The Union Limited train is made up exclusively of Transnet Museum vintage stock. The glamour of the steam locomotives used on the tours always seems to result in the coaching stock being somewhat neglected. Much of the stock used on the Union Limited is interesting in its own right. Each year it became more difficult to use all vintage stock for our steam safari tours but the Union Limited stock is being overhauled on a regular basis and we are now in a position to run all our tours with a full rake of vintage coaches.

Coaches have been retained in their original condition as far as possible but certain modifications have been made to make them more comfortable and practical for long distance travel.The Union Limited represents an era of the South African Railways when train travel was 'the way' to get around South Africa. It was long before the days of air conditioning. It was only in later years that hot water arrived and then it was only in the kitchen car. We have of course modified the train to be more comfortable than when first built, but as our objective is to preserve South Africa's railway heritage in as original as possible condition, we cannot customise the train in any way. Certain of the coaches, despite being first class, did not have showers. We have installed showers in these. We have gas heated showers and hot water in most of our basins. We do not however have air conditioning. There is steam heating in the winter and fresh from open windows in the summer! The modifications have not in any way altered the external appearance of the coaches.

The following pages are a summary of the coaches available for use on the Union Limited steam safari trains. The coaches are used as required on the various tours. There are coaches presently undergoing restoration that are not reflected on this web site.