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Steam Locomotive Graveyard at Touwsrivier, South Africa

flickr-167293280.jpg Steam Locomotive at TouwsrivierThumbnailsInterior of Steam Locomotive at De Aar (or Touws River?)

They stretched on into the distance. This was their final resting place. Touwsrivier was the main locomotive depot and marshalling yard on the line between Cape Town and Johannesburg. The big Spoornet workshops were also here that did maintenance on the steam locos (my grandfather used to work here). Years later the diesel / electric locos would run from Cape Town and change here to steam locos to do the long run through the Great Karoo, where the line was not yet electrified. I still remember doing this run in 1985 with a steam loco up to Pretoria.

Note: More memories of steam trains in South Africa can be found at steam-locomotives-south-africa.blogspot.com/2009/10/ladis....