Of steam trains, busy harbours and the IS threat to the Suez

WHILE showing a Danish maritime figure the delights of the Western Cape’s mountains last weekend, we encountered a Class 24 steam locomotive! At level crossings and bridges, steam buffs had gathered to photograph this classic of a former railway era as she – her name was Katie – trundled through meadows and past farmsteads en route to Stellenbosch.

Although I know little about railway engines, I thoroughly enjoyed train journeys, especially when steam locomotives were involved. De Aar’s junction was alive with steam locos, as was the railway yard at Mossel Bay, home of those magnificent Garratt engines that hauled trains over the Outeniqua mountains.

Lest shipping folks cease their reading, I hasten to reminisce of dockland when shrouded in coal smoke from dozens of steam engines used for shunting and moving trucks to major marshalling yards. I did not know the traditional “boat train” that brought passengers from the interior and the former Rhodesias directly to the Southampton-bound mailship, but certainly recall the maroon “tourist” buses that, in the 1950s, transported passengers from the railway station to the docks.

And school holiday excursions to the docks took me to No 1 Jetty, the berth of the port’s four large steam tugs that also contributed to the smog. A sign that a tug was to leave the jetty was her whistle screeching to summon tardy crewmembers from the old Harbour Café, where they had sought vinegar-drenched slaptjips from the Portuguese folks who ran that establishment at the time. Tugmasters of that era recalled their own youthful harbour wanderings and readily invited youngsters aboard. (Only later did the Entry Prohibited notices go up when a tug-rider sued for an injury, and even then, pragmatic tugmasters risked the wrath of their superiors in favour of introducing youngsters to the maritime world.)

At the time, the country was injecting vast amounts of capital into the railways. While some rolling stock, electric locomotives and diesel locomotives were built locally, many were imported. From the deck of a tug that manoeuvred the floating crane to land heavylift cargoes, or from the wharves, I saw ships discharging some of the more than 100 electric units that came from the UK in the late 1950s and some of the 160 diesels brought from the US. And steel passenger carriages also were landed regularly to replace their ageing but elegant teak predecessors.

The shipping boom of the time meant halcyon days for ship-mad youngsters, able to roam freely amid cargo and railway engines in the docks, and to wander hasslefree along the wharves. New ships brought additional interest. In the late 1950s, Clan Line built nine ships, Royal Interocean Lines brought out eight new freighters, Ellermans added four to the South African trade, Pendennis Castle arrived in Cape Town in January 1959, while ship-spotters also saw several new Holland-Afrika Lijn freighters and their passenger ship Randfontein for the first time. The addition of Danie Hugo to the local tug fleet gave youngsters a new tug to ride!

These and many other interesting callers heightened maritime interest that could have flagged after the reopening of the Suez Canal in 1957, and the return to the canal route of thousands of diverted ships.

Which brings me to the present state of the canal, where the new double lane will open within six weeks. However, if Islamic State associates in Sinai could launch a missile that destroyed an Egyptian patrol vessel in the Mediterranean last week, will they use similar weaponry against traffic in the canal to dent severely Egypt’s economy and disrupt a vital western trade route?