Salvokop Workshop - Now

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Chris Janisch writes:

On 15 October I visited the old Salvokop workshop site.

Totally unrecognisable from my teenage trainspotting days (NOTE - CHRIS IS QUITE OLD SO THIS WAS A LONG TIME AGO)- everything is demolished and flattened for some development. I used to stand on the old footbridge to view shunting operations here. The old 3 yard is still in use for Metro sets, and the old kiln and shunters' afdak, made of rackrail apparently, still stand alongside the fence. The old column and red water tank are still in place. There were some concrete beams piled up, perhaps used for fencing or for points sleepers?

Sad to see the old go. This was originally one of our proposed sites..

We found a left and right hand set of points still in situ, but without tumblers

[Nathan Berelowitz]

The little carport for the shunters, had supports that were sections of the rack railway.

[Marius Avenant]

This is a sad event. Somewhere during 1980/81 my father was part of a bridge building team and he would pedal his old Raleigh bicycle (one of those black bikes with the metal rod brakes and thick wheels) to Salvokop all the way from Beyers street in Rietfontein every day, come rain or shine. I'm not sure now whether they worked out from there, or whether they were busy with construction on site. I am however sure he would have been shocked and more than just mildly annoyed to see this sort of destruction.

If change comes hand in hand with progress, then change is good, but if change comes just for the sake of change, well....that is the worst thing on earth.

Speaking of earth... It is a good thing that Google Earth doesn't seem to update their imaging of SA so regularly. At least "views from above" of sites that have recently disappeared or are suspected of disappearing soon, can still be saved. Is that the case of the current Google Earth image of the Salvokop yard? And what about Koedoespoort and Millsite.