« Joep Stevens is a keen historian who was introduced to the Kruger National Park by his parents in 1966. This ignited his interest in and passion for the Park.
Phase 2 1926 to 2024
In Issue 27 of KRUGER MAGAZINE, we featured the first phase (from 1891 to 1926) of the history of the Selati Railway Line. In this issue we look at the second phase (from 1926 to 2024).
Problems with the Selati Railway Line
By 1965 the frequency of train trips through the Park had increased to 250 per week. Besides the fire risk that the steam locomotives that traversed the Selati Line posed, collisions and casualties with animals were inevitable. Two of the more serious incidents, occurred in 1970. During the night of 14 January 1970 a train smashed into an elephant bull near the eighteenth-mile post, and on 10 July 1970 another train ran into a herd of buffalo and killed or maimed 19.
The Forgotten Railway Accident
On New Year Day , the bloodiest train accident in the history of the Park took place eight kilometres from Randspruit. A goods train (No. 1509), heavily laden with phosphate ore (1 424 tons for 92 axles) and drawn by two diesel locomotives, crashed into the back of a stationery mixed train (No. 1565), comprising five goods wagons,
