In 2017 during our Adventure, we spent a week in Velddrift. The highlight of each day was watching ‘Blane’ – the Sishen-Saldana ore train passing our campsite – full 4 minutes to trundle past in the distance! The train was built by Iscor in 1976 and remains an engineering marvel to this day.

“The initial train lengths consisted of three class 9E electric locomotives, hauling 210 type CR ore wagons with a payload of 80 tonnes.[3] Upgraded wagons now carry 100 tonnes.[1] Train lengths were increased in 2007 to 342 wagons, employing Radio Distributed Power (RDP) technology. These trains (initially with 10 locomotives, a mix of electric and diesel-electric) and 342 wagons have a total mass of 41,400 tonnes and are 3,780 metres (12,400 ft) long, the longest production trains in the world. The same 342-wagon trains are now powered by just five 15Es, crewed by one driver and one assistant.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sishen%E2%80%93Saldanha_railway_line

We joyfully recognised the train alongside our road, just outside Sishen – the railway line was in superb condition, so very nice to see after watching the devastation visited on our train network during the 2020 COVID Lockdown.