Regular Service steam with a Pusher

June-July 1984 trip to South Africa. This is how the incredible morning at Kloofeind(outside Bloemfontein)began. We got up well before dawn, and tried to find our way out of the downtown hotel. It was still dark, but a few miles away I could pick up what looked like moving steam exhaust. Yes, it was steam so I headed in the general direction, and following the plume I came upon the correct road toward Kimberly out of Bloemfontein.
At one time steam radiated 4-5 directions from this great steam center, and in 1984 it was just two lines, to Bethlehem and to Kimberley.
We quickly caught up to the train, and got to the outskirts of town, at a place called Showgrounds. My buddy Bill and I were both shooting video, so we jumped out of the van(the wives stayed inside to stay warm), and we started shooting video. It was still not completely light as the engine(a 25NC 4-8-4) struggled somewhat past us with a few light slips on this bitter cold morning. The Orange Free State region is noted for its cold winter days. My friend Bill was experiencing video problems but mine worked okay. Onward we went to get ahead of the train once more, and a few minutes later we were at the small station of Kloofiend. I started shooting, and the sun now rising up to the left of the train was starting to show on the flanks of the engine as it tried to top the grade which was in both directions here at the water tower. Finally after much slipping, the train stalled with the engine making it to the summit, but not the whole train. I asked the station agent what was to happen now. He said a pick-up train(Local freight) with only 16 axels, was behind it at Hamilton, and would act as a pusher....Say What....a pusher, wow!!! So, sure enough the local showed up, pushed on the guardsvan and there was machine-gun slipping out of the first engine, but finally they got rolling. I had plenty of time to set-up the video on the tripod, and get the Pentax 6 x 7 out for a shot or 3 of this rare happening. It was an event that one rarely witnesses, and that no still can fully capture. The video does a better job of that, but this shot does show the train with the pusher in the distance. The lead engine slipped some more as it passed me standing at the end of the station platform. As the pusher neared my position he cut-off on the fly, having never been fully coupled to the rear of the freight. I caught that on video and then swung around to catch the local engine grabbing the tablet from the station agent. All this took place just after sunrise, and would be the prelude to several trains here within a 2 Hour span. Bill never did get his camera working and missed the whole thing. After the 2 hour stint was over we found a place to fix his video camera. The next morning we went back to try to recapture the barrage of steam at Kloofeind and there was nothing running due to trackwork on the line during the morning hours. So the fact steam was in regular service, although somewhat predictable with schedules and such always had the possibilities of some unique happening. That was part of the adventure with shooting steam in regular service, and the not knowing what might be coming on the next train was what made trips like these so enjoyable. 1984 in South Africa was somewhat like what America had to offer some 30 years earlier!!
Greg Scholl