Please click on the images to see a larger image and a brief description.

Frik Vervoer is a newly formed road haulage company owned by Frik Henning and based in Ermelo, South Africa. I have known Frik since 1997 when he was driving the 200 wagon coal trains on the Coal Line. Like many other skilled employees of the railway, Frik moved on to start his own business.

The following images were taken by me during my April 2001 visit to South Africa. All images taken with an Olympus E-10 digital camera.

The name of the lorry is Barbie Girl.

Panbult Denne Saagmeule

In English, Panbult Pine Tree Saw Mill. This family owned saw mill is located in Panbult with a post address of Iswepe, South Africa. The Coal Line of Spoornet can be seen in the background. The saw mill does not have a dedicated railway siding. Instead, the product must be road hauled to the station siding and trans-loaded onto the railway wagons. The recent trend has been to send the goods directly to the customer by using heavy road transport lorries, thereby eliminating the need to handle the goods twice as is the case when using the railway.

The railway yard at Panbult is used primarily for coal loading. The station grounds are always alive with both rail and lorry movements.

Barbie gets Super-Link.

These photographs show the lorry for the first time hitching up to the Super-Link and the original flat trailer on the grounds of Panbult Denne Saagmeule. Now the lorry is the heavy haul machine needed to move large quantities of goods throughout South Africa.

Notice how the clouds have rolled in. This was the beginning of one week worth of rain. Being an avid photographer of primarily railway equipment, was this my punishment for photographing a lorry?