Here's a brief video of Huambo Shed (Benguela Railway) - shot during the last couple of weeks. Not exactly a "streak" at 75mph but a lot rarer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lY8wlFHJpj8

And yes I was after it for Garratts..

Wow, that's a lot of Garratts. Great to see them surviving, if not exactly "preserved".

Any prospects for future operation?

Thats not all of them by a long chalk - currently the problem is identifying them! There is another, 364, at the workshops which is more or less complete. Two of the oil burners on the video are 361 & 370. There is another oilburner at Kunge, this appears to have been hit in the cab by a rocket (picture on my website). There is at least one, 10B #321, at Kuito (id verified from works plate but no pictures of the loco unfortunately). There might be others there. We know that there are at least 5 more (10B & 10C) at Luena much further east. Photographs show plates but not what's on the plates.. No class 10A's or 10E's have yet appeared. But not all of the CFB stabling locations are viewable.. Elsewhere in Angola there were 2 stored/dumped near Catete, east of Luanda (one BP and one Krupp - photographed in 2006 - id's unknown) - Google Earth reveals a line of "stock" at this location and hopefully my "cameraman" will get a chance to investigate - he travels through the town periodically. Lubango (Sa de Bandiera) may get checked out as well.

There appears to be next to nothing left on the coast...

Gavin,

An interesting video clip.

What does Jamie Grieve do that enables him to travel to the hinterland of Angola?

TH

There are two major reasons for working in Angola presently. Both concern the aftermath of the war - mine clearance & medical relief...

Gavin;

Thank you very much for pointing this out; from a country that recieves very little reporting.

Seems like I read somewhere (Rob Dickinson's site maybe?) that they were all scrapped. Glad to see those reports were wrong. Thanks again.

Hi James,

I don't think many interested people had been to Angola since the early 1970's and the CFB rosters implied that a lot of stuff was "off roster" about 1980, the lack of visitors (for obvious reasons - a war that lasted about 25 years meant that visitors tended to be there for other activities) has meant that no verification was possible. Only now with the influx of aid workers is information beginning to appear - no one had contacted me until July this year - hence we now know that there might be at least 15 Garratts remaining plus anything else. From that short video we also know that other types are around. The potential downside of peace and development is that all of these might disappear as scrap if it can be got to the coast - given the lack of evidence of anything nearer the coast who knows what has gone that way already. Huambo to the coast was dieselised in about 1974 but eastward from there remained steam worked so either Google Earth or aid workers might yet provide the answers.

Gavin -

How about some basics on Angola rail? What wheel arrangements are the Garrets? What is the track gauge? Is any of the Angola rail system still in existance? If so, how much, and where does it run from/to? Can we get some photos posted of the equipment BEFORE the war started?

Thanks.

Les

Les,

There where 3 major systems in Angola, all started on the coast and ran generally east. These were the private 3'6" gauge CF Benguela which ran from Lobito to the Congo border and linked through the Congo to Zambia etc. This was the longest at over 800 miles. The government CF Angola consisted of two major lines - the metre gauge CF Luanda ran inland from Luanda for about 250 miles to Malange. This was converted to 3'6" gauge in 1963. The other part of the CFA was the 2' gauge CF Mocamedes which ran for 155 miles to Lubango. This was converted to 3'6" gauge in the 1950's and extended to Menongue (500 miles).

There were a few 2' gauge lines, both isolated and as branches.

These major lines could be said to "exist" in that rehabilitation seems to be planned and may be in progress though de-mining would need to be completed first. The Chinese are active in this kind of work in Africa.

Garratts.

These ran on all three major lines and there were a total of 72 locomotives of 8 different classes, 7 of which were the "standard" wheel arrangement of 4-8-2+2-8-4, the exception were 9 16th class 2-8-2+2-8-2 sold by Rhodesia Railways to the CFB in the early 60's.

As I stated earlier there is not much published on these railways. The best book is "Steam in Africa", there are a few magazine articles but otherwise you are very much on your own I'm afraid. I don't think complete rosters of locomotives exist (certainly not for the CF Mocamedes), I've constructed one that might be correct for the CFB and there is what is probably an incomplete one for the CFL. I have very few pictures and obviously I am unable to use pictures from books.




CF Benguela wood burning class 10C 4-8-2+2-8-4 (Beyer Peacock 1952)

There is some additional information here

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/africa.htm#Angola

and here

http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/angola01.htm

Also Rob Dickinson's CD compilation "Steam Safari" has many images from "Pre War" Angola

See here http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/cd/safari.htm

TH

There is an article in Trains, late 1960's. It mentions a large stock of steam marooned behind the shops after gauge conversion.

I read online that the the 2' gauge railway out of Porto Amboim / Amboin, defunct around 1987, still has locomotives left, scattered about and often missing gauges and bearings. Sandstone Estates in S.A. got a very very small engine out of there and restored it a few years ago.

I wonder if it is still true that 2' engines are around near the port. Also, I wonder if any of the locomotives in Anglola, at all, are of U.S. origin. At least as far as trolleys went, the US and Portugal did some business. Without good roads/railroads and many serious environmental problems it could be difficult to get anything from there - plus you probably ought to be helping the locals as best possible as they rebuild their country.
O. Anderson

OA -

In one of the websites above, reference is made to Baldwin 3' 6" gauge 4-8-0's with the possibility that two of the Twelve-Wheelers might still be in existance. Maybe someone out there has a photo.

Les

Seems that this thread is flushing out more sources of information which is a good thing.

Recent news - CF Luanda and CF Mocamedes rehabilitation is actually going on at present which probably means that anything dumped will disappear in the near future. The CF Benguela Baldwin 4-8-0's were apparently off roster about 1980...

Most Angolan locomotives were of European origin.

The Amboim 2' gauge line was closed about 1974.

Sandstone have been active in acquiring plantation loco's but exactly where came from I don't know...

Looks like I'll be in touch with Rob Dickinson soon...

That I would like to see...

For those whose appetite has been whetted - find the July & August 2006 issues of Continental Modeller - each issue has eight half page colour photographs of the CFB, including an example of a Baldwin 4-8-0..