Civil Engineering October 2021 | Vol 29 No 9

Civil Engineering October 2021 45 during the afternoon failed to dampen the festive spirit: It was the intention to hold the banquet in the open, but owing to a heavy downpour of rain in the late afternoon, a change of plans became necessary, and those responsible for the spread, as provided indoors, are to be praised for the speedy and excel- lent manner in which they righted the damage done by the storm. Although the meal actually served was not on quite such liberal lines as preciously arranged, some of the dainties having been washed away by the rain, it nevertheless was much enjoyed.… OPERATION The Singlewood line had seven sid- ings. They were Causeway (10 km from Naboomspruit), Rutland (12 km), Tweekopjes (15 km, shown in Figure 7), Crecy (19 km), Elchinell (23 km), Truro (27 km) and Singlewood (34 km). Six trains were scheduled per week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for mixed goods, the other days for conditional goods; no trains ran on Sundays. Trains left Naboomspruit at 9:00 and arrived at Singlewood at 12:46. The return trip commenced at 13:30 and reached home at 17:16. Scheduled stopping times varied between 1 and 5 minutes at each siding. The average speed allowed for in the schedule was just below 10 km/h. The operating staff of the roadrail line consisted of only two people, namely a driver assisted by a labourer. The driver accepted and signed for consignments, while the labourer physically handled the smaller goods where necessary. Though sidings and halts were provided, the tractor stopped wherever it was required to do so for the loading of produce. When a farmer required transport, he would hand a note to the driver beforehand to ensure that an adequate number of trucks would be available on the day of loading. Farmers had to do their own loading of heavy goods and received a receipt for goods dispatched (Figure 8). Wagons with low sides were used for easy loading. Altogether, it was considered as a “simple and friendly method of operation”. Figure 7 Tweekopjes siding (Credit: THL LS_18_041) Figure 8 Bags loaded by farm workers from an ox wagon onto a roadrail truck (Credit: THL LS_18_026)