A Scene From Long Ago

On the Internet, there is a site called Soul of a Railway.  It is a work, still in progress after many years, by Les Pivnic and Charlie Lewis with other contributors.  The aim is to document, in words and extraordinary photographs, the history of the once-fabulous South African Railways system.  Les has just published a chapter on the Motor Transport System, a distinct branch of what the Railways did to serve people in the far-flung communities of a big, sometimes wild and desolate country.  The idea was simple, rather like the system of Post Buses in Switzerland: If a train does not, or cannot, reach a forgotten corner of the country, then a bus will convey passengers and the mail from the nearest rail head to the edge of the earth if necessary.
As I read through Les' chapter, it reminded me of a photograph I have, taken by my late father in 1947.  This was the year my parents were married, and, for some inexplicable reason, my mother agreed to be taken - on her honeymoon no less - to my grandfather's sheep farm in the remote wilds of South Africa's Northern Cape.  Once at the farm, Dad documented the place thoroughly with photographs of the homestead and out-buildings, the sheep pen, the strange trees that struggled for life in the arid soil, and the surrounding low hills.  Mom then wrote a short commentary on each image.  I have them all.  My grandfather and uncle, who ran the farm, had a general store set up.  Here, folk from the surrounding farms could come to find their hearts' desires displayed on the shelves, have a chat with the neighbors, and collect their mail.  This, of course, was delivered by the South African Railways Motor Transport Service heavy-duty 4-wheel-drive bus towing a trailer loaded to the gunwales with goodies for the store.  The nearest rail head is at Prieska, maybe seventy or eighty miles away.  Dad caught the dusty, probably once-weekly arrival of the Albion combination bus at the farm.  Here it is. 
This photograph was almost certainly captured with his fabulous "vade mecum" Leica II with Elmar 50mm lens, both of which have appeared on these pages before.