Stories From Africa
Caledon Line South Africa Steam Trains
South Africa is a place of spectacular scenery, with sweeping coastlines and rugged mountain ranges. Back in the 1970s, steam locos traversed many of these areas by means of spectacular mountain passes, travelling through breath taking countryside. In my years of travelling the world in search of steam, I spent a couple of years in […]
A Luxurious Trip To Bitterfontein Western Cape South Africa
For Christmas 1975 the Aussie rail fans living in Johannesburg decided to make the trip across the country to Bitterfontein travelling behind a might 25NC on the Drakensburg for Christmas Dinner. There were quite a few of us on that memorable trip and I remember the silver service in the dining car and the 7 […]
The Montagu Pass – The Route Over The Outeniqua Mountains
Montagu Pass Introduction South Africa has amazing geography including the Montagu Pass. From miles and miles of beautiful beaches to the Highveld it offers great desert scenery, and wonderful mountain passes. The Montagu Pass takes you from sea level at George to Oudtshoorn at 2,486 feet, quite a climb. The Garden Route The railway line […]
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The West – Our Next Project
When we produced our first book on NSW steam, “Northern Exposures”a few years ago, we had no idea how it would be received. As it turns out, we had rave reviews, and sold out in just 6 months. This inspired us to move forward and put together a book on the South. “Lenses South” appeared […]
THE MAKING OF LENSES SOUTH
After two years of photo collation, text writing and design work, we have recently released the 192 page, full colour railway photographic book ‘Lenses South’. What many people will not realise is what sits behind this classy document’s creation. The Beginning: In 1972 Malcolm Holdsworth brought out his first tentative publication, in collaboration with a […]
A Day At Campbelltown Station
These days, Campbelltown is a City, with an electrified railway system. It has become another outlying suburban area. Back in 1929 the railway was electrified as far as Liverpool, as Campbelltown although a mere 13 miles to the south, did not have the population to support a regular electric service. By the time I made […]
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Chinese Steam Trains Part 3 The West
This part of the journey commences with our arrival in the ancient capital of Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors, now world famous. In 1985 Xian was 100% steam, with RM class Pacifics on passengers plus the inevitable QJs and JFs. As with most of China, the weather was miserable, but we did get some […]
A Quick Trip To Thailand’s Miracle Metre Gauge Steam Trains
By Dennis Mitchell Leaving Indonesia In 1973, we visited Thailand by rail 2 days late after being stuck in Medan North Sumatra, on Independence day, where EVERYTHING stops; no planes, no telephone operators , no buses,trains etc. We did cajole a taxi driver to take us to Pamelang Susu? to what should have been the […]
Chinese Steam Trains Part 2
Our next stop on the trip was at Mao’s birthplace, a sacred shrine for the Chinese. This was interesting as year’s later, we visited Fidel Castro’s mountain hideout in Cuba. It had a similar feel to it. I thought I would throw in one of the double QJs we saw at Louyang early to give […]
China Steam Trains, The Final Frontier
This is the first part of my adventures to photograph China Steam Trains in 1984. After my triumphant trip to Turkey in 1983, I got my mojo back for steam. At this stage of my life, I had a great job, being Operations Manager of a large corporation. Because of this, I had accumulated quite […]
New Year’s Eve Turkish Steam Train Adventure
A Turkish steam train adventure By Robert Kingsford-Smith Turkey has always been a great travel destination; during the 1970s and early 80s railway enthusiasts found it was a wonderful place to photograph Turkish steam trains. There were several classes of locomotive, stunning scenery and mostly friendly natives. There was a big “but” in the case […]
