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Gwelo_G&DLR_No.1 'Buckeye.' Steam in Southern Africa: Rhodesia 1973. A unique feature of Gwelo was the Gwelo & District Light Railway (G&DLR), a 2ft (610mm) gauge system which opened in March 1964 and looped around a public park for 1.6 miles (2.5km). Run as a charity, the railway provided rides for visitors and their families, hauled by one of two, Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0T. On 27th October 1973, locomotive No.1 ‘Buckeye’ (OK 12708/1935), donated by a forestry railway, was not in use and stood outside the engine shed. After the G&DLR closed in the mid-1980s ‘Buckeye’ was privately purchased and now runs in California. roger.griffiths@hotmail.com

Gwelo_G+DLR_No_2_27_10_1973.jpg (136930 bytes)

Gwelo_G&DLR_No.2. Steam in Southern Africa: Rhodesia 1973. The second O&K locomotive owned by the Gwelo & District Light Railway was No.2, of unknown building date and works number. It was named ‘Margaret’ after the wife of the manager of the Selukwe Peak chromium mine, which company donated loco No.2 and the two carriages seen here at Nether Gwelo station. The writer does not know the engine’s final fate, only that like No.1 it was purchased by an overseas buyer. It is sobering to realise that the little girl on the station platform and the children enjoying a train ride with their parents, are all now aged in their latter fifties! roger.griffiths@hotmail.com