Contributions for this section should be sent to the Editorial Office, with the following exceptions:
• Southern Africa - John Middleton, c/o Editorial Office. Email: johnmiddleton3401@gmail.com
• South America - Lionel Price, 9, Liverpool Road West, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 1PE. Email: jldprice@btinternet.com
• Spain & Portugal - Joan Carles Salmerón, c/o Editorial Office. Email: cet@terminus.cat
Contributions which are primarily photographic in nature should all be sent to the Editorial Office to give the best choice of material for covers etc. Similarly historical articles and features should be sent to the Editor. The Editor's contact details are inside the front cover.
AFRICA
CONGO
Service Nationale (SN) This appears to be a new operator. In mid-February a former SAR Class 33 was outshopped by ARTS in Pretoria in a light blue livery lettered SN and “SERVICE NATIONALE” along the bodyside. Its former identity is not yet known but it was towed northwards and passed through Victoria Falls in late February.
SNCC has managed to wreck another locomotive in a bizarre accident. On 23 January, Chinese built Co-CoDE No. 1912 was being driven over a temporary fill embankment built to cross a large excavation made by illegal miners. The structure was clearly not sufficient for the weight of the locomotive which rolled over and fell upside down into the void created by the mining activities.
SOUTH AFRICA
PRASA As previously reported main line passenger trains recommenced operations prior to Christmas 2023. Sadly it didn't last long. The extremely challenging operational conditions on Transnet currently (signal failures, power cuts, locomotive failures (or non-availability) and infrastructure theft and vandalism) resulted in all the operations being cancelled again after only a few weeks. Several of the trains (some reports suggest up to half) that PRASA ran failed to reach their destinations and passengers had to be bussed onwards. There are reports that train staff are exhausted and that communications are poor with no-one appearing to know what is going on.
The train working has been strange too. The Johannesburg / Cape Town train has been departing from Johannesburg eastwards to Germiston, then reversing to Germiston West, then onward via Germiston South and Union, Redan and then on the cross-country line via Vander Bijl to rejoin the traditional route in Potchefstroom. This is because the Johannesburg – Krugersdorp (West Rand route) and the routes east from Germiston are all still out of service. The alternative route has been adding many hours of delayE1658 dating from 1976 were both in use during January.
