Steam Safari (1983) FRA 02

"Steam Safari" is a detailed look at South African steam power in the early 1980's. It was the first railway programme produced by Frameline and although it looks a little old-fashioned by today's standards, the quality of the original 16mm film is far superior to anything offered by the video media of the time. So this DVD is a step back into past in terms of both its technical attributes and its subject matter!

In 1983, South Africa was still a working steam country, but the writing was beginning to appear on the wall. So the running of "steam specials" was becoming more and more attractive to enthusiasts wanting to photograph or travel behind steam.

This DVD shows a slice of South African railway life as it was at the time, nearly 30 years ago: its rail culture, its trains and locomotives, its railway people. We visit steam depots still active at the time, hazy with smoke and clamorous with the sounds of steam. We follow the Safari train deep into the hinterland, watching for the telltale trails of smoke and alert to the distant beat of the engine. The 16E, the 15F, double-headed 19D's, the Class 25's and the Red Devil are seen against Africa's vast landscapes and enormous skies. And we travel the length and breadth of South Africa, a 4000-kilometre journey from Cape Town at the tip of the continent to Mafikeng in the far North, from the dry Karoo of the West to the lush valleys of Mpumalanga in the East.

At the time, this was one of only very few programmes professionally produced to broadcast standards on the South African steam workings of the day. How everyone wishes now that they'd captured more!

DURATION 45 min.

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