The story continues with a brief look back to the 1920s before picking up the saga just prior to World War 2. The map presents the extensive Road Motor Services (which will be referred to as ‘RMS’ or ‘RMT’ in the continuing story) coverage across the entire South Africa in 1942.

The photographs are accompanied by extracts from the previous SAR & H Magazine which provide some technical background to the Department’s wide-range of commercial vehicles.

It should be noted that the compiler of this portion of SoAR, is not as deeply knowledgeable as he would like to be, on this specific Department of the SAR & H/S A Transport Services. So, if anyone would care to offer any corrections or additional information, such material will be gratefully incorporated into the chapter.

I again wish to thank Johannes Haarhoff (Retired SAR Civil Engineer) and Yolanda Meyer of the THL for their unstinting help in providing photos etc.

My thanks also to Peter Stow who provided several colour photos from his SAR Collection.

All photos except for those provided by Peter Stow were obtained from the DRISA Website.

NB: Due to the fair number of photographs of actual pages in the SAR & H Magazine, no captions are necessary as these pages speak for themselves.

Les Pivnic.

4. Here is a classic Albion ‘combination’ bus/truck placed in service in the early 1940s. The combination was an SAR-designed concept which proved to be a brilliant success for servicing rural country districts that didn’t warrant complete buses or trucks to provide the service. Vehicle 574 was brought into town in Johannesburg from the RMT Workshops in Langlaagte to have her photograph taken by a Departmental photographer alongside the previous SAR General Manager’s Office.

5. Receiving similar treatment, is this 1940s model of an American International truck & trailer.

6. The SAR RMT was a prolific customer of British ‘Leyland’ 3-axle truck chassis on which they built their own bodies in various RMT Workshops around South Africa. This Leyland Hippo is a typical example for the transport of livestock.

7. Another view of the same truck indicates that at this stage, RMT vehicles were licenced by the local municipalities where they were stabled – Pretoria in this case.

9. This photo provides evidence of the type of road-conditions that at times, had to be dealt with by the RMT drivers. A Leyland 3-axle truck having to negotiate a water-logged district ‘road’ in this instance!

10. RMT vehicles had to also make use of pontoons to cross substantial rivers that might be on their particular route. Such crossings were fairly common in rural areas of South Africa in the 1950s/60s and possible later. Here is an RMT bus crossing the Umzimvubu River -more details with the next photo.

11. One of our SoAR readers, Charles Parry, has memories of this particular scene and provides the detail.

‘The attached picture may interest you, I enjoy reading about RMT services and used them, but had not thought of them appearing on SoaR - actually a very good idea as they were a regular sight at so many stations, boosting rail travel. This is an RMT bus MT449 crossing the Umzimvubu River near Port St Johns. (I recall the road taking a sharp turn to left after leaving the pont on Pondoland side) Operated 1943 - 1966 when replaced by Douglas Mitchell bridge.’ Thanks Charles.

12. A trusty Leyland with her crew somewhere in the Northern Transvaal. The driver smartly attired in his white coat together with his assistants smile for the official SAR photographer!

14. This used to be a typical rural scene all over SA on an RMT route, depicting an RMT bus loading passengers and goods in some distant village in the Transkei for Kokstad in Southern Natal from where they could take the train to their final destination.

15. A three-way meet for RMT vehicles probably in the Transkei.

16. Back in the Northern Transvaal, an RMT driver is bidding a farmer farewell after loading his consignment of livestock for market.

24. The RMT Workshop in Kimberley in 1942, showing the specially-provided trackage to permit admittance of rail-trolleys for overhaul or repair.

55. This photo of an SAR suburban Leyland double-decker bus was taken during the War near Railway HQ and the Anglican Cathedral in Hoek Street, Johannesburg. A close inspection will reveal that the bus is still carrying the stylised red & grey livery under a light coat of grey paint. If anyone can explain this curious dusting of grey paint over the original livery, I would be pleased to add the explanation to this caption. War-Time conditions might have prompted the overall dusting of grey paint.

57. For the benefit of overseas readers, the Afrikaans caption to the previous photo of the same bus tells us that this is the first of 50 ordered for service in on the Witwatersrand, in Cape Town and between Port Elizabeth and New Brighton. The bus bodies mounted on Albion CX.37LW chassis were built by ‘Bus Bodies Ltd., in Port Elizabeth and had a capacity of 66 plus 7 standing passengers.

59. The British ‘Karrier’ Company, part of the Rootes Group, had a long association with the SAR & H, supplying the 3-wheel ‘Cobs’ before the War (see Part 1) and the ‘Bantams’ shown here, shortly after WW2, for goods delivery services in the major cities.

62. This 1940s Chevrolet truck is loaded with railway bedding from the morning arrivals of main line trains in Johannesburg. It was a common sight to see this truck ferrying used bedding to the Railway Laundry every day. The bedding attendants making themselves comfortable on top of the load! The photo was taken behind the GM’s Office in Noord Street with South Station Building in the background.

63. An Albion multi-class bus with a goods trailer attached is seen at a country stopping point. Note the indifferent gravel road on this route.

63A. David Werbeloff who provided the photo below comments:

I have been enjoying your chapters on the Road Motor Transport Services.

Your illustration, #4 of the pristine Albion ‘combination’ put me in mind of a photograph in my collection: My parents were married in 1947, and, as part of their honeymoon, visited my grandfather's farm north and west of Niekerkshoop in the northern Cape - between Marydale and Prieska. At that time, the farm, called Abrahmsdam, was run by my uncle. My dad took a bunch of photographs of the homestead and surrounding countryside, and my mom wrote commentaries on the photos, creating a sort of photo essay. On the farm, was an ‘algemenehandelaar’ – General Dealer, run by grandfather, which served as a stopping point for the SAR Road Motor Transport buses, bringing goods and mail for the farm and the locals in this very isolated place. One of my dad's photographs shows the arrival of the RMT ‘combination’, judging by your photograph, an Albion.

65. This is an Albion multi-class bus with trailer attached, loading passengers at Louis Trichardt in the Northern Transvaal.

66. Here we have three Albion multi-class buses loading passengers for different routes out of Louis Trichardt.

67. The American truck chassis builder, ‘Diamond T’ also supplied a multitude of chassis to the SAR RMT Division. The bus bodies were built locally to SAR specification.

69. British Thornycroft was another truck chassis supplier that had a long and fruitful association with the SAR. Here is one fitted with a multi-class bus body also loading passengers at Louis Trichardt.

70. This Albion is a typical multi-class RMT bus that was used for rural-district service. Being based on a truck chassis, they were able to haul trailers for goods as well.

71. A new multi-class RMT bus on a Thornycroft chassis was positioned for a photograph. Note the ‘post box’ provided for rural country services.

72. In 1948, the RMT division decided to have a go at building a tourist coach in their Workshops at Langlaagte near Johannesburg. The body was built on a 3-axle chassis – unfortunately the make of chassis is unknown. With 113 Canadian Brill coaches already on order, the decision to build a coach from scratch in Langlaagte remains something of a mystery.

75. With the details of the Brill coaches having been provided in the preceding images, it just remains to be added that these coaches were delivered in two orders – this being a photo of the original order with headlight pods being provided that might be described as ‘torpedo-shaped’. See photo 76B for the later variety which embodied chrome-plated pods of a body-hugging design.

76. Interior shots of the Brill coaches as described.

76B. Here is a later order of Brill coach seen in the Drakensberg Mountains. The fact that the coach is empty, suggests that the tourists had been taken to a local hotel for the night – allowing time for the Departmental photographer to photograph the Brill coach in this scenic area.

80. This photo, taken at the Gouritz River, shows a Brill crossing over the road bridge with the railway bridge on the left. A careful look reveals a goods train crossing, almost completely on the eastern bank heading for Mossel Bay.

81. The SAA buses depicted above were acquired in 1947 from the ‘Commer’ commercial vehicle supplier – Rootes Group.

86. This is a brand new Thornycroft multi-class and goods combination posed for a photograph.

88. Photographed at Johannesburg Station in 1961, is this ‘Guy’ tourist coach is ready to begin service.

90. In 1972, the Administration placed 20 new luxury tourist coaches known as the ‘Silver Eagle Model 09’ in tourist service throughout the Country. They were supplied by the ‘Bus and Car’ Company of Belgium.

91. Photos: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

92. The American tourist coach company – ‘MCI’ also supplied tourist coaches to the SAR. Here is the ‘Crusader ll’ photographed in what looks like the Northern Transvaal. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

93. The RMT acquired tourist coaches from the ‘DAF’ Company as well. Here is one in a famous setting with ‘Table Mountain’ as a backdrop. Cape Town must surely rank as one of the World’s most beautiful harbours – if not THE most beautiful! Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

94. This Leyland ‘Twin-Steerer’ chassis was equipped with a large multi-class body for use on winding routes where the driver would be assisted in manoeuvring such a large vehicle on a twisty and winding route. The twin-steering aided the steering process.

95. An American ‘Reo’ combination was photographed in 1966 on the R323 heading for Sevenweekspoort near Laingsburg in the Western Cape.

96. Here is a brand new Thornycroft combination ready to enter service. Here again, note the post box just ahead of the driver’s door.

97. Another example of an American ‘Diamond T’ truck and trailer also ready for service.

100. This Diamond T mechanical horse is coupled to a refrigerated trailer. The RMT Division had all types of vehicles and trailers to handle any road transport problem that might have presented itself.

101. Another abnormal load is handled comfortably by two ‘AEC’ tractors – in this instance pulling a low-bed heavy trailer loaded with a massive piece of equipment, too large to go by rail. The rig has pulled off the road probably to fit in with traffic requirements on a public road.

102. Another view of the abnormal load, seen from the rear.

105. There seems to be nothing that was too difficult to handle by the SAR’s RMT Division! Here is an industrial diesel locomotive loaded onto a low-bed trailer in Germiston for transport to another place where it would be put to work. A powerful Diamond T mechanical horse is tasked with the job of transporting it to its new place of work. Photo: Facebook – ‘Diamond T Trucks’

106. More heavy work for a Diamond T mechanical horse: Another abnormal load on a 120 ton trailer is ready for transport.

107. There appears to be no end of heavy work for these RMT Diamond T trucks – here are another two ready to transport outsize loads for a client of the SAR.

108. Another RMT Diamond T truck and trailer on regular heavy transport duty.

111. This impressive Diamond T is busy loading crated produce for some market or other destination. The SAR must have been one of Diamond T’s best customers!

112. This abnormal load photo is the last one to portray a Diamond T doing the honours in hauling this oversize load!

115. Photos: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

116. Photos: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

117. Photos: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

118. A ‘Translux Express’ tourist coach is seen at the ‘Voortrekker Monument’ outside Pretoria. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

119. The RMT also bought trucks from Henschel in Germany – the famous locomotive builder. These powerful trucks were also quite comfortable hauling large trailers.

120. American ‘Mack’ heavy truck-tractors were also successfully used on abnormal load duties. Here are three of them harnessed to haul a massive piece of industrial equipment. Photos: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

121. In 1972, the RMT placed four International ‘Pacific’ road tractors in service, having bought them from the American ‘International Truck Company’.

Referring to the SAR’s RMT Division, the statement reads:

‘However its most impressive order was for four ultra-heavy road tractors to pull massive loads up to 370 tons for the South African Railways. These units were delivered in 1972, featured 600 hp Cummins engines, and were known as the "largest on-highway trucks in the world". Sometimes they all worked coupled forming an extra-long road train, including an extra-capacity lowloader trailer to total 860 tons gross combination mass.’

These road tractors were indeed giants of the road!

Here are three of them hauling a massive abnormal load for delivery to some industrial complex.

122. In the photo above – left-hand image, all four are in use hauling an equally-massive trailer conveying a large piece of industrial equipment to its destination.

123. These exceptional units deserve further coverage in this chapter – here are another three photos of them at work.

127. The SAR was in a position to build its own vehicle bodies onto chassis imported for use as trucks and buses. Here are Railway Artisans at work, assembling a truck body in one of the RMT workshops.

128. In this photo we see the Artisans at work on the overhaul of mechanical components for the vehicles.

129. Fruit being loaded onto an ERF truck – just another task for the RMT. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

130. Here is a newly delivered RMT International truck and trailer for the conveyance of farm produce. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

131. This mechanical horse is hauling a petroleum tanker – yet another product well within the Department’s haulage capabilities. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

132. This is a pressure tank of some description loaded onto an RMT abnormal-load rig for transport. Photo: SAR Peter Stow Collection.

133. 1975 – Eastern Transvaal: A heavy International truck & trailer is unloading fertilizer onto a B-wagon for onward transport by rail.

The rail inspection vehicles and railcars were maintained by the Road Transport Division – hence their inclusion in this chapter.

137. In the 1930s this quaint Morris – adapted from a regular car was in use for rail-related duties. A class H2 and a class 6 happened to be included in this photo.

141. Here is a fine photo of RM 10 one of the Watson-designed railcars built in the Durban Mechanical Workshops. Details provided in the preceding pages.

142. This interesting photo shows a wide variety of inspection rail trolleys including several adapted from ordinary road cars from the 1920s. They are all undergoing maintenance in an RMT Workshop.

147. This is a track maintenance trolley with trailer as used by a Permanent Way employee.

149. This 2ft gauge inspection trolley was photographed at Esperanza on the line between Umzinto and Donnybrook in Natal.