Friends of the Rail Forum

See attachment

Choo-Tjoe: A whole lot of steam

Social media was buzzing with excitement, but the excitement was short-lived as it became known that posts regarding the imminent return of the iconic Choo-Tjoe steam train were not entirely accurate...

"The Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe - Something to chew on"

A interesting and informative series on Southern African railways written by Peter Ball is being published by the "Heritage Portal". See this post for links to other articles: http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 09&t=12739. The Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe is featured as set out below.

Part 11: An article on the history of the George to Knysna line and the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe train here: http://www.heritageportal.co.za/article ... thing-chew.

Thousands of people in South Africa and abroad dream of the day when the famous Outeniqua Choo Tjoe will run again. In the article below Peter Ball sketches the history and potential future of this ‘world in one branch line'.

Incidently, a fairly expensive 3-volume coffee-table book entitled "A World in One Branch Line" by renowned railway photographer and author, Dennis Moore, about this line can be obtained from this website: http://www.blurb.com/b/2897317-a-world- ... ough-three

VOLUME 1. VERY LARGE FORMAT 33cm x 28cm. 'A WORLD IN ONE BRANCH LINE' ...
An apt description of the 67 km long railway running from George to Knysna in the Southern Cape area of South Africa. It was one of the best known steam worked railways in the World and constantly attracted photographers, both local and from overseas.

A personal note: I do wish that, if and when this train resumes service, a better name than OCT could be found. Besides being unpronouncable by visitors, which comes first: Choo or Tjoe? Can you instantly spell Outeniqua and Tjoe? Very important when searching for this train service on the web. Lastly, the train ran along the coast, not up or into the Outeniqua mountains.