The SAAF Forum

No only did SAS Protea return today, but we also had a visit from a Steam Locomotive to Simons Town. Pic taken as it passed Glencairn Beach. The more astute will notice the Red Shark Flag flying by the beach. Another lazy Sunday afternoon

Oooh, nice!

I take it, stay out of the water? I always thought that False Bay was safe without shark nets?
I thought the Great Whites were not a problem, or is it other sharks have moved in?

Nope...they are definitely around as 2 fatalities off Fish Hoek are sadly testimony to same...as are a couple of chunks taken out of kayaks in False Bay. Seal Island is not that far off where the Great Whites abound. My personal take on it......relative to the increase frequency of warnings if not attacks.....is it is the result of chumming by the cage diving...and getting the sharks to breach with cut-out turtles being towed.... for the tourists.....although that is considered controversial....I personally see a direct corrolation!

The red flag indicates that a shark has been spotted in the area within the last 2 hours. Swimmers are advised to be cautious.
See the following site:- http://www.sharkspotters.org.za/s_board.htm

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Money cannot buy happiness, but it's more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes Benz than on a bicycle.

Thanks

Hoped you enjoyed the train as we are running the next one in two weeks time.

How does this explain attacks prior to tourist interest, chumming, etc? Someone was killed off Fish Hoek beach in 1964, IIRC, by a Great White. I had a pal who for years did the Sea Fisheries/MCM aerial survey of False Bay and there have been, for many years now, an average population of between 3 and 4 hundred of these critters, exceeding 5 metres in length, during the season. That they bite so few humans is the real amazing part of the tale. Of course there are a lot more humans to bite these days! They do kill far fewer humans than bees do though.
Fewer than 100 in 100 years along the whole SA coast.

To show correlation one needs far more extensive data sets and relational data too. That we do not have, despite extensive studies over the past few decades. The shark people are fond of pointing out - humans kill in excess of 30 million sharks a year, worldwide. Think on that!

Phew, just typed a long reply...and lost it as I was logged out. I somehow knew this would become controversial once the tact of the thread moved from Loco's to Sharks. I also know of Aircrew recording in their WWII Logbooks of copious sightings of these critters when doing training flights along the Muizenburg coastline back in the 1940's. But that really is my point...they were saying people would not be in the water if they knew how many sharks were so close to the waveline then. Yes, there are more folk around nowadays, but the frequency of shark incidents seems to have risen in direct proportion to the increased shark cage diving activities and associated chumming. I have not wanted to jump on any one bandwagon and have listened and looked at all the arguments for and against....hopefully with an open mind, and as a weekly kayaker in False Bay have come to my own conclusion and personal view that there is that correlation. We all know how stats can be manipulated and the research done is generally excellent. The thing is Shark Attacks used to be a Natal thing, (OK - KZN) and now they are a feature of False Bay requiring a shark spotter system. The reality is something has changed, Population...yes; chumming...yes. Yep we are in their environment....but back to my humble opinion.....chumming encourages an association between boats, surfers, and bathers. If we change the heading of this thread to Shark Attacks - we have the makings of a long discussion And I am not talking about ruby here Cheers

Airgunner: This is living history seeing these Loco's in action along the coast. On the previous run I got hundreds of pics but this time only managed the one shot from my balcony. If you only knew how much joy these bring to folks. As I walked around the station and took pics of the prevous high speed run at Glencairn, folk were just stopping and talking...everyone was so friendly and happy. They truly bring a lot of joy and I am looking foward to the next run in 2 weeks time. Well done.

Snap. Catching perhaps? I closed one tab and everything went! Anyway what I wanted to say was that we have had 21 attacks and 6 fatalities in 50 years in the Western Cape from proven unprovoked Great White attacks. It's difficult to draw any conclusions from that number. A lot of my surfer pals also feel there is an "increase" but the increase in humans in the water has far exceeded a linear increase in the attack rates. But as you say this thread was about throwing coal on steam locos. It must be getting more and more difficult to run these things as the water supplies for them vanish. I recall an incident several years ago, in the Eastern Cape, I think, where one of these ran out of water quite a few miles from a water tower which caused a lot of hassles. I went on a run to Hopefield several years back and was astonished that the thing could steam from Cape Town to Hopefield in just a few hours, my youth being bedevilled by the 18 hours it took from Cape Town to Langebaanweg. Why I do not know - it used to stop at dozens of little sidings to load sheep etc. - but surely they could have done it in a quicker time!

My wife and I took a rather pleasant steam train day trip to Ceres a few years ago. Now the line is not even operational.

Great airgunner , what are the times & route .. always wanted to take photos of a huffing & puffing steam loco

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Brent Best

Dep CT at 10h40 and arrive Stown at 12h21

Only operational steam loco in Western, Eastern and Northern Cape at present!
4 tons of coal per trip!

What happened to the Tjoe-Choo (or is it Choo-Tjoe)?

Transnet shut it down in Sept 2010