Maluti Magic (2009) SHT 07Sandstone Estates in South Africa's Eastern Free State is the headquarters of the Sandstone Heritage Trust, a body committed to the preservation of industrial, agricultural and transport heritage. The Trust's vast collection of early machines - from tractors to threshers to an impressive range of narrow gauge steam locomotives - has made Sandstone a centre of excellence comparable with the best in the world.
The steam engines at Sandstone are the workhorses of the extraordinary 30-kilometre narrow gauge railway which runs through the Estate, and it was this line that became the core attraction of a very special event - a rare gathering in February 2009 of internationally influential people from the world of steam and railway preservation.
Among those who came were Ralph Montagu of Beaulieu; Leo de Rothschild, founder of the Exbury railway; Sir William McAlpine; Mike Schumann from the Ffestiniog/Welsh Highland railways; Benedict Cadbury; James Hervey-Bathurst of Eastnor Castle, and David Morgan, chairman of the Heritage Railway Association of Great Britain and Ireland.
During the three days of the Maluti Magic event, trains, trucks, traction engines and even examples of restored military vehicles were put through their paces for the enjoyment and participation of the guests. The locomotives that worked the many trains taking visitors through the lands included the only two operating Lawleys in the world, Kalahari No.17, triple-headed Garratts and the diminutive Wren class 0-4-0 saddle tank, "Little Bess".
With a Marshall Colonial Traction Engine towing the trailer that supplied the loco's with coal, and a 1950's Caterpillar grader levelling the muddy farm roads, it was a hands-on event all round for both the vintage machines and the people who love them. And it was an event of enormous scope: a1909 Rumely Oil Pull, a Sentinel Steam Wagon, a restored Sherman tank, a Bristol bus and a Fowler B5 Crane Engine were just some of the diverse machines that spent the three days hard at work along with the trains.
Most of all, it was an event very much made by the people who attended it, all of whom agreed that the Sandstone Heritage Trust has achieved something of lasting significance in saving a heritage which belongs to everyone . . . and most importantly, which belongs to the generations of the future.
DURATION 30 min.