TOPIC:

The site as it looked when I passed through in 1978 ....









.

Also, a few photographs taken by the war artist René Bull, shortly after the incident. The soldiers in the distance in the second photograph are gathered around the grave shown in my last post. The last image shows rocks placed on the line to cause the derailment.

Another photograph by René Bull - this time showing the Dublin Fusiliers on board the armoured train at Estcourt. Was this taken on the day of the ill-fated journey?



.

Superb photos, Neville!
I note the Mk IV .303 case in your close up from 1978. Souvenir hunters have chipped out many of the cartridges in the monument since 1978.
Some of the Dublins in the carriage have reversed their helmets to allow easy sighting of their Lee Metford Mk I*s .

I'm not surprised Rob, Souvenir hunters had already made away with "15th 99" by 1978. Below is a drawing by Mr René Bull (again!) sowing the grave as it appeared in November 1899.




Indeed, pieces of the armoured train became sort after souvenirs immediately after the disaster.
These wounded officers, homeward bound on board the Hospital Ship Maine, were photographed which such a fragment, already neatly engraved: "PART OF ARMOURED TRAIN No 53[?] STRUCK BY 9LB SHELL AT CHIEVELEY NOV 15TH 1899 BOER WAR".







.

I always imagined the rocks to be larger; but they could not be too large, otherwise the train drive, Charles Wagner, would have seen them sooner and had time to slow down.

Such high quality images! Great stuff. Rene' Bull was all over the place. And a good sketch artist as well. When Churchill returned he was photographed at the site.
Payton

Churchill by train. Image Source: Originally published in Daily News, Durban reproduced in Churchills in Africa by Roberts, Brian, 1970 published by Hamish Hamilton, London
Churchill on Pony at train: Image source: With the Flag to Pretoria, H. W. Wilson Vol 1 1900 and britishbattles.com
“Before the disaster, November 15th. [1899] Men of the Dublin Fusiliers embarking on the armoured train. In the [train] truck on the left is Rene’ Bull, snap-shooting. [The man standing with a hat on and looking down into what is presumably his camera." Black & White Weekly Vol 1-2 1899-1900
Sketch of the train after its return to Estcourt: Black & White Weekly Vol 1-2 1899-1900 (From a sketch by Rene’ Bull) “The armoured train disaster at Chieveley, November 15th, where Mr. Winston Churchill was captured.”