in the sky. The instructors were aware of this problem and solved it in a novel way. The first weeks of training would see us riding, or attempting to, without saddles. Only a numnah, a coarse felt blanket-like piece of material, would be placed on the horse’s back and secured there with a strap. This meant that the problem of reaching up to the stirrups was solved - there were no stirrups. One had to get onto the animals back by trying to dive head-first over its back and in this way getting your right leg over the beast and securing some kind of seat on that numnah. This was all very well for athletic types, which I never was. But before we were even to attempt this feat, we had to “get to know your horses”. Theoretically a particular horse was allocated to each recruit. In practice it transpired that each recruit had been issued to a particular horse, because, as one instructor 39
seriously explained to us, we were only there temporarily, while the horses remained there to train the next bunch of idiots. Each horse had its own stall in the huge stables and above the crib its name was printed on a metal plate. Its force number was tattooed on the gum above its teeth. Getting to know the horses meant watering them, feeding them, cleaning and brushing them, carrying out their bedding in the mornings, spreading it out in the sunshine, carrying it back in the afternoons and “making up their beds”. It also meant doing night-shift for two hours every week which entailed walking up and down the length of the stable with a shovel and a pail and immediately picking up any droppings before their lordships could possibly lie down and thus dirty themselves. In the riding school the getting to know your horse’s routine meant learning how to lead them; how to stop, and how to respond to various orders. The order: “Stand tooooo - your horses” meant taking up a position on the left of the horse, lightly holding on to the bridle. This would be followed by: “In front offff, your horses”. This meant stepping forward smartly and taking up a position in front of the horse facing towards the animal. Next would follow: “Make much of your horses”. At this command the recruit was expected to stroke the horse lovingly along its cheeks and forehead, murmuring words of endearment, but at the same time watching carefully lest the brute bite your hand or beat your brains out with an unexpected swipe of the head. Then followed the command to “numberrr” at the sound of which the horse would lift its top lips into the air exposing its force number tattooed above the row of top teeth. This was a horribly intimidating sight and the horses knew it. Most of them deliberately prolonged this awful grimace as long as they could. When the horses had thus been convinced of the recruits’ love, the order to “stand to” was again given. Now followed the real difficult part: The command to mount would be given; a long drawn out “Moooouuuunt”. The explanation given for stretching out the words of command was that the horses preferred it that way. Mounting those animals was not a joke. In the beginning more than half the men just managed to get as far as lying over them with their heads on one side and their legs hanging down on the other side. A small minority of acrobats managed to attain a sitting position on the animals’ backs, facing forward, but another small minority which unfortunately included me, were still hanging on to the horses’ manes, our feet still periodically touching the ground, when the next command came: “Waaaaalk”. Immediately every horse started walking, seemingly oblivious of the fact that its recruit was hanging on to its manes and hopping along by its side, or lay stretched out over its back. The instructor, also seemingly unaware of the plight of 40
the majority of the recruits, now gave the next command: “Trooooooot”. And of course the unfeeling brutes immediately started trotting as uncomfortably as they could, thus dropping along the way most of their charges, including some of the acrobats. When the final command: “Haaaalllt” was shouted, the horses stopped in their tracks, thereby disposing of the last die-hards who had somehow stayed on board during the trotting session. The instructor was very sarcastic in his comments on our first attempts at becoming mounted men. He singled out the mane-hangers for special comments. If we preferred to run next to the horses, he said, he could order the horses to ride on us. And the .horses would probably have obeyed him, we feared. The next session saw all the mane-hangers managing to get on board, albeit on their stomachs, but gradually we mastered the trick of getting on, It was nearly a month before we graduated to saddles, but this immediately led to much unhappiness. To understand this it needs to be explained that in the Police Force in those years, length of service was a very important fact of life. The moment you were sworn in as a member on the day you enlisted, you were given a force number and that number stayed with you for the rest of your life. On the 7th of May this year, (2011), it will be 65 years ago that I became No. 21977 Recruit Constable P.C. Swanepoel. Over the years the rank changed to Constable, to Detective Probationer, to Detective Constable, to 2nd. Class Detective Sergeant, to 1st. Class Detective Sergeant and to Detective Head Constable, but when I signed my name on Police documents the number and the M – (short for Mounted), would be there. It was only when one became an officer that you ceased to include the number, but on your file at Head Office it was a permanent fixture. So when you meet an octogenarian at a meeting of retired policemen, as I sometimes do, you casually ask him what his number was and if it’s 21978 or higher, you look at him in a superior sort of way and you call him a “blougat”, which literally means a Blue Backside. The name is derived from small blue manuals entitled “Hints on Crime”, which all recruits carried in their back pockets. To return to our unhappiness. There were, at that time, three mounted troops in the depot. All three troops used the same saddles. It was the accepted custom that the cleaning of the saddles was the job of the junior of the three troops. Now it so happened that troop 42 were our juniors in the sense that they had enlisted a week or more after we did, but age-wise we were their juniors and in addition there was the fact that they had had almost two months longer mounted training. This meant that we were designated the job of cleaning saddles. It was terribly unfair and a 41
mean task. Every bit of leather which came into contact with either horse or rider had to be washed with saddle soap and rubbed in with Dubbin. Some parts had to be polished with shoe polish, and rubbed so thoroughly as to leave no polish marks on riding breeches. The metal stirrups had to be polished with Silvo and the brass clasps with Brasso. It was a time-consuming job that had to be done after hours and we hated every minute of it. And as if that were not enough, there was the fact that mounted troops had, in addition to law lectures and P.T. exercises, also to attend Veterinary classes. You had to learn about each and every disorder a horse could suffer from and the various drugs and dressings to cure them, while in your heart you prayed that horse-sickness would remove them all from the face of the earth. We had hardly mastered the art of getting on and staying on for an entire 40 minute period when another calamity struck. We were told that the King of England, his wife and their two daughters were to visit the country from February the next year and that our Prime Minister, to show his everlasting appreciation to them for deigning to visit his country (and possibly to help him win the next election), had decided that they were to have a “Royal Mounted Escort” on five state occasions two in Cape Town and one in Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg. “And guess who the men of the Royal Escort are going to be?” Major Bestford asked us at a parade of all the mounted recruits. Not us, I prayed, but us it was - and the sods in troop 42. This adventure commenced on my 18th birthday in the year 1946. Troops 33 and 42 were taken by troop-carrier to the railway siding nearest the Depot where a trainload of “remounts” had arrived from Kimberley; The Oppenheimers had a huge farm there on which horses were bred. The government had bought this consignment of animals to be trained and used during the Royal tour. We had no idea what manner of horses “remounts” were. At first sight they appeared to be scrawny, underfed wild beasts. Compared to the haughty Depot lords they looked dejected and inferior. But of course the long train journey from Kimberley had a lot to do with this. Each man was to be allocated one of these animals and there was to be no argument about who was getting which horse. We were lined up in a single row and as each horse emerged from the railway truck led by farm hands who had accompanied them from Kimberley, the man at the top of the row had to accept him. The only trick the horses had been taught was to “number” and a sergeant would write down your name and your horse’s number. “Never mind about names, we’ll give them names later on”. We had all been issued with halters and these were used in leading them to the 42
Depot where additional stables for the 70 odd animals had been constructed. At first there was no question of trying to ride them. “First we have to get them to look like gentlemen”, Major Bestford told us. This meant endless brushing and scrubbing and washing and cleaning. They all had to be shod and the farriers worked overtime at this task, but of course at all times you had to be with your horse. Their names had been summarily decided upon by the senior NCO and my horse became “Star”. Fortunately he was a mild-mannered fellow. He soon learnt to pick up a leg if I wanted to clean his feet, he never bit me and closed his mouth smartly after displaying his number. Sleeping on nice clean bedding every night, eating like kings and being endlessly cleaned and brushed soon transformed these farm types into real city slickers. What remained now was to see how they would behave when being ridden. “Remounts”, the NCO’s told us, “are horses which have been broken in, but not taught how to behave when being ridden”. So the chances of them bucking and throwing off their riders were slim, but what even our NCO’s did not realise was the extreme tenderness of a young horse’s mouth. We knew that young horses should not be ridden with solid iron bits and for that reason the Quartermaster had issued snaffles, in place of bits, but snaffles are also made from metal and though not as hurtful as bits, they were still very hard, being two metal bars joined in the centre in such a way that when pulling on the reins, the pressure in the animal’s mouth is spread to the sides of the mouth. When breaking in horses even snaffles are not used, the riders relying on leather thongs. This we did not know and to our horror, on that first day we mounted the beasts, we saw one after the other horse fall right on its back, generally with the rider pinned underneath. This happened every time a rider jerked or pulled too hard on his reins. The poor beasts just could not handle the terrible pain. So learning to ride, and to teach remounts, was a slow and arduous task. But the worst was still to come. These young horses had to be taught how to behave while screaming and cheering crowds lined the streets almost touching them, while military bands belted out all kinds of music and firing squads let off volleys of rifle fire. At first the natural impulse for the animal was to switch around in order to escape the sudden sound, and the natural impulse of the rider was to fall off. In fact we fell like raindrops from the sky. Heaven knows how long this would have carried on, but Major Bestford had the solution. What had happened was that with the formal creation of the Royal Mounted Escort on that fateful birthday of mine, there had also been created a semi-official Royal Escort Wet Canteen. One of the sergeants was appointed secretary, treasurer and 43
bouncer and another was the bartender-overseer. One of the officers, (we had three), was the auditor and the O.C., Major Bestford, was the honorary president without complimentary drinking rights. What the Wet Canteen desperately needed was capital to start off in business. Our falling off when trying to ride through screaming recruits lined up in the Depot’s streets gave the Major his idea. “Henceforth men”, he informed us, “each man falling off will have his pay docked by two shillings, which will be deposited with the Wet Canteen’s funds as a donation by the falling gentleman”. This was serious. On the day before my birthday we had had our “Passing Out Parade”. We had become full-fledged constables and nobody had suggested that we retain the khaki bands on our caps which denied us the right to buy a beer. A quart bottle of beer in the Depot’s Wet Canteen cost two shillings. That was about what one’s finances allowed once or twice a week. If you were to be docked two shillings for falling off, it meant the end of the world. Ergo. We learnt how to stay on a horse’s back under almost any circumstances. The Royal Tour of South Africa was a three months event and it would bore people to be told of all our adventures. What remain with me after all these years is the memory of our very first trip from Pretoria to Cape Town. Nowadays the Blue Train does the journey in just a day and a half, but our special train took seven days. And as it happened I had drawn a losing ticket, which meant that on that journey I spent seven days and nights in the company of Star and three of his colleagues in the same truck. Our furniture consisted of two cribs made from canvas and a kind of mattress hanging from each end of the truck to the crib. This created some sort of stall for each horse, so you had two horses on one side of the crib facing the two horses at the other end of the truck .Between the two cribs was the area occupied by the guard – the losers like me. We had a number of bales of lucerne, a bag of crushed mealies, our own bedding, being some kind of pre-historic mattress with two police blankets and a cushion, and a kind of coat hanger tied to the roof of the truck on which our uniforms were hanging, The guard was clothed only in PT shorts and a vest. Twice a day the train stopped at some siding and men who had not drawn losing tickets brought pails of water which we gave to each of our four horses in turn to drink. We also fed them lucerne and crushed mealies and prayed that there was poison in it, because as time went on it became hell to stay with those four animals in the same space.
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I don’t know about other animals, but horses tend to take advantage of the friendship established with their riders. Star and his three pals became a pain in the neck. To celebrate my manhood in becoming a constable I had started smoking. Not very seriously, but on my way there. Even on that first day in the truck I thought I saw Star looking at my packet of cigarettes in a funny kind of way, so after that every time I took a cigarette out I took great pains to hide the packet under my pillow. Immediately behind me was the door of the truck. This was a double door and the top could be opened to let in light and fresh air, but our orders were to close it at night. That very first night in the truck I lay there looking at these four horses and pitying them for not being able to lie down and sleep. Our NCO’s had told us that if a horse were ever to lie down in a railway truck, it was to die. They just do not lie down in strange surroundings. I fell asleep and dreamt that a pretty girl was stroking me lovingly on my cheek preparatory to kissing me, but before she got that far her stroking of my cheek became so intense that she pushed my head clean off the pillow. I awoke to see that gentle Star retreating to his place behind the movable crib with my packet of cigarettes in his mouth. The swine. And that went on for seven days.
To end this story: 1. From a security point of view nothing could be found that marred the tour. 2. FM Smuts lost the 1948 election. 3. Dr Malan’s National Party won the 1948 election. 4. Dr Verwoerd later became the Prime Minister and during his tenure we became a republic and left the British Commonwealth.
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• Photos
The SAP Royal Orderlies who lived on the Royal White Train
Rugby fans will remember Brig JGM “Buurman” van Zyl of N-Tvl - HBH Part of the Royal Mounted Escort
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One of the junior Constables photographed here became Commissioner of Police, he was Gen PJ Coetzee. After being promoted to Major, “Oom Pieter� was drafted into the BfSS and he retired, after an interesting career, as a senior official of National Intelligence.
47
Thanks to the SAR the Royal Party and all involved in the tour were safely transported.
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• Railways Police
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• Royal Security: Rhodesian Police: Sgt Cliff Podmore
• Royal Security
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• End of the Tour
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• Letter from White Train
• King’s Message to the SAP
•
Was there a message to the men of the SAR?
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Nederlandsch Zuid-Afrikaanse Spoorweg Maatschappy (NZASM) • G.A.A. Middelberg (1846 – 1916): biography - Leo Middelberg G.A.A. Middelberg was born on 21 June 1846 in Boskoop (Netherlands) as the eldest son of Rev G.A. Middelberg. His father died when he was only three years old but his mother remarried much later and his stepfather was very supportive to Middelberg and his younger sister. The quality of school instruction during the 1850s was rather superficial and by the early 1860s he left school. He was unsure for some time what to do but his love for machinery led him in 1863 to study mechanical engineering in Zürich (Switserland). He was involved in student unrest the following year and was forced to leave Zürich. He returned to the Netherlands and decided to continue his studies in Hannover (Germany). He graduated at the top of his class and was offered a post with the Prussian Railways at Frankfort a/d Oder. He stayed there for some 18 months and his prospects were good but then he would have to become a German citizen. He would not consider such a step and he returned to the Netherlands. The Dutch Railways could not accommodate him at that stage and he was advised to go to England for experience. He worked for some five months as a techical draughtsman in a workshop in Manchester. In 1871 he returned to Holland and was appointed deputy engineer at the State Railways in one of the provincial capitals. Middelberg was a competent engineer, a hard worker and he got along very well with others. A few months later he was transferred to Luik (Belgium) where he stayed for some two years. During 1873 he was transferred back to Holland where he applied for the post of chief engineer at another railway company. His application was successful and until the late 1880s he gained further technical and design experience with increased responsibilities. In 1890 he was appointed director of the Nederlandsch Zuid-Afrikaanse Spoorweg Maatschappy (NZASM), the company that was appointed by the ZAR Government to design, construct and operate the Delagoa Bay – Pretoria railway line. And so Middelberg’s engineering career ended and his management career started. During the first few years of the 1890s he travelled to South Africa on a regular basis but in 1894 he and his family moved to Pretoria where they stayed until the end of the decade. The railway project also involved several side lines on the Reef as well as the connection with the Cape and Natal railway systems. In this respect he worked closely with President Kruger, who called him ‘slim Gert’, his ministers and the 53
Volksraad as well as the railway managers and politicians of the Cape, Natal and Portuguese East-Africa (now Mozambique). He also met with Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the Cape and although they got along well, he was very much aware of the fact that his and Rhodes’ objectives were vastly different! He was very capable railways expert and a first-rate negotiator. During these years he arranged for the building of a luxury railway carriage for the President (currently in the annex of the Kruger House in Pretoria) and a (somewhat less) luxurious railway carriage for the director (currently at the Railway Museum in George). Middelberg was a very productive worker and apart from the general managemant of the design, construction and operation of the railway system, he wrote weekly letters to the director in Amsterdam and also weekly letters to his family in Holland for further distribution. These letters gave such a clear and interesting picture of life in the ZAR in the 1890s, that the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns published an edited version of these letters in 1953 under the title “Briewe uit Transvaal’. In the course of 1898 President Kruger offered Middelberg the post of Minister of Finance. He accepted this offer although he would have to resign from the Railways (which he did). He requested absence of leave in order to visit Holland but the Anglo-Boer War broke out in October 1899 and he was prevented from returning to South Africa. President Kruger died in exile in Switserland in July 1904 and Middelberg was one of the entourage that accompanied the body of the President back to South Africa for burial in Pretoria in December 1904. He visited South Africa again in 1909/10 on request of business associates and was also involved with the founding of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Hospital3 in Bourke Street in Pretoria. He was elected to the Dutch Parliament in 1909 where he used his expert railways knowledge in finalising patent legislation of which he had prepared the first drafts some 20 years earlier. He lost his seat in the election of 1913 and for the remainder of his days he lived quietly in his country home where he died in March 1916 at the age of almost 70 years. He left his wife and their six children. The street where the Jacaranda Hospital is in Pretoria has been named after him. Leo Middelberg - Secunda, April 2013
3
I was a patient in this hospital (2012) and followed the hospital’s history while lying in bed. It was found as a Dutch (later Afrikaans) “Hospital and Diakonie Huis” after the Anglo Boer War by various Boer leaders like Gen L Botha and Gen Koos de la Rey. We Boers have our own sub-culture. Because of new labour practices today few of the staff could not treat me in my home language, Afrikaans. Staff who treated me came from Nigeria and Franco- phone Africa. However the service and care was good; but things have changed ...
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• Middelberg’s Coach (SAR No 18) (HBH)
Photo: HBH 55
• Kruger’s Coach Mk 1 (SAR No 17) (HBH)
Photo: SAR Museum (Eric Conradie) No 17 Rebuilt
Photo: SAR Museum (Eric Conradie)
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• Anglo Boer War 4th Class on NAZM (HBH)
Source: Project Gutenberg
• Anglo Boer War 5th Class on NAZM (HBH)
Source: Project Gutenberg
• NZASM: Kruger Medallion (HBH)
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Anglo-Boer War: Railway History • Mafeking
“Mafeking Railway Station: First Train arriving from the north after the Relief of Mafeking”4 Note: British flag and camouflage
• HMS Forte in Natal
“HMS Forte. Mounted on Truck used Nightly communicate Ladysmith”5
4 5
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg
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The Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe: Andrew Stevens Dear Hennie That is most kind of you [Duly attached in MS word – 93]. Any publicity we can get would be most helpful. I have edited my article slightly, bringing it up to date and copying also to Craig Viljoen, Editor of the Transvaal Outpost and to Friends of the Choo-Tjoe. With kind regards Andrew Stevens ps There are now almost 12000 signatures to the petition
• The Choo-Tjoe Many readers and their friends will be familiar with the Knysna Choo-Tjoe and some will remember the storm flooding and wash-aways a few years back with disastrous results. One of the victims was the Choo-Tjoe; it stopped running, leaving wagons and carriages behind at Knysna and the locomotives at George. The Choo-Tjoe is a classical steam train sometimes referred to as the ‘Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe’ running between George and Knysna. The railway line served a dual function as it conveyed logs, bales of rubbish and cargo between the two towns and further afield. The goods trains were mostly powered by Diesel Electric locomotives. The picture above shows a steam locomotive on the turn-table at the Knysna station. The turn-table was built to replace the extensive turning triangle with its three sets of points some years ago to make way for the development of the ‘Quayside’ which is an attractive commercial and residential development including moorings, hotel and yachting harbour adjoining the Knysna yacht club. George is the main railway junction with one line to Mossel Bay, Swellendam and Cape Town, and another following the Montague Pass to Oudtshoorn. The spectacular mountain route is presently served by a trolley wagon. Not far away is 59
the narrow-gauge Apple Express connecting to Port Elizabeth and a disused line to Calitzdorp from Oudtshoorn. George is also home to a Railway Museum which any train enthusiast should visit. So in many ways, the area is a railway man’s treasure and a great tourist attraction. During the years that the Knysna to George Choo-Tjoe has been out of commission, another has been running between George and Mossel Bay which unfortunately, now also seems to have stopped. The main reason that nothing is being done is put down to economics and lack of funding.
Friends of the Choo-Tjoe have meantime purchased and renovated an inspection trolley which can be viewed at the Quayside. They have several engineers giving up their time, working hard to get the project going. They support ongoing talks between the Minister of Tourism of the Western Cape, Alan Winde and others with a view to taking the project over. A decision by Transnet and the Department of Public Enterprises is being awaited. The project has attracted international interest. Steam trains hold a fascination for many people and enthusiasts travel the world to see them. The same might be said of ships and even airplanes. Interested persons can contact Friends of the Choo-Tjoe to check on progress and the latest news. They have a web site at: www.friendsofthechoo-tjoe.co.za . More about the Choo-Tjoe can be found in Garden Route Travels and on our blog: http://blog.wanderlust.co.za The Choo-Tjoe used to cross the Kaaiman’s River Bridge
Andrew Stevens 60
Adrian Hill • Premier Classe I did this Premier Classe set for a friend who really, really wanted one. With each model comes new ideas and with this one came tinted flush fitting windows. I machined strips of prespex on the CNC mill so that the entire window set on one side of a coach could be fitted from the inside. This idea works like an absolute charm because the windows are laser cut into the body so the windows fit perfectly. I've started using this method on all my models because it just looks so good. The power car still needs a bit of a black wash coat to bring out the vent detailing.
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• 15F
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...and a 15F with a long tender. Many modellers said that I needed to bring the tenders closer to the loco. Well, this turned out to be quite an issue because as the two are brought closer together the more problems one has with the models ability to articulate. I spent many hours with my face against the table and dremel in hand to get the geometry just right. My daughters thought that I had gone mad because I would stare at the model sideways and the carefully turn it upside down in just that odd position that it was in. The model is able to pass through a very tight S-curve and tight radius without derailing. I suppose that one would never run the model through curves as tight as the ones that I tested but it is important for me to see that it would not derail easily. A friend pointed out before that my long tender was incorrect.
Paul du Preez: SAR Greytown The station has all but been demolished, and it is only the Timber trains that come through every now and then. Regards Paul
Dutch Railway Museum: Utrecht Have a look at: http://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/nieuws__actueel/tentoonstellingen/sporen_naar_h et_front.html
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Albert Nel: Welbedag
Albert Nel: (on SA SpoorweĂŤ, SAR, Ulolwe) Vroeg more en Welgedag loko se ou waterkolom staan nog steeds 26 jaar nadat die laaste stofie sy shunt hier gemaak het. Welgedag het nog 4 koloms, waarvan een nog daagliks gebruik word. Net dalk maak ons weer eendag ‘n stofie vol water hier!!!!! Div De Villiers, Jade TheMaster Wilson, Nico van der Westhuis and 7 others like this.
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Andries Meiring Hier by ons in Welkom staan nog 2 water koloms maar hul is stadig besig om die 1 se bene te amputeer. Rene Van Wyngaarden Ek word so weemoedig as ek die foto's sien. Ek was 'n Spoorwegkind! En trots daar op Mariza En Tony Taylor Goeie ou dae op Welgedag, good memories.
Filler
RRL Grinrod: Chris Van Wyk Aan : Hennie Heymans - In die album wat ek hier deel is reeds foto's wat ek geneem het van RRL Grindrod se lokomotiewe wat in Pretoria by hulle aanleg gebou is vir African Minerals in Sierra Leone. 1211 is in Februarie verskeep en ek was slegs by die laaiery betrokke, terwyl 1212, 1213, en 1214 ook deur my met 'n soortgelyke rit as die vorige paar dae s'n van Pretoria na Durban gebring is om ook hulle weg na Noord Afrika te vind. In 1211 se geval moes die lokomotief van sy onderstel geskei word as gevolg van die beperkte kapasiteit van die skip se hyskrane wat gesamentlik maar slegs sowat 100 ton kon laai.
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Die latere laaiaksie was heelwat makliker met die skip se hyskraan wat tot 250 ton kon baasraak en die lokomotiewe dus heel gemaklik opgelaai is. Die lokomotief van RBCT is vanaf Richardsbaai na Pretoria gery waar dit tans in RRL Grindrod se werkswinkels herbou word. Chris Van Wyk Douglas Coetzee likes this. Greg Hart Chris, are these GE or GM ? Chris Van Wyk Neither, South African built locomotive by RRL Grindrod in Pretoria. 16 Cylinder turbocharged engine. Derick Norton would be able to give more info as they are working with them in Sierra Leone. This one is on its way there ... Deon Arangies This is a good looking loco. Maybe a bit of a GM influence. Fanus Jansen Van Rensburg Very nice.
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Chris Van Wyk The assignment - move this South African built locomotive from the Umbilo yard to Maydon Wharf where it can be loaded onto a waiting ship for export to Sierra Leone for the AML mining group — at Maydon Wharf. Jez Smith, Greg Hart and 2 others like this. Eben Potgieter Diesel loco 1211 was build at Pretoria by RRL Grindrod locomotive (Pty) Ltd.
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Just finished uncoupling body from the bogies - ready to load!
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Assignment complete - Locomotive parked next to the cargo ship.
Both ship cranes hooked to the body of the locomotive - loading will be done tomorrow morning as the ship's ballast must be adjusted first to accommodate this heavy load and the loading process will also take a few hours.
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• In the Congo
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Chris Van Wyk: Pretoria to Durban Harbour Pictures of locomotives built by RRL Grindrod in Pretoria and destined for Exxaro in Congo Brazzaville. Pretoria to Durban harbour
Fresh from the assembly line, i.e. from RRL Grindrod assembly plant in Pretoria
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Support crew Robert Harford and Nico van Wyk
Supporting blocks being loaded on running board of EXX-3003 Leaving Pretoria for Durban:
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Changing pilot drivers at Witbank
Waiting to cross a TFR train I got off to inspect the locos and took a few pics — at Mpumalanga: 76
Eastern Escarpment 77
Between Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder
Taking over driving duties from Nico van Wyk at Golela station 78
Terence Petzer, our TFR pilot travelling with us from Golela
Waiting for a fresh pilot at Empangeni station — in Empangeni.
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Safely parked in Maydon Wharf in Durban.
From the lens of Andre Kritzinger • Worcester: English as she is spoken in South Africa
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• Queenstown
Where steam dreams! ... Until the scrap merchant arrives with his blow torch.
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• Salt Trucks for Botswana
Jaco Holtzhausen: New Trucks for Botswana -
Jaco Holtzhausen on Suid-Afrikaaanse Spoorweë / SA Railways / Ulolwe 82
Nuwe trokke van Botswana, nogals goeie brieke.
You, Jacobus Prinsloo, Grant Fryer, Noel Welch and 4 others like this.
Jacobus Prinsloo: waarvoor word die trokke gebruik? Jaco Holtzhausen Hierdie was ‘n vrag steenkool.
• Kaalfontein Car siding
Jaco Holtzhausen Kaalfontein — at Kaalfontein Car siding. Frans Burger, Alexander James Knight, Noel Welchand 5 others like this.
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• 37-094 at Sasolburg:
Jaco Holtzhausen on Suid-Afrikaaanse Spoorweë / SA Railways / Ulolwe Kyk hoe mooi lyk die meisie — at Sasolburg Yard. You, Rudi Venter, Francois Mattheüs, Andries Meiringand 11 others like this. Tertius Chuckster Tolken As ek mag vra wat is die verskil tussen die 37-000, 35-000 en 34-000. Jaco Holtzhausen 37 is n GM loko 16 silinders,35-000 GE 8 silinder en 34-000 ook GE 12 silinder Willie Marais Pragtig!!!! Laat 'n mens ver terug verlang na die 'Spoorweg' toe; alles geblink het van Trommel tot Trok!!! Bill Pieterse Mooi kleurskema.
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Graham Woycieh Ek so mal oor ‘n skoon lokomotief maar ongelukkig hier in Durban sien jy dit nie ...
43-014 - Wickus Heymans No further particulars provided.
Gary Meyer Gary Mayer had recently arrived in South Africa from the Congo and he shared the following photographs with us:
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Jacobus Prinsloo: Exxaro Locomotives: Pretoria
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Smittie van Zyl
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Jacobus Marais • Lidgetton
Jacobus Marais on Suid-Afrikaaanse Spoorweë / SA Railways / Ulolwe Nog een van die nuwe ballast wat gegooi word net buite Lidgetton
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• Historic Hilton Station
Jacobus Marais on Suid-Afrikaaanse Spoorweë / SA Railways / Ulolwe We'll done Grant Fryer, wishing you and the Hilton Steam Heritage Association all of the best with the project. Natal Witness today Rudi Venter, Jade TheMaster Wilson, Nico van der Westhuis and 4 others like this. Steve Compion Looking forward to visiting the final product. Wishing you everything of the best. Frank Graham Granty, to you and your team: I wish you every success and the continuing support you will need - and DESERVE. Adré Greyling le Roux Grant I see the coach that I looked after is on this photo. Second from the back number 5853. I wish we can get Keith and Judy Brown back in SA to join in with us. I do have contact with Gavin Claasen as well. Matt Raubenheimer Adré Greyling le Roux - Keith Brown is back in SA and has recently become a member of Friends of Atlantic Rail here in Cape Town. 93
AdrĂŠ Greyling le Roux: Thank you for this news, pleas can you inbox me their contact details and give them my regards.
Robert Maidment Wilson
15F 2916 nr Cape Town on 1998-05-17
15F 2916 94
CFB: Luau – Anton van Schalkwyk It seems the station building in Luau is coming on well!!
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South African Airways • Statue at Jan Smuts, Johannesburg Airport now O Tambo Airport Any further information re re: the statues that were exhibited at the Jan Smuts Airport now O Tambo will be welcome.
• SAA – Johannes Botha
Gautrain • Gautrain News: Compiled by Jeanette Jacobs
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Gautrain News: The bus strike during April played a major role in the Gautrain services NATIONAL BUS STRIKE - Refund of Period Products Dear Customer, If you have been unable to use your Gautrain period product as a result of the current bus strike, you can apply for a refund of the un-used value by following the process below: - Please complete a Refund Application form at your nearest station, clearly indicating that it is for un-used period product train trips due to the bus strike which started on 19 April 2013. Kindly note that you should only apply for a refund once the applicable period product has expired. - Please have your Gautrain Gold Card and either your ID, driver’s license or passport with you when you complete the refund application form. - Your refund application form and your Gold Card usage will be assessed to determine the exact refund amount. This may take a few days so please bear with us. You will be refunded an amount equivalent to the value of the period product trips that you have been unable to use during this time. - The refund amount is calculated by multiplying the fare cost per trip (as applicable to your specific period product) by the number of week days that you were unable to use the train system due to the bus strike, up to a maximum of the number of unused trips on the specific period product. - This amount will be refunded by loading the equivalent Pay-As-You-Go value onto 98
your existing Gautrain Cold Card. Kindly note th that at no cash will be refunded. - The above analysis will be done offline and a Customer Service Information Officer will contact you telephonically to have your refund loaded at one of three identified stations (Rosebank, Sandton and Centurion) on a mutuall mutually y convenient date. Gautrain bus services will return to normal on Monday 29 April 2013. Thank you kindly for your patience. Can anyone recognise this intersection?
Monday 29 April 2013, a fifth 88-car car train will be inserted during the morning as well as afternoon peak periods. This will mean that at least every second train during peak periods will be an 8-car car train.
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Railways and the Media • Sies, Transnet! 2013-04-28 00:05: Jan de Lange
Dr. Anton Moolman, voormalige uitvoerende hoof van Transnet. Hy verduidelik in ’n verklaring hoe Transnet se skuld by die pensioenfonds ontstaan het. Transnet het die pensioenfondse van sy afgetrede lede, onder wie derduisende behoeftige bejaardes, op onwettige maniere stelselmatig kaalgepluk sodat Transnet sélf die geld kon vat. So voer van die land se bekendste regsgeleerdes aan in die grootste siviele eis in die land se regsgeskiedenis wat Vrydag by die hooggeregshof in Pretoria ingedien is. Pleitstukke in dié klasaksie-eis van R79 miljard is opgestel deur adv. Jaap Cilliers SC en adv. Leon Kellerman SC. Die “ooglopend onwettige maniere” waarop die fondse glo gestroop is, het eers onlangs aan die lig gekom toe regsgeleerdes wat vir die pensioentrekkers optree 100
notules en finansiële state van die fondse in die hande gekry en ontleed het, word in hofstukke beweer. Dit wys glo hoe die fondse se belangrikste bate – skuldbriewe ter waarde van R7,7 miljard wat elke jaar ’n inkomste van R1,2 miljard aan die fonds verskaf het – vroeg in 2001 “verruil” is vir aandele in MTN, destyds M-Cell, ter waarde van sowat R1,395 miljard. “Daar is geen aanduiding dat die fondse enige inkomste uit die M-Cell-aandele gekry het nie,” sê Kellerman. Die stropery het ook daarop uitgeloop dat die trustees in 2001 besluit het om die jaarlikse verhogings van pensioene tot 2% te beperk, strydig met sy vorige besluite dat die verhogings minstens 70% van die inflasiekoers moet dek. Dié
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pensioenfondslede binne ’n kort tydperk sou doodgaan en dat die “probleem” dan opgelos sou wees, sê Johan Pretorius, ’n Transnet-pensioentrekker van Bloemfontein, in ’n beëdigde verklaring. “Dit is duidelik georkestreer deur Transnet om sy balansstaat te verbeter – wéér ten koste van die lede van die fonds.” Pretorius sê verder in sy eedsverklaring die wanbestuur van die fonds en die stroop van sy bates is gedoen met die instemming van die destydse minister van openbare ondernemings, Jeff Radebe, en die minister van finansies, Trevor Manuel. ’n Tipiese voorbeeld van die nood van Transnet-pensioentrekkers wat in die pleitstukke gebruik word, is Ernst van der Walt van Pretoria-Noord en lid van die Transnet-Tweede Vaste Voordele-Fonds. Hy kry op die oomblik ’n pensioen van R1 878,78 per maand. Hy sou volgens sy aftreevoorwaardes lewenslank gratis lid van ’n mediese fonds gewees het, maar dis in opdrag van Transnet gestaak. “Die gevolg van dié ongelukkige situasie is nou dat Van der Walt ’n netto pensioen van R1 per maand kry. “Dit weerspieël die lot van ’n groot persentasie van die lede van die Transnetpensioenfonds en die Transnet- Tweede Vaste Voordele-fonds,” sê Pretorius in sy beëdigde verklaring. 101
Hy en Johan Kruger van Pretoria-Noord dien die eis namens die oorblywende 66 000 pensioentrekkers en hul afhanklikes in. Hulle word vinnig minder. In 2000, toe hulle geskei is van Transnet se ander pensioenfondse, was hulle 103 000. In 2011 was daar 75 000 oor. Sowat 53% van hulle is wit, 33% is swart en 13% is van ander rasse. Hulle vra die hof om die enorme eis van R79 miljard in Julie as ’n klasaksie goed te keur. Dit sal waarskynlik daartoe lei dat Transnet se kredietgradering onmiddellik afwaarts aangepas word. Die eis bestaan uit skuld van sowat R17,1 miljard wat Transnet en die regering in 1990 erken het hy aan die fonds verskuldig is met die kommersialisering van Transnet in 1990, met rente teen 12% per jaar; ’n verlies van R5,498 miljard wat gely is met die ruil van die skuldbriewe in 2001, asook terugbetalings vir surplusse in die fonds wat aan Transnet uitbetaal is. * Pensioentrekkers van Transnet wat nader besonderhede oor die klas-aksie wil hê, kan die regspan kontak by Geyser & Coetzee Prokureurs, 012 663 5247/8 of die Transnet-Pensioen-aksiegroep per e-pos kontak by tpag@telkomsa.net. http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Sies-Transnet-20130427
Books and Rail Magazines • Natal: An Illustrated Official Railway Guide and handbook of General Information; published by Natal Government Railways during 1903. Gilles van Schalkwyk came over, from the other side of the Juksei River, to show us the above historical book in Pretoria. [I have a copy published during 1910. This issue is older and contains a lot of historical information.] We made some scans and I think our readers will enjoy the following:
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I remember one day I visited Mr Eric Conradie in the SAR Library and he showed me the above photo. He was wondering where this particular photo was taken? He told me he thought it was Wests. Having visited Wests many times during the 1960’s I could not give an opinion. However no we have proof that this picture was taken at Wests and not on the natal South Coast. NGR Map [p 104]: I remember adding before Union (1910) the NGR extended the line from Harrismith in the Free State to Kroonstad in order to get some of the Cape traffic. Plan of Durban [p 105]: I found an old map of Durban c1930 which also showed the line from Point to Durban Station. Ladysmith Station Yard [p 105]: The spots indicate Boer shells during the siege.
• On Rails under Paris: Francois Gunter (France) Francois Gunter is another former “Durbanite” and we both attended the same school in Durban (at different times) and we both joined the SA Police. He is years younger than me. He and his family now live in France. He kindly sent me the following book for my library:
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Natal Newsletter: Railway Society of Southern Africa – Ashley Peter
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Back page: E1 taken at Pinetown
RMIG – Lionel Penning •
We have not yet received the April issue – HBH
Railway History Group – Wally Greig •
No report received - HBH
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Around the Globe NZ steam: Wynand van Brakel (Fromerly Durban)
The world has indeed shrunk, Wynand is also a former Durbanite and we also attended the same school. At one stage Wynand was employed by the SAR working in the workshops on the Garratts - HBH 110
Letters We cannot place all letters, but here are a few:
• Les Smith Hi Hennie, Excellent as always! Thank you for your effort in putting the "Uloliwe" together. Regards, Les S.
• Ian Roberts Hennie, I very much enjoyed the current copy. On the subject of heavy lift vessels I make my retirement fun-money loading these things.
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For information the pictures titled very deep should actually read sank. Off Gabon, I believe. On the FOTR website I posted a photo of one of these beasts which was off Port Elizabeth in April 2010 on its way to North west Australia from the Gulf of Mexico. Avery interesting voyage. http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=221&t=6742#p21846 A nice photo, but sadly I don’t have the copy write If you are interested I do have some others which are my copyright.
Pandora’s Box • Grand Central: New York
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• WW2: Rail Gun
• Pakistan
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• Beckenridge, Colorado
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• Tobruk Station
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©
HBH
The next issue of “The Uloliwe” will be Vol. 4 No 6 and will be published, DV, sometime during late June 2013. Send in your comments, anecdotes and photographs please. Take care! Stuur solank u stories, herinneringe en eie foto’s aan heymanshb@gmail.com in jpg-formaat Hennie Heymans – Pretoria, ZA © 2013
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