A trip through some of the most beautiful scenery in Africa in a piece of railway history left me with some wonderful impressions
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| The locomotive breathing fire! |
A while ago I had the pleasure of taking a steam train from Donnybrook to Underberg at the foothills of the Drakensberg, the chain of mountains that defines the border of KwaZulu-Natal, on the eastern coast of South Africa.
The old locomotive and its train of carriages had been lovingly (and sumptuously) restored as part of an economic upliftment programme for this very rural area. The inaugural trip was a shakedown to see how the experience would be managed for tourists, so there were a number of aspects that needed to be ironed out as we went along. The smoke billowed from the stack as the train waited for a group of us to board, huffing and puffing gently, and occasionally letting out a long melancholic hiss. The sky was devoid of cloud and the bright sunshine reflected the jaunty mood of the passengers.
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Snaking up through the hills
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We set off at a relaxed pace, the carriages clanking along behind the old steam train, the front end wreathed in smoke and the air acrid with the smell of burning coal. The old rail line started to meander as it wound its way through the surrounding hills towards the purple peaks. We were frequently greeted by small crowds of cheery locals who waved enthusiastically and would run alongside the heaving behemoth for a couple of hundred yards, exchanging banter with the stewards.
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| A rural church we passed en route |
After a pause for some more water (that uphill journey required a lot of steam!) we continued toward Bulwer, The passengers were called to the dining car and we were faced with a splendid buffet that would satisfy the most discerning of appetites. I had earlier taken a look at the sleeping accommodation on the train and it was pretty luxurious, and this meal was pitched at those who would pay for such standards. Fortunately this was test journey so the costs were better suited to my meagre resources, and I wasn't planning on an overnight stop with the train at Underberg anyway.
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| The gleaming instruments in the old loco |
We then made an unscheduled stop as the water tank became dangerously low and a water tanker was summonsed to meet us at a railway crossing in the middle of nowhere. This took an hour or so to arrive, so we had a chance to get off the train and stretch our legs a bit. Once the tanker had delivered its load of H2O and the locomotive got up a head of steam, the passengers all returned to the train. With much hissing, puffing and chugging the old train put it's back into the task and the winding procession of carriages creaked and snaked its way up the remaining miles to Underberg station.
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| a repast fit for a king |
At this juncture I took a lift back to our starting point and headed back for Durban. The overnight passengers however, had a splendid repast prepared for them at the local hotel, and then spent the night sleeping in the most delightful wood-panelled comfort of those expensively refurbished carriages.
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| The old mission at Centacow |
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| Country life in the foothills of the 'Berg |
It was a great experience to travel through the tranquil green hills so well described by Alan Paton in Cry the Beloved Country. To do so in a train that first pulled carriages in the 1920s was even more exciting. I really hope that the Steam Train experience goes from strength to strength.
Cars with no place to go
The front garden in a snow blanket
The garden gate looking very Christmas-like
This has been some journey. The Cosmic Shaft was an old BMW R60 that I rode as a student in the early 1970s. It was a time of rebellion and rage in South Africa as the old regime came under increasing pessure from within and without to abandon apartheid. The 70s white boys were conscripted and put in the front line, the panicking Government tried to silence its critics with increasing force, and paranoia and spies abounded. It was the climate of tension that made everything vibrantly exciting and fearful. Loyalties were made and betrayed, the protesting voices were often quelled with whips and guns but history was being made every day. And in this vast troubled country it was often necessary to seek some solace in in its far-flung corners. The Cosmic Shaft allowed this to happen for me.
It's an eclectic vehicle that showcases aspects of the Centre's various research strands. It gets a wide audience through the CCMS website, which I also manage.
The first time I saw the Flexit in action it forced me to reassess sidecars. It was fast and manoueverable. It cornered at speed. It didn't require any special skills from a solo bike rider to make it work. This was a radical change from the usual experience of having a chair strapped to the side of a motorcycle.
The chair could be demounted in a matter of minutes if you needed to ride the bike solo, and reattached
The aerodynamics are excellent, and thus barely raise the fuel consumption on a long trip. Urban riding required a bit more throttle to overcome the inertia, so it drank a bit under those conditions
These pictures show an Australian Flexit mounted to a Guzzi, and illustrate just how nimble the outfit is going round bends
The design may be over 30 years old now, but it still looks fresh and timeless - much like some of the classic sports cars
