Statue

Statue of a Voortrekker woman with children at the Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, South Africa.

Over Achiever

We get over achievers in all walks of life. From school to banking to sport. Even in pumps. This is a picture of a windmill (wind driven water pump) taken in the Free State, South Africa. Normally these pumps are 4m + in height. This guy just did not know when to stop! 

Touw River Bridge

The bridge over Touw River, South Cape, South Africa. No trains use this bridge any more. The line served as tourist attraction and was damaged a number of years ago. A number of well-doers have vowed to repair and reopen the line. Sadly, I don't thing it will ever happen. Just not economically viable. Sign of the times I guess.    

Steam Locomotive early morning

Janine, Early morning.

Steam Locomotive

Janine cumming in.  

Steam Locomotive

Janine under power, coming at you!

15F Steam Locomotive

Janine, a class 15F steam locomotive built during 1949, Germiston, South Africa July 2013. 

15F and 12AR Steam Locomotives

The two ladies, Janine and Susan, rolling forward from their shed. Susan was built during +/- 1919 and Janine during 1949.

Class 12AR Steam Locomotive

Susan the Class 12AR locomotive mentioned in a previous post reversing to connect to her waiting train. She is technically not allowed to make black smoke this close to the shunting yard. The grey tower to the left is a water tower used to fill the locomotives' water tanks. From the side it is apparent that Susan's wheels are a bit smaller than some other locomotives' wheels. Susan was initially designed to haul heavy loads of coal from mines to the east of Johannesburg to Johannesburg for further distribution.   

Steam Locomotives

I will be posting a few more pictures of the two ladies pictured above. The lady on the left is called Janine. She is a class 15F, built in +/- 1947. Back in the day she pulled the train used when Queen Elizabeth (then princess) visited South Africa. The lady on the right is called Susan. She is a class 12AR, built in +/- 1919. She is slightly smaller and is equipped with somewhat smaller wheels and short-stroke cylinders. She has put a number of newer, more powerful engines to shame when it comes to getting and keeping heavy trains moving. Probably because of her smaller wheels and shorter stroke.

  

Dock Wreck

A wider view of the wrecked floating dock mentioned a few posts previous. As you can see it is quite big, considering it was wrecked almost 90 years ago.

GMAM Garratt locomotive

A picture of a GMAM Garratt steam locomotive taken near Germiston, South Africa. An earlier model of the Garratt apparently held the South African speed record for a number of years. It has cylinders both front and back, with each set of cylinders driving four sets of wheels. Thus, 16 in total.

Solar race

The  5000 km solar race is continuing with the teams having travelled from Pretoria to Cape Town. There are also a number of hybrid entrants. In respect of copyright I will mot re-post pictures. Follow progress at the following links: http://www.twitter.com/TheRealLoLoMe/ or www.twitter.com/UJHybridCars/ or www.Twitter.com/UJSolarcar/

I studied at the University of Johannesburg, thus my links are biased towards UJ. There are however a number of other sites on the Internet.

These cars are really "Cool". Well done UJ!

Steam Locomotive Cab

The controls of a 25NC steam locomotive photographed during July 2012. I have always seen them from a distance and never realised that the driver has very little forward vision. This probably explains why they are always peeking out of the side windows. This lady was born during the 1950's.

15F Steam Locomotive

15F Steam Locomotive photographed near Germiston, South Africa. This graceful old lady was born during the 1950's. Go steam power!

Fire hose reel

I drove past a building that is in the process of being demolished. It is being demolished by removing the outer walls before breaking down the concrete floors. In this picture the outer wall has been removed leaving the fire hose reel standing free on its own. It made an interesting picture. http://www.coismeyer.com/

Street Art Clarence Road

Street art next to Clarence Road Johannesburg. Unfortunately I am unable to credit the original artists as I don't know who they are. http://www.coismeyer.com

Street art

Along Louis Botha Avenue between Houghton and Hillbrow runs a stretch of clay brick wall decorated by street artists. Some of the art incorporates the standard symbols and interlocked thunder bolts. Others are quite unique. Most of them are really good. I photographed this early one morning. I will include a few more images in my website, www.coismeyer.com, in the “Objects” gallery within the next few days.