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Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
See also John Raby's blogs at www.rabylee.uk/linesidingindex.html

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Thursday, May 6, 2010

Southern African itinerary

For the majority of the trip I will be part of Geoff Cooke's tour. You can find details of this here: http://www.geoffs-trains.com/SouthAfrica/Steam2010.html
However, as soon as I arrive in South Africa on 18 May I will fly to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe as I have an invitation to visit the 2ft gauge chrome mine railway at Shurugwi. This has bogie diesels similar to those used in the Queensland sugar industry.
From May 21 to 23 I will be in Mtubatuba in KwaZulu-Natal to visit the sole surviving narrow gauge sugar cane railway system in South Africa, at the Umfolozi Sugar Mill. This is a 2ft 6ins (762mm) gauge line with locally-built diesels.
I join Geoff's tour on the evening of 23 May in Johannesburg and on 25 May will arrive at Sandstone Estates, with its magnificent collection of preserved 2ft gauge steam, for a three day stay. 28 May will see us at the 2ft gauge Paton Country Narrow Gauge Railway. 1 June to 4 June will be spent travelling on the 'Apple Express' on the South African Railways 2ft gauge Avontuur line with preserved steam locomotives.
Interspersed among these activities will be some 3ft 6ins gauge steam experiences, which will be a relaxing bonus as far as I am concerned.
Currently, I am still trying to get things tied up at work, and with just over a week to go, there is a lot to do. The blogging will begin in earnest after then.

1 comment:

  1. I'm looking forward to this.

    Do you have any plans to see African animals?

    Take lots of photos and upload the best ones to your blog please.

    ReplyDelete