Letseng Diamond Mine

Cast your vote!

* Voting done and dusted.

* Tours Updates

* Lesotho (Part 3)

* Technical / Engineering

* Wild Coast (Collywobbles)

* Featured Pass


General Election 2024

The voting is over. Now we wait for the results. I have always been quite impressed with the IEC organization of elections, but this year they fell woefully short. They have had four years to prepare and no less than 8 previous elections to have learned from. How is it possible to stuff things up on such a royal scale?! You only had one job!

Tours Updates:

All the tours for the rest of 2024 are fully booked. We only have two tickets open for the Grabouw Training Day (11th August).


Lesotho (Part 3)

We had rain forecast (again) for the second day on tour and departed from Oxbow Lodge punctually in low cloud, heading for the infamous Moteng Pass. Personally this pass holds tons of allure for me for its raw energy, tortuous bends and dramatic scenery. I would rank as my number one tarred pass in SA & Lesotho.

Just after leaving Oxbow Lodge, we noticed a lovely thatched lodge being built close to the same river that Oxbow Lodge is built next to. We were informed that the government had ordered the builders to stop building, as the waters of the new Polihali Dam would be too close to the lodge. It will be interesting to see what the final outcome is.

The climb up to the summit of the Moteng Pass was no problem, but when we reached the spacious view site, we found several trucks occupying the space. We managed to wriggle our vehicles in between the trucks to enjoy the lofty views. Speaking to some of the truck drivers, we established that an abnormal load truck was stuck further down the pass and that only small vehicles could squeeze past.

Trucks breaking down on the pass is regular occurence. We descended slowly taking in all the drama as we lost altitude. We could see stationary trucks lined up for many kilometres down the valley.

When we arrived at the stuck truck, it was transporting a tracked drilling unit destined for the Polihali Dam construction site. It had stalled on a very tight and steep hairpin bend, blocking 3/4 of the roadway.

Moteng 07Andy Theron pulling the David & Goliath move past the truck on Moteng Pass

We all managed to squeeze past with inches to spare, but the poor truckers would be marooned there for two days, as a special recovery truck had to be brought in from South Africa. A week later, when we took the V3 tour group over the pass, it was plain sailing.

Our first point of interest for the day was a visit to the Liphofung Caves, which is an important cultural site (run by the government) but not very well maintained due to a lack of funds. None the less, our enthusiastic young guide cheerfully took us down a series of steps and small bridges to reach the main caves, which was large enough to hide a small army - and that is exactly what the caves were used for 150 years ago, as they are very well camouflaged.

After Liphofung Caves it was a short drive to the Muela Hydro Power Station. During the first tour we arrived on a Friday amidst a large contingent of local school kids, which certainly added to the youthful vibe, whereas during the V3 tour a week later, things were much quieter, with our group being the only visitors.

An induction/safety talk took place in the main building up on the hill, followed by a short drive to the tunnel entrance about 2 km away. The whole setup was impressive and involved an 800m walk down a sloping tunnel, where we were taken into the four storey underground structure where the turbines are located. One of the turbines was being serviced during our visit, so we had a good view of the internals of the machine, which stands about 3m tall and the same diameter. The walk back to the car park was an oxygen sucking affair.

Muela 777Inside the main turbine room at Muela showing the 3 turbines that produce half of Lesotho's electricity needs / Photo: Metro News, Lesotho

The engineering and maintenance was top notch and the visit was thoroughly enjoyed by our guests, a number of who were engineers.


ENGINEERING / HISTORY - PART 3

Crossing the Kraai River

Twice crossed by the railway line, the West Kraai River crossing is 27 km from Aliwal North. At the time of its construction, it required a fairly substantial bridge, which could only be completed about six months after the completion of the rest of the section. (Pre-dating the production of structural steel in South Africa, bridges had to be imported from overseas, mostly Britain, which incurred delays.) In March 1925 the original bridge was washed away, cutting New England off, and there ensued a series of three hastily erected temporary bridges, but they in turn were also washed away.

On June 25, after a rail interruption of more than three months, a fourth temporary bridge restored regular service. During the first part of the interruption, there were no locomotives on the Barkly East side of the break, and some goods (mostly coal and mealie-meal) had to be transported by trolley. May brought more rain, and the mountains were white with snow. Supplies of food, coal and paraffin ran very low in Barkly East.

 KraaiRiverRailBridgeThe old rail bridge over the Kraai River / Photo: Mike Leicester

Before its foundations were damaged, the third temporary bridge remained in service just long enough to allow two engines to cross to the Barkly East side of the break. Passengers had to cross the river in a boat at their own risk and goods were hauled across the river using two aerial wire cables. Partial service was thus restored. One year later, in March 1926, the fourth temporary bridge was washed away and finally a permanent bridge was constructed by 30 July 1926. In exasperation the local newspaper (Barkly East Reporter) cried: “The whole affair has been a glaring example of how not to do things!” 

 At the other end of the line, 11 km from Barkly East, the Kraai River East crossing posed a similar problem as did the Karringmelkspruit. Approaching from the northeast the line descended steeply to cross the Kraai River at a reasonably low level. As the engineers tried to find a solution to the “difficult nature” of the Kraai River East crossing, construction was delayed three months beyond the promised date. Eventually the crossing was achieved by the use of two further reverses. Reverses have inherent disadvantages of slower average speed and limited train length, but they were adopted due to significant capital cost savings when compared to an alternative longer length of line. Six existing reverses on the branch line might have eased the decision to limit the capital outlay.

Finally completed all the way to Barkly East, the official opening of the line took place on 12 December 1930 – “Barkly’s Day of Days”. Starting at 10:00, the train with officials entered the station and the customary bottle of champagne was broken on the decorated locomotive. One of the three national Railway Commissioners, D Hugo, opened the line. Then there followed a public luncheon at 13:00, a fancy-dress carnival at 15:00, free films (“bioscope”) for children at 18:45, dancing in the town hall from 20:00, and free bioscope entertainment for adults from 21:00. Market Square was decoratively illuminated.

“It is only once in the lifetime of a town that such an occasion as that which occurred on Wednesday last can be celebrated”, exclaimed the Barkly East Reporter. By transporting agricultural products to urban areas, and providing rural access to industrial commodities, provision of rail access has always been seen as an instrument of national development. Following this philosophy, many earlier railway lines were approved despite doubts that they would ever pay their way. Branch lines, in general, performed poorly.

In 1906, for example, only two of the then 22 branch lines in the Cape system were profitable if capital redemption was included. Almost at the bottom of the list in terms of profitability was the Barkly East branch line. At the start of construction in 1903, the line had to compete with ox wagon traffic, which was still very much alive and well at the time, until legislation in 1909 removed ox wagons as an economic threat (and a local livelihood). But by the line’s completion in 1930, a new competitor had arrived in the form of motor transport, against which it would steadily lose ground throughout the ensuing 60 years. For economic reasons regular service was finally discontinued in 1991. 

Compiled by Johannes Haarhoff, Francis Legge, Mike Johns, Bill James & Johan de Koker. First published in Engineering News in 2013 magazine.

We will conclude this story in the next episode with the train accident in 1992 that finally closed the line down for good.

 

WILD COAST TOUR V7 (DAY 10)

We arranged for Kob Inn to have breakfast ready at 06.30 for a 07.30 departure to Collywobbles. It's a big day in the saddle and keeping track of of time is important to ensure we don't arrive back in the dark. Our convoy left punctually heading for Willowvale where most vehicles had to refuel. We then followed the new road towards the Cwebe Nature Reserve, which is a delight to drive. It's only about 15 km long and soon peters out at an optimistic traffic circle giving access to two typically substandard Wild Coast roads, but the scenery is amazing, displacing any discomfort with ease. 

Our route took us all along the spine of a long ridge with the Nqabara River to the left and the Mbashe to the right, providing magnificent scenery. 

The total time needed to get from Kob Inn to Collywobbles is 4.5 hours. The access roads to the upper vulture viewsite was still under construction and a no-go zone, so we followed the freshly graded lower contour drive to the bird hide, then proceeded all along the ridge with the Mbashe visible on both sides. 

An intriguing road clibed steeply away up a hill, so we decided to explore it. This provided plenty of excitement as our convoy finally reached the highest point of the road, where we parked on a makeshift soccer field, with crooked sticks making up the goal posts. It was perfection itself.

It was on this soccer field that I realised that two of our single guests had quietly fallen in love. That night back at Kob Inn, they made the official announcement that they were an "item". We were really delighted that they found each other on an MPSA tour as both had lost their spouses a few years back to illness. Joy to the world!

Oh yes, we made it back before sunset. A long, tiring, but hugely rewarding day.

Next episode - The last day from Kob Inn to Crawfords Beach Lodge via the Kei Mouth ferry.

 


 

FEATURED PASS

We head off to the misty mountains of Mpumalanga to cyber drive a narrow winding old pass through the old gold mining erea around Pilgrims Rest. This beautiful, long, tarred pass winds it's down the escarpment on the R533 between Graskop in the east and Pilgrim's Rest in the west. The scenery is breathtaking, with forests, waterfalls, ghost towns, old mines and birdlife in abundance. This is a fairly steep pass, especially on the eastern side with gradients around 1:10.

 

* *   B O N N E T   P A S S   * *

 

 

Trygve Roberts

Quote of the day: : "Civilisation degrades the many to exalt the few" ~ Amos Bronson Alcott (1799 - 1888)