Norman Bussi RIP

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John Ashworth
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Norman Bussi RIP

Post by John Ashworth »

Nathan wrote:I was informed that Norman passed away in late May 2016. One of the early members and responsible for the restoration of some of our coaches and lounge car.
Some photos taken by Trevor Staats.
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Mike Haslam
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Re: Norman Bussi RIP

Post by Mike Haslam »

Norman was a great character. Loved our trains and was always there to help out, especially with our excursions.

In my memory I can hear him chatting away during our regular tea-breaks in the old coach we used. His legacy goes on in the work he put into our coaches, still taking hundreds of happy travelers on an exciting adventure behind our steam engines.

I am sure he is sorely missed by his family. Please pass along my condolences.
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John Ashworth
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Re: Norman Bussi RIP

Post by John Ashworth »

Norman was my first face-to-face contact with FOTR. In 2000 I travelled from Kenya to South Africa to ride the Blue Train to Victoria Falls. I searched on the internet for steam in Pretoria, came up with FOTR, contacted them in advance and asked if I could see their locomotives, and they arranged for Norman to pick me up from my hotel and take me to Capital Park. He was gracious, friendly, and a very interesting character with his tales of his navy days. He spent a whole morning showing me around the site. I still recall him referring to the 19D as "a small branch line engine", whereas to me it looked as big as almost anything that had run on the British main line. By chance my couple of days in Pretoria coincided with one of FOTR's monthly meetings (remember those?) so I also attended that. After my Blue Train ride I returned to Kenya, and to my surprise, only a year later, an opportunity arose for me to be posted to South Africa, and that began my serious engagement with FOTR which lasts until today.

One political comment which Norman made to me while we were sitting in a small restaurant having lunch and discussing apartheid remains with me, as I thought it was a remarkably open-minded view from a white man of his generation. "The government told us that the roof would fall in on our heads if we allowed the black majority to come to power". He pointed at the roof of the restaurant above us. "Look, it hasn't fallen in!"
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