In this well-known CSAR publicity photo intended to show how engine size had increased from the earliest ZASM times, we have a diminutive 14-tonner by Emil Kessler posed alongside a Beatty class 8 (CSAR class L1 No 438, SAR class 8B 1129) named after the Secretary of State for the Colonies and arch-imperialist, Joseph Chamberlain. One of these little 14-Tonners would be mounted on a plinth on Pretoria Station as a National Monument and later removed to the S A Railway Museum in Johannesburg. The move to Johannesburg was appropriate because, tiny as they were, they started the pioneer rail service on the Reef.

Apologies for the poor quality of this photo but it is historically valuable in that it shows the original Pretoria Station that was situated roughly where “Pretoria B” was provided in the 1960s for additional platforms to accommodate local EMU services. The train standing at the platform is headed by one of the CSAR 9th-class Pacifics and in the 6-carriage rake behind the tender no two coaches are the same! In this remarkable assortment, the second-last vehicle is an NGR balcony saloon! Tucked away to the left is a NZASM 46-tonner making smoke!

This photo has considerable additional interest: the building on the right-hand border is the old Victoria Hotel which many years later would serve as the headquarters for Rohan Vos’s Rovos Rail before he moved his operation to Capital Park. In front of the Hotel are several goods wagons and a crane standing in a goods yard situated roughly where the new station gardens were situated when Pretoria got its magnificent new station building designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1911/12. I imagine that credit for the new Herbert Baker building must go to the CSAR who obviously planned the improvements before Union in 1910.

Sometime before 1910 a 9th-class Pacific No 601 (SAR 728) was posed with a rake of side-door suburban coaches. Note the steam turbo-generator mounted just ahead of the chimney for the electric headlamp. CSAR also experimented with carbon-arc headlamps while some engines retained paraffin lamps – the latter on engines for secondary duties. What on earth that "hinged half-moon" sort of canvas cover is on the headlight is unknown to us. Also, it appears the turbo-generator may have been fitted with a silencer. Both suggestions came from Peter Micenko and we'll stick with them until one of youse comes up with a better explanation (as usually happens).

In 1904 the CSAR took a massive leap forward in their engine and rolling stock development with the introduction of the 10th- and 11th-class locomotives and some remarkable coaches for local express and long-distance service. Here is one of the chocolate and cream-liveried “Parlour Cars” for service on the Limited Express between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Observe the closed vestibules with concertina connections and the appropriate use of panoramic windows! Coaches of this calibre made the CSAR a world-class railway.

While the outside of the parlour car might be described as tastefully glamorous (except perhaps for the somewhat garish "1st") the interior was an epitome of Edwardian decor. There was no skimping of luxurious appointments: pressed-metal ceiling, Venetian-glass lampshades, mahogany-lined walls, Wilton double-shuttle carpets and stuffed horsehair armchairs that would not have looked out of place in the exclusive (no ladies!) Pretoria Club. Even the parcel racks got the treatment. These new CSAR vehicles were just as roomy as coaching stock running on 4ft 8 ½ in gauge in other parts of the world – in fact even more spacious than British coaches on the wider gauge. As for comfort, one could not have asked for more!

Les and Charlie are working together on this project to convey to future generations the essence of a once magnificent transport network in South Africa - the South African Railways or SAR.

https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-1 Cape Western, based in Cape Town

https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-3-1 Cape Midland, based in Port Elizabeth

https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-5 Orange Free State, based in Bloemfontein

https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-7-1 Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg