The following is culled from Wiki.
1939
The Blue Train has run between Cape Town and Pretoria, South Africa since 1939 and derives its name from blue locomotives, railroad cars and leather seats. It was upgraded in 1997 to include televisions and phones in all of its suites and is still considered one of the most luxurious trains running today.
Read more: Famous Trains in Europe and Africa http://www.infoplease.com/spot/trains2. ... z3QPgKMNaF
Blue Train
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John Ashworth
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Re: Blue Train
Thanks, Phillip. I've moved this topic into the South African discussion sub-forum.
I rode the Blue Train from Pretoria to Victoria Falls in 2000. At the time the one-way ticket was USD 600, which was quite a lot of money 15 years ago (I didn't pay for it - my staff had a whip-round to buy it for me as a going-away present when I moved on from a particular job). A superb journey. Highlights included the CCTV camera on the front of the loco which could be viewed in each compartment, a cab ride in Zimbabwe, and the eight hours we spent in Bulawayo Station while the punters were taken on a bus ride to a national park. As soon as I saw the Garratts shunting, I ducked out of the tour and stayed there. I was standing on the platform photographing them when a uniformed official came up to me and said, "Why are you standing on the platform when you could get much better pictures if you cross the tracks?" So I did. Soon after that, one of the drivers just called me onto the footplate and I had a good cab ride. After a while I asked him, "Where are we going?", but in fact we were only going around the balloon and back, which also gave us a good view of the shed. I remember going back to the Blue Train at lunch time where the chef asked the passengers who had remained (just me and a bloke with a broken leg!) if sandwiches would be OK, and subsequently brought us a plate of the most superbly made sandwiches full of expensive fillings.
I rode the Blue Train from Pretoria to Victoria Falls in 2000. At the time the one-way ticket was USD 600, which was quite a lot of money 15 years ago (I didn't pay for it - my staff had a whip-round to buy it for me as a going-away present when I moved on from a particular job). A superb journey. Highlights included the CCTV camera on the front of the loco which could be viewed in each compartment, a cab ride in Zimbabwe, and the eight hours we spent in Bulawayo Station while the punters were taken on a bus ride to a national park. As soon as I saw the Garratts shunting, I ducked out of the tour and stayed there. I was standing on the platform photographing them when a uniformed official came up to me and said, "Why are you standing on the platform when you could get much better pictures if you cross the tracks?" So I did. Soon after that, one of the drivers just called me onto the footplate and I had a good cab ride. After a while I asked him, "Where are we going?", but in fact we were only going around the balloon and back, which also gave us a good view of the shed. I remember going back to the Blue Train at lunch time where the chef asked the passengers who had remained (just me and a bloke with a broken leg!) if sandwiches would be OK, and subsequently brought us a plate of the most superbly made sandwiches full of expensive fillings.
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Philip Martin
- Posts: 102
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- Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Re: Blue Train
What an excellent post, John. I'm certainly glad that I inserted that bit of information about it here, and on RR.net. George Matthews' response there was also excellent.