Cullinan trip Friday 27 November

[Chris Janisch]

Fireman John Ashworth may like some of these.
He returned to SA for a short railway trip, and was rostered as fireman on 3117 on Friday 27. It was a hot dry morning, but your reporter was on hand to record the occasion, and listen to the beautiful echoes of the 15F's exhaust and shrieking whistle in the gorge at Panpoort..

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

First one is very nice Chris.

A new spot for the middle one?

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Great photos Chris. I see you had seven coaches plus a service coach. Would the 19D have not coped with that load. From what I have read the Dolly is cheaper to run?

[John Ashworth]

You're right, Stefan - the Dolly copes easily with 8 vehicles, and we wouldn't have needed the auxiliary water tank as the Dolly makes it to Cullinan on half a tender of water. But the Dolly has seen a lot of service recently (three trains a week during this peak season in the run-up to Christmas) and it was decided to give her a break and let 3117, which hasn't run much at all since re-entering service, have a run. On Thursday afternoon we shunted the Dolly onto the inspection pit where her grease pads were removed for inspection and other routine maintenance was carried out.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Looking at these photos again, The 15F looks mighty impressive. You need to get a 25 now

[Steve Appleton]

Stefan, we do indeed have a class 25, no 3404, which is stabled, by kind favour, at Reefsteamers Germiston shed. Although apparently in good condition it would still be a massive effort to get back into service again when we have many more pressing projects to complete. And, if the 15F is only needed on the occasional really big train and is somewhat expensive to run, the 25 would be even more expensive to run and be needed to work our trains even more rarely.