Hello, and a couple of questions

[Oliver Krapp]

Hello everyone!

My first post here... so I think I start with introducing myself a bit:

I'm Oliver and live in Braunschweig in Northern Germany. I'm into trains since I was 12 (back in 1981), and work as a web designer.

I'm currently planning my second trip to South Africa, and this time I want to try to get some train photos as well. So it would be nice to know where it makes sense to wait for a train... ;)

The current plan would include taking Shosholoza Meyl night trains from Jo'burg to Durban and from Cape Town back to Jo'burg, with a road trip from Durban to Cape Town via Mthatha, East London, the Addo Elephant Park, Knysna and Stellenbosch.

So now we come to my questions:

1. Are there any timetables available online for Kei Rail and the metrorail lines from East London to Berlin and from Port Elizabeth to Uitenhage? It seems that you can find the times for the tourist trains and metrorail Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town only...

2. What are the chances to see trains on the follwing lines on our way:
Mthatha - Kei Bridge (Mthatha - East London)
East London - King William's Town (East London - Cookhouse / Queenstown - Bloemfontein))
Paterson - Addo (Port Elizabeth - Cookhouse - Bloemfontein)
George - Mossel Bay - Heidelberg, Swellendam and Ashton - Worcester (Middelburg - Mossel Bay - Worcester)
Elgin (Overberg Line)
Paarl - Klapmuts (Cape Town - Beauford West - Johannesburg)
Muldersvlei - Stellenbosch - Cape Town

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Here's a photo of a 5M2A unit in Muizenberg, taken on my last trip on 31 December 2012:

[John Ashworth]

Welcome to the forum, Oliver, and thanks for the photo. Please feel free to post more. I'm not able to answer your questions but I hope some of our more knowledgeable members will do so.

[Aidan McCarthy]

Hi Oliver,

Here are a few comments on some of the routes, I live in Johannesburg but I spend my annual holiday in Cape Town that includes some train spotting


East London - King William's Town (East London - Cookhouse / Queenstown - Bloemfontein)) - This line is used for both car trains and ore traffic to East London so there should some traffic over sections

Elgin (Overberg Line) - There are regular daily trains to and from the malting plant Caledon, in the past I drove to Caledon and asked at the station around the location of any trains.
Paarl - Klapmuts (Cape Town - Beauford West - Johannesburg) - Best thing is to consult http://www.shosholozameyl.co.za, Blue Train and Rovos rail websites for departures out of Cape town as they all use this route
Muldersvlei - Stellenbosch - Cape Town - Regular metro service on the Stellenbosch loop with semaphore signals at some of the stations.

Transnet Freight rail does not have any information around freight movements so finding trains normally is pot luck and waiting beside the line for a long time.

Hope this helps.

[Oliver Krapp]

Hi again, and thanks for the tips so far!

I was able to find timetables of the Eastern Cape metrorail services online, the were hidden on the "gometro" mobile pages:
http://www.gometro.co.za/METROGP/MREC/ECROUTE1.php

[Andreas Umnus]

I saw your question today when I was looking your profile.

Here can you find timetables for Metrorail:

http://www.metrorail.co.za/Timetables.html (but I'm not really sure if the timetables up to date - one timetable was dated 3 June 2012)

and maybe might help this website for informations about passenger trains:

http://www.seat61.com/SouthAfrica.htm#Premier%20Classe
Scroll the site up and down for other train timetables.

When I was in Worcester in 2009 I saw there the Blue train and some time earlier or later the Shosholoza Meyl.
Also have I seen a freight train the station within one hour as I was at the station.
I'm now unfortunately short on time but i can write later more.

[Oliver Krapp]

Danke, Andreas :)

I was able to find almost all the passenger train timetables, so those shouldn't be any problem.

Now that the route is pretty fixed (hotels booked etc.), the most likely places I will try are:

- Durban/Shallcross (Natal Main Line)
- Lonetree / Berlin (East London area)
- Alicedale - Addo (Port Elizabeth line)
- George and Oudtshoorn stations
- Elgin station (Overberg line, if time allows)
- Franschhoek Wine Tram

The main question will be the freight train frequency (of course there are no fixed times, but a suggestion whether it's more towards a train per week or rahter 10 trains per hour might be useful) :-)

[Aidan McCarthy]

Hi Oliver,

From what I have heard the Shallcross area is not very safe, try and connect with Charles Baker on facebook as he does a lot of train spotting in KZN. Also a photographer was mugged at Oudtshoorn station recently, I normally avoid stations as most are abandoned and they often have vagrants and squatters living in them.

Cheers

Aidan

[Oliver Krapp]

Hi Aidan,

thanks for the warnings :-)

However, it seems that it is not exactly Shallcross, and in Google Streetview the area seems quite okay: LINK

At the other places it's not exactly the stations I want to go to, but rather the area (preferably where I can stay in the car until a train comes), except for George, where I want to visit the museum.

Although I would like to try to get at least a quick photo with a station sign on it in Berlin ;)

[Oliver Krapp]

So my current plan is...

02 Jan: after arriving in Durban, drive out to Camperdown / Umlaas Road for an hour or two
04 Jan: taking a trip on the Umgeni Steam Railway
05 Jan: on the way, check if there's anything going on in Umkomaas, and also between Mthatha and Butterworth
07 Jan: try to take a photo of East London's metrorail service near (or in) Berlin an looking for trains in Alicedale and at the entrance to the Addo National Park (we might just be in time for the Shosholoza Meyl from PE to Joburg)
08 Jan: look for a place to take a shot of a metrorail service in Uitenhage
09 Jan: Outeniqua Transport Museum
10 Jan: look for trains in Oudtshoorn and Swellendam
11 Jan: visit Hex River Valley and Tulbaghkloof
12 Jan: Franschhoek Wine Tram
14 / 15 Jan: take the Shosholoza Meyl from Cape Town to Johannesburg, head on to the airport by Gautrain

That's pretty much the "railway part" of our holidays...

Which leaves only a few questions then:
1. Does anyone know the current status of Kei Rail?
2. Are there other passenger trains apart from the luxury trains, Shosholoza Meyl / Premier Classe, Gautrain, and metrorail?
3. Any other tips regarding the places I want to go to?