This week I’m sharing a picture of a bullion coach, or a special train that was used to transport gold from the mines in the Johannesburg area to the seaside towns of Durban and Cape Town in South Africa. This particular train is on display at Gold Reef City, a gold mining themed amusement park. You can go and see the train yourself if you visit the park.
Gold theft has long been a problem in the mining industry — and continues to be a problem to this day. Trains such as this are not used anymore (at least not here in South Africa), but for many years heavily fortified trains such as this were the primary way that gold was transported. In addition to the special armor, the train had several guards who lived aboard the train.
Look at the thick doors of the train and the special safe used to store the gold:
Georneys 