WBHS_School_Magazine_1966 LR 01

massed greenery of Kirstenbosch. Higher up the
slopes the general tone changes to silver where
the sun glints on the bearded leaves of the silver
trees. Then there are the sombre pine forests in
the middle of the Back Table, tbe sparse, windswept
shrubs of the Iligb Western Table, and the
reeds and moss of the damp Eastern Table. Every
different area of the mountain sports its own
peculiar vegetation and the experienced mountaineer
can establish his approximate wbereabouts if
he knows his flowers well.
Table Mountain is not a high mountain as the
Alps are high, nor is it a great mountain as tbe
Himalayas are great, but no other mountain can
claim to be as close to the hearts of the men and
women who love it as can this national heritage of
ours. There are those who climb it for its prospects,
those who study its flora, those who seek
adventure on its precipitous crags - but no matter
what the motive for tbeir exertions, these people
all unanimously agree that to climb it once is an
experience unforgettable, and to climb it often
and regularly is to live a new and higber life. As
General Smuts once said on its summit: "The
men and women of the coming centuries, who
will in ever-increasing numbers seek health and
inspiration on this great mountain summit, will
find here not only the spirit of Nature, but also
the spirit of Man blending with it."
W. BARNEs, Wa.
footplatemen, or were connected with railways
in some other sphere.
There was my grandfather who came to South
Africa from the Great Western Railways of England.
From the start he was a lover of his locomotives,
and his firemen spoke highly of him.
For him, as for many, the cab of a locomotive
was treated as his second home. There are so
many people who don't realise how much time
these men spend in their cabs, and that on a
Karoo run like that of my grandfather's, temperatures
during summer sometimes reach ]30·F or
more in a steam engine. We can be thankful
that electrification has to some extent reduced
these conditions.
During the life of enginemen, no matter how
capable and careful they may be, there is usually
no escaping the inevitable mishap, which u~ually
leaves its mark on his appearance or character.
There was, for instance, the night when my grandfather
ploughed into four hundred sheep nestling
in a railway cutting, and another time when his
fast goods train on the Beaufort West - De Aar
run overturned, through the negligence of a station
foreman in setting the points wrongly.
FOOTPLATEMEN
Railways are the interfusers of mankind and in
South Africa they penetrate the remotest, most
backward and barren parts of the country, thus
fostering habitation and industrial development.
My aim here is to sketch a small appreciation of
the enginemen who move our trains every day.
I wonder how many people who use passenger
and goods trains every day consider the man in
front who is responsible for their lives or their
possessions It is as a result of the great responsibilities
placed upon the shoulders of footplatemen
that in their circle they possess a great respect for
one another, one driver knowing what his mate
(another driver) must bear. A fellowship has tbus
evolved among these men and it finds expression
in the "Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Aid Society".
My life has been full of railway talk and facts,
because of those of my relations who have been
10