Tongaat Sugar Bagnalls

The South Tynedale Railway had expressed an interest in both loco's but this interest is on hold after Isibutu was tested on their track in 2014 and was unable to negiotiate some of their tight points. I travelled the line a week ago with my family and was very impressed. I thought Sinembe or A.Boulle with the regulator valve fully open would have made a fine sight ! However, it was clear that extending the line to Haltwhistle is their main priority over relaying points but perhaps in the future ???!!! Though I can't speak for A.Boulle, Sinembe is available. If any railway is interested in either, all they have to do is contact me !

 

Thought you steam enthusiasts might be interested in this loco I saw at a sugar mill in Fiji recently. They use diesel now but have preserved this loco at the mill at Raki Raki (Penang mill) unfortunately they wouldn't allow us into the mill precinct so I couldn't get any details that I might have got close up. It looks much older than the Tongaat sugar ones.

 

Hello Liz,

A good photo nonetheless and many thanks for posting.

The loco preserved at Penang Mill on Fiji is Hudswell Clarke, Works number 1658 built in, I think, in 1935. The Hudswell 0-6-0 tender locos built for the Australian/Fiji sugar industry were very much a contemporary type of the Tongaat Bagnalls, likewise with many examples built over a number of years. As with the Tongaat Bagnalls, a number of these Hudswells survive, in Australia, on Fiji and one example now gloriously restored at Statfold. There are a few more locos preserved on Fiji, mostly Fowler tank engines.

did you see any of the working cane railways as well?

Cheers,

Alan

 

There was also a single 4-4-0 version of these, built for the "Fiji Free Train" passenger service. It was plinthed for a while but was eventually scrapped. The 0-6-0s are particular favourites of mine, I'd love to see another in the UK, and the South Tynedale would be an ideal location for one.

 

A favourite of mine too and I was lucky enough to be allowed to drive the example preserved at Menzies Creek Museum on the Puffing Billy up and down their demonstration line a few years back. The late models supplied to Australia/Fiji were big locos on 2ft considering they were 0-6-0's with a fairly short wheelbase, and if you read the various books on their final days operating in Queensland they were handling some phenomenal loads, particularly considering that the only brakes available were on the loco and tender.
There is a lovely story too in "Salute to the Hudswells" (Thoroughly recommended) about the crew that called out a travelling fitter to examine their loco which was using water at a high rate and seemed to be lacking in power, only to find that the long rake of bogie bulk sugar wagons they had picked up and were returning as "empties" to the mill were in fact still full!

Although there are a few Australian preserved examples working, I believe that apart from the one at Statfold, the only other ex-Fiji example operating is the one at Edaville in the US, although it has suffered a degree of "americanisation", something that never seems to sit comfortably on English built locos!

Chris

 

It would be handy to have a rough, approximate, ball-park figure for Simembe. I know a 600 mm railway here in Sweden that is on the lookout for new steam motive power (I think a 4-4-0 should work on their curves, the other locos are 0-4-0s), but it's no point even telling them if the price is too high...

 

Un

 

Absolutely delightful photographs Liz, very much another world, now sadly gone; are you one of the "passengers" on the front bufferbeam? Also, are they chewing sugar cane? I remember seeing children chewing cane when I went to Natal back in the nineties.

Cheers,

Alan

 

The little boy is my father, and I imagine the others are his sisters, all now long gone. I wondered about the sugar cane as well, as we all used to chew it as children. I am holidaying in Fiji at the moment, and it is like a time warp to the 50s and 60s in Natal.
Kind regards
Liz

 

Thanks for the follow-up Liz. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your holiday, I'm sure that the sugar cane fields and narrow-gauge lines in Fiji are a vivid reminder of the lines that used to exist in Natal, long may they continue.

Cheers,

Alan

 

Excellent photos Liz of the Tongaat Sugar system at work. The locois Success, the very first one of the 13 Bagnall 4-4-0Ts which ran there. As it was scrapped by 1948 the photos are very old! I woner if you have more pictures of the system at work?

 

Unfortunately not as far as I know but my various siblings are now busy digging through their old albums, so if anything turns up I will post it.

 

I have had the following response from a friend in South Africa who used to work for The Tongaat Sugar Co. His attached photograph shows a loco pulling trucks loaded with sugar cane though not a Tongaat loco. Note the person casually sitting on the front!

"Tongaat's last rail cane system (as opposed to long haul by large SA Railways trucks) was closed in about 1963. From memory, one of Tongaat's old locos was for many years kept in the children's playground at the Club, but was removed when its condition deteriorated and it was considered a potentially dangerous play thing. One was also on a plinth in the mill yard, but this may have been transferred up to the Midmar Dam resort.

For your interest, I attach an old photograph of a Sezela mill cane train in a scenic part of the South Coast.




Only one of some 25 sugar mills in Southern Africa (up to Malawi) still have any rail transport for cane, that being Umfolozi where a small amount of cane from the Umfolozi flats comes in in the old type rail trucks. I could get a contact name there if needed."

 

Hi Brigid & Liz. I grew up on Wewe Estate from about 1969. The locos were no longer in operation at that time but some of their tracks were still in place. The only loco I got to see & play on was the one near the pool in Maidstone, I don't know if it is still there as I moved to Canada more than 20 years ago.

You must be related to John Boulle, who I used to love going horse riding with as a kid.

 

Hello Whitecanecutter! You must be one of the Hulleys! No loco near the pool anymore, the pool itself is derelict, I went there earlier this year with John, who now lives in Bloem. B and I are John's sisters.

 

Hi Liz - I figured out you must be John's sisters. I never knew John's siblings but I did know your Mom & Dad. John has connected with me on Facebook so I see his updates from time to time. Sad to hear about so much of that area falling into derelict.

Anyway my name is Steve Rautenbach, we lived near the dairy and my Dad Wynand managed the dairy (in it's day) and the sugar estate until 1993. He's now retired and also lives in Canada. I will see if he has any photos of the old locos.