Civil Engineering October 2021 | Vol 29 No 9

42 October 2021 Civil Engineering branch line (opened in 1903) of 43 km ran between Pienaar’s River and Settlers, commonly named the Pankop line after a rural village along the way, today Masobye. Simultaneous to the Singlewood construction, the Pankop line was being upgraded to standard gauge (3 foot 6 inches) and extended by 23 km to reach Tuinplaats. The redundant second hand rails and steel sleepers recovered from the Pankop line provided a conven- ient source of plate-laying material for the Singlewood line. The recovered rails from the Pankop line had a mass of 9.9 kg/m, more than the 6.0 kg/m to 7.9 kg/m that would have been sufficient for roadrail. CONSTRUCTION AND INAUGURATION The construction of the Singlewood line was authorised on 30 July 1923, shortly after its parliamentary approval two months earlier. During August 1923, Alexander Duff, an experienced works inspector of the SAR&H with nearly 30 years’ experience in railway construc- tion and maintenance in Rhodesia and the Cape Colony, arrived on site to take charge of construction. Permission was obtained from the Transvaal provincial authorities to follow the existing rough road as closely as possible, provided that the roadrail did not interfere with the passage of other road vehicles. It was agreed to upgrade the rudimentary crossing over the Nyl River to a proper causeway with culverts over its full length, and to bring the roadway and roadrail up to the same level in the manner shown in Figure 1. Construction progressed smoothly. By 4 September 1923, 5 km of rails and sleepers were already laid. The partially assembled rail sets from Pankop were laid directly on the natural soil without com- paction and ballasting, shown in Figure 2, except for the section over the new causeway. By 14 January 1924 Figure 1 Details of proposed embankment over the Nyl River (Credit: Railways and Harbours Board Report, 1923) Figure 2 Rails were laid directly on the unprepared surface and stabilised by in-situ soil (Credit: THL LS_18_047)