This wonderful photo comes to us from Allen Duff, presumably via Johannes Haarhoff and DRISA. On their way to take on Lord Milner (Vladimir Putin's role model): Boer soldiers approaching Springfontein en route to General Schoeman's camp at Donkerpoort.
By the outbreak of war Orange Free State Government Railway (OVGS) had already acquired 14 CGR class 6Cs with six-wheel tenders and 28 based on CGR class 6D which had bogie tenders. A further two were supposed to be delivered but hadn't arrived before the war started. D F Holland is not clear what happened to them.
As you see, the OVGS gave priority to passenger comfort. In the compelling book by Blackie de Swardt "963 Days at the Junction" you will find a reference to train travel through the Orange Free State during the early days of the war in the diary of the French General who fought on the side of the Boers: Combat-General Georges-Henri Anne Marie Victor Comte de Villebois Mareuil, one of the more colourful characters that took part in the war. As a former commander in the French Foreign Legion he was a seasoned soldier and had as his motto "my whole life is to be what I have always been - a soldier". Still a Colonel then, he joined the Boer forces in Natal in November 1899 and from there moved with them through the Free State to assist Generals Schoeman and Grobler at Colesberg. About the trip through the southern Free State he had this to say (22 February 1900): "......we sat on the benches of a truck as there were not compartments for passengers....... The railway staff in the Free State is English and the service is very poor" [see photo above!]
"For example, we only left [Bloemfontein] at ten instead of eight and were destined to arrive at Colesberg at two in the afternoon. However, at Springfontein, at half-past-one I was informed that I had to wait for the next train at eleven o'clock the following day. Because I travelled in a train truck I had no alternative but to camp next to the truck....... "
After spending the night encamped next to his train the Frenchman, who had more names than Lord Roberts had titles, left Springfontein for the Cape Colony. His diary entry of the 23rd had quite a vivid description of the country to the south of Springfontein, it read:
"As can be expected of the Dutch Railway company, we departed at a different time from what we were told yesterday. At eight o'clock, while I was busy boiling a bottle of milk, a black servant came and told me that we were to depart. I had not warmed my milk properly and had just enough time, supported by De Breda who carried the cups and sugar, to run with my pot and thus enjoy lunch on the truck.
The landscape changed quickly. Soon we were meandering through koppies that came closer and closer to such an extent that they completely enclosed the railway line and small rivers. In short, a rugged country but with its own character* - here and there green clumps, green pools in the valleys between the hills with dams from which pastures are led for sheep, ostriches and goats....... The koppies extend towards the Orange River.
The river flows with a certain amount of dignity and had more water between the steep banks with rows of trees than I [expected]. We crossed the river over an iron bridge and reached Norvalspont. At the station there were sidings, a platform on which Boers congregated, wagons with stock and small piles of provisions that belonged to the Transvaal and Free State Commissariat. Upon my request we were detrained quickly. I watered my horse, after which we had interviews with a brave Boer who served disgusting tea at two shillings. At one o'clock we left for Colesberg."
*The photos that follow will bear this out. Most were taken up to 70 years later.
It is only appropriate to relate what happened to the "French Colonel" (as he was called by the Boers) after a stint at the Colesberg front. He retreated back into the Free State with the Boer forces. The English were by now advancing on the southern borders of the Free State and in order to re-group, all the Republican forces gathered in Kroonstad in the early days of March. It was here that on the 10th, De Villebois-Mareuil was appointed Combat-General of the Foreign Volunteers by General Joubert. The Corps was made up of Hollanders, Irish, Americans, Russians, Scandinavians, Germans and French. De Villebois-Mareuil's command however, did not last long as he was killed in the Battle of Boshoff on 4th April. Such was his valour and stature that the English buried him the following day with full military honours.
We have reproduced the foregoing with the gracious permission of the author of "963 days at the Junction", Blackie de Swardt