End Of The Line ~ The last Trains at CDM

[Gordon Brown]

Guys
Found an old map of the mine with the railways well highlighted. You quite right Mike the track originates in town and goes all the way through to Central Fields at 44G. It shows a spur line to the 32G Screening Plant but this doesn't go north to the HMS. I worked at each one of those plants 32G;68G;65G and 103G between 1968 and1973 and neither had a rail link to the HMS. All gravels were transported by road. Where the road from town turns north toward North Hostel the rail track followed all the way to North Hostel. There it turned west toward the HMS and from there north again past 100G and onward along the coast as far as the 66M Screening Plant where the line terminated.Strangely enough the plan also shows a spur line from the HMS to the 68G Screening Plant but no such line was there when I arrived to work on that plant in June 1968.
Kind regards
Gordon

[Michael Alexander]

Gordon, what is the date on the plan?

[Gordon Brown]

Mike 1972
Gordon

[Malcolm Bertoni]

I think it was around 1972-73 that they started lifting the old lines.  The line to 4 plant must have come from the northern screening plants.  When I worked at 66M HMS (68-69) I couldnt remember any line nearby. 

Can you scan that map Gordon and send me a copy or put it up on the Forrum?  Would be great to get a copy.

Malcolm

[Clint Ebstein]

interesting topic

[Alfred Boehme]

The rail lines have always interested me I spent many hrs marking the old tracks arround E-Bay, Pamona area on google earth

Gordon a map would be interesting

[Ricky Barron (RIP)]

Hi John, Uncle Tony lives around the corner from me, I'll try to get hold of him and pick his brain...He had a stroke a while back but is still as bright as a button (85 years young). He stopped smoking many years ago, but it still looks odd seeing him without his pipe!

[Malcolm Bertoni]

Hi Alfie

If you really want to see where the old narrow-guage lines were in the northern Sperrgebiet, then check the old German maps of 1913  - the "Karte des Sperrgebietes". They show all the old railway lines. It is a set of 10 sheets with amazing detail for its time.  It shows the lines from Luderitz to Kolmanskop, Pomona, E Bay, Grillenthal and all the way down to Bogenfels.

Malcolm

[Bertie Horak]

Can anybody tell me if these loco's were also on the same line you are talking about? It's a link to a topic where I posted an old photo a while ago:
http://www.oranjemundonline.com/Forum/index.php?topic=1703.msg35971#msg35971

[Michael Alexander]

@Bertie, I reckon it is, although we must'nt confuse the rail lines from the Northern areas with the ones down south in Omund...

I recall my father saying, that one Bob Stirling was the person who actually had the task of dismantling the last Loco..... there is a tale on the forum somewhere about how he mounted the signal lamps from that loco onto the sides of his front door on 7th avenue....

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Hi Alfie

If you really want to see where the old narrow-guage lines were in the northern Sperrgebiet, then check the old German maps of 1913  - the "Karte des Sperrgebietes". They show all the old railway lines. It is a set of 10 sheets with amazing detail for its time.  It shows the lines from Luderitz to Kolmanskop, Pomona, E Bay, Grillenthal and all the way down to Bogenfels.

Malcolm

These must be the lines my grand father helped build. A whole bunch of photo's posted somewhere on here by Leon Sumter.

[John Creedy]

Hi Ricky

If you have a phone number for Tony I would like to phone him.  You can email via the forum if you have one.  Many thanks.
John

[Ricky Barron (RIP)]

Hi John,

Tony Dunster's number is 021 556 0224 (Table View, Cape Town). Although his mind is as sharp as ever, sometimes he can't get all the words out, so be patient!

[Michael Alexander]

Ok! For those of you history buffs following this interesting topic, Gordon has forwarded us a copy of the mine plan from 1972, the last days of the railway lines, the image was very large, so I split it into 3 sections. The key to the maps are on the copy marked Uubvley.

For those of you still resident in Omund, a very similar map is mounted on the wall of the hospital ..... near the doors to the theatre, not too sure why it is placed here, but it makes interesting reading....

Thanks Gordon..... we are still looking for more info on the rails that came into the town itself....and photo's.....

LINK UUBVLEY AREA: www.oranjemundonline.com/Forum/Maps/UubvleyArea.jpg   4,7meg
LINK KERBEHUK AREA: www.oranjemundonline.com/Forum/Maps/KerbehukArea.jpg  2,6 meg
LINK AFFENRUCKEN AREA: www.oranjemundonline.com/Forum/Maps/AffenruckenArea.jpg   1,89 meg

[Andrew Darné]

About 13 years ago I had to pass an envelope of pictures with captions on to someone. The pics were of all the old loco's and some technical specs too.
What I can remember is that most were built between 1911 and 1920ish and many were rebuilt after the WWII '49-'55 somewhere.

@Mike A the dump you are thinking of with the pans on the side en route to the appie school is G68 plant. Those pans disappeared from there when B&E retreated (screened) the tailings dump I guess late '90's.

There was a huge yard of tracks and track plates etc, stacked behind Mooimeisies along with a flat decked carriage with the name "Uubvley tracklayer" painted along the side of it. This was cleared away a couple of years ago and unfortunately no pics taken then. The spot is still visible on Google Earth.