Working "The Orange Express" with steam скачать в хорошем качестве

Working "The Orange Express" with steam

Until 3-04-92 the Durban to Cape Town and return express train was worked between Kimberley and De Aar using class 25NC steam locomotives. These mighty big 4-8-4s could easily handle the 21 or so coaches of these heavy trains and hammered along through the Karoo desert at speeds in excess of 70mph. Sadly on 3-04-92 the end finally came and with Englishman John Gilberthorpe as driver and myself as fireman we prepared double chimney 25NC no 3454 for the last Southbound express. Our load was only 20 coaches but 3454 took it all in her stride. Even though the loco was not up to her usual good standards of steaming due to a few blocked tubes we still arrived into De Aar 14 minutes ahead of schedule. Sadly there was no load on return so we ended up light engine all the way back to Kimberley and that was the end of regular steam on the famous double track mainline in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Again the quality is poor but watchable