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Pictures copyright © 1999-2007 - Trevor Staats
| Saturday 26 June saw the final day of the David Rodgers stem
safari operating in the Bloemfontein area. The train departed Thaba
Nchu at dawn behind 16E 857 and 15F 3040. We caught up with it near
Sannaspos, the locos looking fantastic beneath an early morning
steam plume. A stop was made at Sannaspos for photographs, with a few runpasts being done. From there it was a quick run into Bloemfontein, pausing for a signal stop at Shannon. The train pulled into the Bloem loco shed, where there were 5 locos in steam - 16E 857, 15F 3040, 23 3300, 26 3450, and 15AR 1850, not bad for 1999! The Red Devil took over the train for the run north to Theunissen. We waited near Karee, and soon the Devil came belting past at high speed - the challenge was then to catch it for another shot! We managed a couple of shots before Theunissen, where a loco change was done. Modified NC 3454 "B I Ebing" took over, and also put in a good performance on the northward run. A few shots later the train arrived at Kroonstad, where the steam was taken off, and electrics took over the final run of the train to Johannesburg. |
