Although all the required boiler tubes for the two Kalahari locomotives No. 119 and 124 have arrived, work has come to a temporary halt on the restoration of the locos due to the recent sad death of our stalwart fitter and steam enthusiast Sydney Terblanche. Sydney had been with the Apple Express for as many years as I can remember and his expertise in maintaining and repairing our locomotives will be sorely missed. He was well liked not only by the Apple Express staff but also by the Spoornet personnel that he regularly came in contact with. Many years ago he had a heart by-pass operation which enabled him to return to work on his beloved steam locomotives with renewed vigour. Recently though he once again started to suffer from chest pains. He nevertheless continued to work on restoring the Kalahari No. 119 right up until his death.

Because the boiler tubes have to be swaged which can only be done at The Heritage Foundation steam work-

Sydney Terblanche (In white shirt)

shops at Voorbaai these tubes will have to be sent to the workshops in the near future.

THE PATENSIE WANDERER

Geoff Cooke of “Geoff’s Trains” UK, booked the train for a group of UK tourists, diesel hauled accepted, for a two day run from Port Elizabeth to Patensie return. Here is a report of the trip by Peter Burton.
Sunday 23rd – Two passenger coaches, the historically original first class coach No.58 and the “open” coach No. 99, were selected for the trip. Making up the set were the two guards vans No. 73 and No. 78 and the ‘Apple Tavern’. The motive power was diesel unit N.G. 91-007. The train departed Humewood Road at 9.30am on a cloudy overcast day. The first stop was Chelsea junction for morning tea. It was then on to Van Stadens and included a number of run-by’s for the benefit of the photographers amongst the passengers. The next stop was Thornhill Station for lunch at the Hotel.
After lunch it was on to Summit siding for a brief stop to take in the magnificent view over what is locally known as the East Cape’s “Valley of a Thousand Hills”. The train then wound its way slowly down the 12km of bends to the small town of Loerie in the valley. Time was taken to show our guests the first of three turntables to be found on the Avontuur line. This one being the Cowan Sheldon turntable built in Carlisle UK in 1883. After inspection, it was felt that this turntable had been adapted for this line from a possible ‘Cape Gauge’ table from another section, as it pre dated the construction of the P.E.- Avontuur line by at least 20 years.
At Gamtoos Junction, the train branched northwards for the run up to Patensie. Here the line takes us along the scenic section which skirts the Gamtoos river bank passing the ‘Red Cliffs’ and on to Hankey for afternoon tea. Just after leaving Hankey the train was brought to a sudden stop. A mud slide lay across the track blocking our path. It appeared that the slide was caused by a burst water pipe high up on the bank. It was then a matter of all available hands at work to try and remove the mud and bush from the track. Luckily a short while later some locals appeared and armed with spades they managed to clear the obstruction away in no time at all.

Clearing the mub slide.                  Photo: P. Burton

It was then on to Centerton and the Lion Farm where a number of possible photo run-by sites were noted. We finally arrived in Patensie slightly late due to the unforeseen mud slide. Patensie station and surrounds is still neat and well cared for despite there being no more citrus traffic on the line. This year saw a brief return to fruit on the rail from the packing shed at Patensie but it did not last long before road transport took over once again.
On arrival our hosts for the overnight stay in Patensie were on hand to greet the passengers. Everyone then departed to a local restaurant for the evening meal and then to their respective accommodation in nearby B&B’s with the train crew retiring to the local Hotel for the night.
The next morning saw us checking the second Cowan Sheldon turntable, this one dated 1897. Here NG 91-007 had to be turned for the run home. Not a difficult task as there were many willing hands to assist while the rest of the passengers photographically recorded the exercise.
Monday 24th – Today with a 9.00am start the weather once again did not look good, being overcast with the odd rain shower. The run back to Gamtoos was uneventful. The Ganger and his staff were in attendance to check on the mud slide at Hankey. At Gamtoos junction we had our first refreshment stop of the day after which we pushed back onto the ‘three part’ Gamtoos River Bridge for a run-by. It was then on to Loerie and up the 12km
climb to Summit and through to Thornhill for lunch at the local restaurant, the “Lazy Lizard”. More rain fell on the run to Chelsea Junction for the last stop before arriving back in Port Elizabeth. On arriving back at Humewood we pushed back directly into the Diesel Depot where we took our guests on a tour of the Diesel Workshops where the Kahalari NG 15 No 119 and coach NG 143 are being refurbished.