The Beauty of Smoke.
Yes, as it is stated in the announcement post for the theme of this week's #pobphotocontest, "Smoking is bad! Bad for your health and bad for the environment... but it can result in some nice pictures!"
But, there is one type of "smoke" though, that I haven't found anybody complaining about. As a matter of fact, every person I have spoken to, or heard talking about this type of "smoke", were getting rather nostalgic about it.
What I am referring to, is the "smoke" of old steam trains!
So yes, I got quite excited when I saw the theme for this week's challenge, as I happened to have some photos of our own local holiday steam train running here in the Durban area in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. It is known as the Umgeni Steam Railway. They operate on public holidays and the last weekend of every month.
So let's go!
The first photo is my entry for the #pobhotocontest this week.
The next photo was taken just before the photo above.
So, in the next photo, the train was still stationary and I had the opportunity to get some close-ups.
There was also smoke (steam) visible, but for the sake of the theme of the challenge, I think it's obvious why my choice fell on the first photo as the entry for the challenge, seeing that only the first photo will be entered for the challenge.
I waited for departure time and got a couple of nice close-up shots of the train leaving the Kloof Station.
The photos in this post were taken during the Christmas Season just before we had major floods here in Kwazulu Natal.
The railroad tracks were so severely damaged that the train couldn't operate for some time. Currently it is running again, but on a shortened route while they are still busy with work on the tracks.
I drove out ahead of the train and waited for it along the route. In the next photo, it was passing through the old Gillitts Station.
I went ahead again, and waited for the train to pass through the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
Here you can the train passing through the valleys.
The last image for today's post, was just as the train was about to enter the Inchanga Station, it's end destination. The people were then able to spend some time relaxing and buying souvenirs at the local Inchanga Craft Market, until they would enjoy the ride back again to Kloof Station.
And that's it for today, folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/TrainPorn/comments/1jl64fq/the_beauty_of_smoke/
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Travel to from Vereeniging to/from Johanneesburg when young in exactly the same. Miss the days of steam travel.
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Thanks for sharing your memories, @joanstewart! I do appreciate it!
I miss those days too! I remember the days as a young boy when we travelled by train up to Southwest- Africa (Namibia) to visit my father's parents on the farm. The first part of the journey would be to De Aar. From there, half of the train wagons would continue down to Cape Town, while we would be connected to a steam engine. Then the rest of our journey would be behind a steam engine such as this one in my post, all the way up to Windhoek where my Grandparents would pick us up before going out to the farm in the Gobabis district.
It's nice to have these memories and share them with one another!
Cherish those memories as we did ride train daily, once a year long distance, always exciting way to travel.
I agree! Let's cherish those memories! Thanks for sharing your memories!
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Thank you, @idayrus and @discovery-it Team, for your support voting and sharing my post! I do appreciate it!
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Thank you @maylink! Yes, this steam engine is precious indeed! Thanks for stopping by!
That is a great looking train my friend they don't make them like that anymore
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Yes, you are right, @heartbeatonhive! They make them like that anymore. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!
Wow a real train! Funny but I'd love to ride a real train. I used to watch some sleeper train videos on YT and wish I could try them someday. Thank you for your lovely photos. I think they are really good. Happy weekend!
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Hi @iamraincrystal! I'm glad to hear that enjoyed my post so much! Yes, it's awesome awesome to travel by train...especially on a sleeper train. I have been blessed to be able to travel on sleeper trains often as a child with my parents. But sadly, things have gone so bad in South Africa that - without going into too much detail - it is not worth traveling on the trains which are "affordable" anymore. They are just not reliable and it's not always that safe either.
There are sleeper trains in South Africa which are still safe and giving you a great experience though. But they are so expensive that they are hardly affordable for many South Africans, unless you have a nice, solid bank account...lol.
The train you can see in my post, is not a sleeper train though. It serves more as a tourist attraction and/or holiday entertainment, providing you with a fun round trip which lasts about 75 minutes. It belongs to and is managed by a private company, so it is safe and reliable to use. And their rates aren't to bad either👍
If you want to see more about this train just for interest sake, here are two links where you can see more about them with some nice photos:
Their website: umgenisteamrailway.com
Their Facebook page: Umgeni Steam Railway
Thank you for your kind words about my photos! I do appreciate it.
Happy weekend to you too!