I spent six months total in South Africa, in four separate visits, primarily working on the acoustics of the Sun City Entertainment Center. This was located in a “Black protectorate state,” Boputatswana, intended to provide a decent living for the people there and give them an opporotunity to intgeract with the world> he sent several local people to swiitzerland to study hotle management. I was picked to be the acoustical consulotant for the project, and the combination performance and sport hall was opened by Frank Synatra and his troup, with the opening number New York-New York.
On one of my visits, the architect, Baba Selsick, gave me some tourist experiences, and a visit to the Praetoria Capitol Park Engine Sheds was included. there I actually had time on a throttle of a 4-8-0 to move from storage to coaling to sanding to water.
When Sol asked me to go fromj Johannesberg, where most of the design work was being done, to Cape Town to study a problem at a Southern Suns hotel there, I agreed if I could go one way by train. Sol agreed, and I was able to ride what manuy considered the most luxurious regular passenger train in the world.
The train did live up to its reputation. Most of the trip was behind electrics, but there was still an electrification gap in the middle where a diesel was used. I had a space rouigjhly equal to a roomette but with a separate toilet annex. The ride was extremely quiet, the food excellent, and the scenery terrific.
In the dining car there was one table occupied by blacks I checked on this with my hosts, who said the Blue Train was an exception where Apartheid was not practiced, and at the time, it was the only all-room train on the railways.
I could not ride the Johannesburg trolleybus system, since it was of-limits to whites. The same was true for most of the electric commuter lines.
I have not had the opportunity to go back since Apa