Theft of track along a stretch of railway is threatening to put a heritage train non-profit group out of business and cut into the income of a town that relies heavily on tourism. Thieves are stealing sections of rail track near the town of Cullinan.The branch line is used only by Friends of the Rail.The internationally renowned heritage railway organisation usually stages two trips a month from Pretoria to Cullinan.But in the past four weeks alone there have been three instances of track being stolen, forcing F riends of the Rail to either cancel their trip or bring the journey to an end at the station at Rayton. In the latter case, passengers have been transported the rest of the way to Cullinan by bus.Honorary secretary of Friends of the Rail Steve Appleton said hiring buses cost between R16000 and R20000."This cost almost totally wipes out our profit."Appleton said that thieves used to target steel sleepers but when these were replaced by concrete sleepers they turned to stealing the rails.He said that because of rail theft the Friends of the Rail had had "to repair locomotives damaged in derailments on two occasions"."We have taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again by sending line surveyors out just before a trip and by stopping the train at vulnerable points to inspect the track."He said tourists wanted "a train trip, not a bus trip and the inconvenient transfer".He said he feared that Cullinan would experience a drop in revenue if train trips became unfeasible.Because of the delays caused by line inspections, train passengers spent less time and money in the town."We take about 400 passengers a trip, roughly twice a month: that's 800 people a month. If each spends R100 in Cullinan that works out at R80000 a month."Appleton has recommended patrols along the track to prevent theft but fears that Cullinan or Friends of the Rail will have to foot the bill for that...