Spoorwee in die Oranje Vrijstaat 1890-1899 (1953) (from the library of Andre Bezuidenhout)

According to Madden Cole in Business Day of 22 July 2011, quoting \"A Century of Transport\", published by the South African Railways in 1959, the introduction of railways to the Orange Free State was not an easy task as conservative forces resisted the idea for many years. Anti-railway conferences were held in Ladybrand, Dewetsdorp and Brandfort as late as 1887. The antagonists said railways were unnecessary, would harm transport riding by ox-wagon, would encroach on property rights and were harmful to horse-breeding. But progress prevailed and the railway reached Bloemfontein in 1890.

The progress of the last decade of the nineteenth century is followed in Swanepoel\'s thesis.

This copy carries a cancelled stamp from the University of the Orange Free State library. The quarter-binding, soft red leather spine with gilt lettering and red leather boards with gilt lettering to the upper panel, is worn at the head and foot of the spine, with a small loss of material at the foot. The volume runs to ix + about 135 pp and is especially valuable for its 25 mounted original photographic prints and inserted graphs and tables.