Sandstone Estates (Pty) Ltd is a large commercial agricultural enterprise covering over , located on the border with

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's Eastern Free State province, close to the

Maluti Mountains The Maloti Mountains are a mountain range of the highlands of the Kingdom of Lesotho. They extend for about 100 km into the South African Free State. The Maloti Range is part of the Drakensberg system that includes ranges across large area ...

. The nearest town is

Ficksburg Ficksburg is a town situated at the foot of the 1,750 meter high Imperani Mountain in Free State province, South Africa. The town was founded by General Johan Fick in 1867 who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. He laid out many erven and ...

, away on the R26. It is a hub of transport preservation.

History

The farm was built up by the Wille family from the 1830s, who were originally

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

. Today it is part of an international agri-business that produces wheat, soya beans, maize and sunflowers. It has been 100%

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

since 2005. As steam enthusiasts, in the mid-1990s, the Sandstone owners were approached by Alan Clarke of Transnet Heritage Foundation, who realised the foundation did not have the resources to rescue the collapsing Midmar Museum in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. The collection formed the basis of what became the Sandstone Heritage collection. Today, the main collection is still based around the railway transport of Southern Africa, but also covers an extensive global road transport and military vehicle collection. The "Stars of Sandstone" 10-day event held in March, April or May attracts thousands of visitors, 70% of whom are from overseas.

Agricultural machinery

Old tractors which had been on the farm for many years were retained, and added to by donated items. Today the collection runs to over 300 tractors, all were slowly restored to operation.

Railways

The 2ft Narrow gauge railway runs from Grootdraai in the south, and then northwards to the main farm and main depot at Hoekfontein, onwards via Mooihoek to Vailima Siding.Today the collection of narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock is one of the most numerous in the world. During the 1990s Sandstone took occupancy of the old

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a Rail transport in South Africa, South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed h ...

workshops at

, located alongside the

Transnet Freight Rail Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

to Bloemfontein line. As well as acting as a collection and restoration point, it also acted as a training college for local young people, who were trained through the restoration process. This facility is now closed and returned to Transnet. Sandstone operated a major locomotive refurbishment programme at its Bloemfontein workshops. This was located in the old Steam Depot which was the home of constant Steam activity for many decades. It is now closed. Sandstone has 24 working 2ft Narrow Gauge locomotives. A number of 3'6" gauge locomotives are also on permanent display at Sandstone.

Military

Sandstone formed a joint-venture with the

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

's Armour Museum in Bloemfontein, which led to the development of a significant collection of vintage military vehicles. The collection is built around educating visitors on the history of South African military engineering since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The School of Armour plays an important role in the semi-annual "Stars of Sandstone" event, with daily displays and convoys of military vehicles.

References

External links