Civil Engineering October 2021 | Vol 29 No 9

44 October 2021 Civil Engineering of Railways), Frank Dutton and other high-ranking railway officials shown in Figure 4. The rest were men and women of the district along with 200 school children (granted a holiday for the roadrail opening) packed into the “quaint little trucks”, shown in Figure 5. Along the way, the party received expressions of satisfaction and optimism by farmers and local leaders. At Singlewood, Malan addressed the crowd and gave full credit to his predecessor JW Jagger (Malan became Minister of Railways only three months earlier after a national election on 19 June 1924). He congratulated Dutton for his invention and Duff for taking able charge of construction. In closing, he said “… if the experiment is successful, which I hope will be the case, Major Dutton’s roadrail may furnish the solution of a great problem.” After Malan tightened the last bolt in the track with a silver spanner, Engine Driver Bunting and Major Dutton brought the roadrail tractor into Singlewood to the accompaniment of cheering and the explosion of fog signals. Passing through a beflagged archway, the line was customarily christened by smashing a suspended bottle of champagne, shown in Figure 6. Meals for more than 400 people were provided, along with horse races and a Boy Scout band from Pietersburg for entertainment. During the day, Malan received three deputations with petitions for extending the roadrail to Roedtan, along the Nyl River, and to the farmers to the north of Roedtan respectively. The festivities closed with a banquet featuring more speeches and a dance. The heavy weather Figure 5 Guests on their way to the inauguration at Singlewood (Credit: THL LS_18_005) Figure 6 Opening ceremony, from left to right: Minister Malan tightening the last bolt; Malan signalling the roadrail tractor to enter Singlewood siding (note the suspended bottle of champagne in the archway); and the moment the bottle is smashed (Credit: THL LS_18_063 / 023 / 021)