A great chunk of South Africa’s rail heritage has been obliterated as scrap thieves plunder a collection of steam locomotives at an open-air museum near Krugersdorp.

Some 27 locomotives, parked on an unfenced piece of ground near the industrial estate of Chamdor, have been systematically cut to pieces by thieves using heavy equipment to hack pieces off the engines and cart them away.

The collection belongs to the South African National Rail and Steam Museum (SANRASM), a privately-run rail and heritage organisation which had been entrusted with the preservation of numerous locomotives, rolling stock and railway artefacts.

Many of the locomotives at Chamdor had been donated to SANRASM by mining companies which had used the engines on ore-hauling railways before retiring them.

According to locomotive experts who have visited the site to investigate, almost all the engines have been vandalised to such an extent that they are beyond salvage and have no chance of ever being restored to running condition. The locomotives have been all been stripped of external parts such as connecting rods, axle boxes, boiler cladding and other pieces that are easy to move.

Historians and enthusiasts are outraged that the locomotives were not under guard. Meanwhile, the scrapping work is allegedly being carried out in broad daylight.

PHOTOS: The collection of vandalised locomotives at Chamdor, South Africa, this week, and above, a close-up showing how the frame of one locomotive has been cut through, making the locomotive impossible to move – or save.

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