Reefsteamers is a not for profit organisation that was formed in the early 1990's when the SA Railways discontinued the use of steam powered locomotives. Volunteers from all walks of life have the objective of preserving and rebuilding old steam locomotives and thereby preserve the steam rail heritage of the country.
Based in Germiston, the organisation currently have a number of locomotives either in operational condition or undergoing refurbishment. Including one owned by David Shepherd, the well known English artist and self confessed steam train ophile.
Reefsteamers operate a regular schedule of outings to Magaliesberg village leaving Johannesburg in the morning for a ride through the scenic Magaliesberg mountains. Stopping adjacent to a park, fires are ready for passengers to use for a braai lunch.
A new service runs from Johannesburg to the Hermanstad station near Pretoria which is the home of the Friends of the Trains and boasts a rail museum. A lunch is served in the dining car during the trip and time is set aside to visit the museum.
Special trains are arranged for advertising filming, corporate events or extended steam train trips. One recent trip was scheduled to last a fortnight and took in parts of the Free State as well as Mpumulanga.This is definitely an outing to recall bygone days and is something completely different.
http://www.reefsteamers.com/
Showing posts with label pretoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pretoria. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
The Place of Salt
Tswaing is Tswana for Place of Salt (Saltpan in English and Soutpan in Afrikaans) and, strangely, is a National Museum, so designated to preserve a large meteorite crater. Why should that be strange you may ask? Well, Tswaing also comprises an approximate 2 000 hectare nature reserve complete with plains game.
This crater can be seen from outer space and is over 1 kilometre wide and 100 metres deep and is estimated to have been formed over 200 000 years ago when a stony meteorite with a diameter of between 30 and 50 metres hit the earth. Water in the crater comes from surface springs, ground water and rain water and is rich in dissolved carbonates and sodium chlorides.
Stone tools from the Middle Stone Age reveal that the crater was regularly visited by people from as far back as 100 000 years ago in order to hunt and collect salt. It is believed that Tswana and Sotho people also harvested the salt between 1200 AD and 1800 AD. Between 1912 and 1956, soda ash and salt was extracted in a commercial operation.
A pleasant picnic site under shady trees complete with braai facilities and toilets is the starting point for a fairly gentle and attractive 8 kilometre walk that leads to the crater floor. As a bonus, it is a good birdwatching destination with a good variety of waterbirds in the crater and Bushveld birds in the surrounds.
Approximately 35 kilometres north west of Pretoria, this potential World Heritage site is well worth a visit.
www.ditsong.org.za/tswaing.htm
www.hartrao.ac.za
This crater can be seen from outer space and is over 1 kilometre wide and 100 metres deep and is estimated to have been formed over 200 000 years ago when a stony meteorite with a diameter of between 30 and 50 metres hit the earth. Water in the crater comes from surface springs, ground water and rain water and is rich in dissolved carbonates and sodium chlorides.
Stone tools from the Middle Stone Age reveal that the crater was regularly visited by people from as far back as 100 000 years ago in order to hunt and collect salt. It is believed that Tswana and Sotho people also harvested the salt between 1200 AD and 1800 AD. Between 1912 and 1956, soda ash and salt was extracted in a commercial operation.
A pleasant picnic site under shady trees complete with braai facilities and toilets is the starting point for a fairly gentle and attractive 8 kilometre walk that leads to the crater floor. As a bonus, it is a good birdwatching destination with a good variety of waterbirds in the crater and Bushveld birds in the surrounds.
Approximately 35 kilometres north west of Pretoria, this potential World Heritage site is well worth a visit.
www.ditsong.org.za/tswaing.htm
www.hartrao.ac.za
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
An Early Magnates Mansion
Some 25 kms east of Pretoria lies Zwartkoppies Hall, otherwise known as the Sammy Marks Museum, a unique Victorian mansion set in a large country estate. The interior is preserved as though the family still lives there and is full of priceless furniture and other Victorian era treasures. Sammy Marks Square in Pretoria? Lewis and Marks Building in Johannesburg? Just who was this Sammy Marks?
The story starts in Lithuania in the mid-19th century when Samuel was born to a humble tailor but, amid increasing persecution, he moved to Sheffield as a teenager where his uncle had a cutlery manufacturing business. At the age of 21, Sammy embarked for Cape Town with a canteen of cutlery providing him with the capital to begin trading as a "smous" or travelling salesman. Joined by his cousin, Isaac Lewis, they followed the diamond rush to Kimberley and quickly built up their business supplying merchandise to the miners before branching out into diamond trading. Ever the visionary, he realised the need for coal to power the diamond mines and moved to the Transvaal, now Gauteng, and soon became the King of Coal.
Ever the entrepreneur, Sammy's business interests spanned gold and coal mining, a distillery, a canning factory, a glass factory, a brick and tile works and an iron and steel works and most of these were the precursors to well known and major enterprises today. The story is told of how he was particularly intrigued by a valley he would traverse as he travelled between his home in Pretoria and the coal mines in Vereeniging. Intuition led him to propose to his two partners that they sell their coal interests and buy significant land holdings in the valley but he was outvoted. Subsequently, the farms he proposed buying was where major gold deposits were discovered only a few years later and where modern Johannesburg stands today!
A close friendship and trust grew between Sammy and President Kruger and his cabinet ministers as well as well known Boer Generals Botha, de Wet and de la Rey but equally close ties developed between himself and the Lords Roberts, Kitchener and Milner of the British forces. A lookout on the estate would forewarn the household which dignitaries were approaching so that the appropriate flag could be hoisted in welcome and it is recorded that Sammy played an invaluable role as a go between the two sides..
An excellent tea garden and restaurant serves delicious meals and cakes - highly recommended. Guided tours are conducted several times a day starting at 10am on most days of the year.
Tel:
+27 (0)12 802 1150
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Marks
http://www.ditsong.org.za/sammymarks.htm
The story starts in Lithuania in the mid-19th century when Samuel was born to a humble tailor but, amid increasing persecution, he moved to Sheffield as a teenager where his uncle had a cutlery manufacturing business. At the age of 21, Sammy embarked for Cape Town with a canteen of cutlery providing him with the capital to begin trading as a "smous" or travelling salesman. Joined by his cousin, Isaac Lewis, they followed the diamond rush to Kimberley and quickly built up their business supplying merchandise to the miners before branching out into diamond trading. Ever the visionary, he realised the need for coal to power the diamond mines and moved to the Transvaal, now Gauteng, and soon became the King of Coal.
Ever the entrepreneur, Sammy's business interests spanned gold and coal mining, a distillery, a canning factory, a glass factory, a brick and tile works and an iron and steel works and most of these were the precursors to well known and major enterprises today. The story is told of how he was particularly intrigued by a valley he would traverse as he travelled between his home in Pretoria and the coal mines in Vereeniging. Intuition led him to propose to his two partners that they sell their coal interests and buy significant land holdings in the valley but he was outvoted. Subsequently, the farms he proposed buying was where major gold deposits were discovered only a few years later and where modern Johannesburg stands today!
A close friendship and trust grew between Sammy and President Kruger and his cabinet ministers as well as well known Boer Generals Botha, de Wet and de la Rey but equally close ties developed between himself and the Lords Roberts, Kitchener and Milner of the British forces. A lookout on the estate would forewarn the household which dignitaries were approaching so that the appropriate flag could be hoisted in welcome and it is recorded that Sammy played an invaluable role as a go between the two sides..
An excellent tea garden and restaurant serves delicious meals and cakes - highly recommended. Guided tours are conducted several times a day starting at 10am on most days of the year.
Tel:
+27 (0)12 802 1150 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Marks
http://www.ditsong.org.za/sammymarks.htm
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