Boon has condensed his encylopediac knowledge of the SA rail system and his years of criss-crossing it with his legendary train safaris to into what must be the local railway book of the year.
An A4-sized 350-page package of information, this book not only describes the history and topology of almost all the main and branch lines (open and closed) but also manages to add in a touristic guide to them as well. But, that's not all! The book contains hundreds of beautiful colour pics, mostly of his BTS trains, many located in some of the most scenic parts of the system. And wait! There's more! The lines in each section of the book are accompanied by brilliantly detailed maps, drawn by Bruno Martin, that show the exact routes against contours and relief that remind me of the 1:50000 survey maps that I studied for "O-level" geography. Additional large-scale maps are inserted for those sections that require closer inspection, such as Van Reenen's and Majuba passes, the Barkely reverses and others, which show the location of the lines and tunnels as they existed over the years. To that is added the dates of opening and closure as well as heights and distances -- truely amazing detail not normally found outside serious, dry reference material.
For each major section of line, Boon provides a chapter on history and topology, followed by a chapter on "The Route", the touristy aspects.
Liberal use has been made of "side bars", seperate boxes to add interesting details and pieces of interest. The book also contains anectodes and bits of humour which make the already easy reading, even easier.
On the down-side, this book is self-published and produced down to a price, making it really affordable. This though, means that the typography, layout and colour repro has suffered somewhat. The book has numerous literal errors. I have the English version and translation from the presumably original Afrikaans has doubtless created some of the production errors, including some picture captions that remain in Afrikaans. The printing is iffy, with uneven inking densities and poor colour-ink registration in places. These issues, together with the low-rent choice of soft cover and square-backed, perfect binding, mean that this book unfortunately crashes out of the coffee-table index. Which is a pity, because this is a book that really impresses and should be shown off at every opportunity.
Tracks Across the Veld, ISBN 978-0-620-41711-2, is written by JNC Boonzaaier in Warmbaths/Bela Bela, and published in 2008 by the author at R300.00 excluding postage at R30.00 in SA.
The book is not available from retailers.
To order, contact Boon Boonzaaier at [url]mailto:info@boon.co.za[/url] . Website: http://www.boon.co.za . Postal address: Box 237, Wambaths/Bela Bela, 0480.
The book is also published in Afrikaans as "Spore Oor Die Veld".
- img003.jpg (63.71 KiB) Viewed 2798 times