The Overberg branch line is a railway line in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, South Africa. It runs from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

through

Somerset West Somerset West ( af, Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hottent ...

and Caledon to

Bredasdorp Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agu ...

Route

The line branches from the Bellville–

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

line at

Eerste River The Eerste River, located in the Western Cape, South Africa, rises on Dwarsberg 60 km east of Cape Town at the head of Jonkershoek. The Eerste River catchment covers the eastern part of the Cape Flats lying to the west of the Hottentots Ho ...

, from which it runs through Faure and Firgrove to Somerset West. From Van der Stel station in Somerset West a short line branches to the right to

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

. After leaving Somerset West the line passes through Sir Lowry's Pass Village and climbs

Sir Lowry's Pass Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Somerset West and the Elgin valley, on the main route between Cape Town and the Gar ...

. At the summit of the pass the line reaches an elevation of ; the summit tunnel is long. The line passes through the fruit-farming area of Elgin before descending the Jakkals River valley to

Botrivier Botrivier is a small town of approximately 10 000 people, situated in the Overberg region of the Western Cape in South Africa. Village in the former Caledon district, 93 km southeast of Cape Town. It takes its name from the Bot River on the ...

. From Botrivier it runs across the Overberg plain through Caledon to a junction at Klipdale. From Klipdale one line continues east to Protem, while another goes south to

. Trains from Cape Town to Bredasdorp (or vice versa) cannot pass directly through the junction at Klipdale, but must first pass around a

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

. Bredasdorp is the southernmost railway station in Africa. The line is single-track, and electrified only as far as Strand.

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...

services of the

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

operate from Cape Town through Bellville to Strand; the rest of the line has no regular passenger service.

History

The railway arrived at Eerste River in 1862, as part of the construction of the Cape Town–Wellington railway line, the first in the then

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

. A branch to Somerset West opened by the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately own ...

on 21 October 1889, and further to Sir Lowry's Pass Village on 1 February 1890. The

Hottentots-Holland The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Ta ...

mountains were a significant obstacle to any further development, and construction of a line over Sir Lowry's Pass only started on 12 July 1899. The effects of the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

slowed progress, but by 1 August 1902 the line was opened to Caledon.Reported in On 16 December 1905 the short branch to Strand was opened. Two extensions of the line from Caledon were possible: eastwards towards

Riviersonderend Riviersonderend is a village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, about east of Cape Town. It is located on a loop of the Sonderend River, from which it takes its name. In the census of 2011 it was recorded as having a popul ...

and

Swellendam Swellendam is the fifth oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, and Paarl), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them ...

, with the ultimate possibility of reaching

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay ( af, Mosselbaai) is a harbour town of about 99,000 people on the Southern Cape (or Garden Route) of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the ...

; or southwards towards Napier and

. In 1906 a conference of delegates from the Overberg was unable to agree on a route for a continuation of the line. Meanwhile, by early 1906 the New Cape Central Railway (NCCR), a private company, had reached Mossel Bay with its line from

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

via Swellendam, and was having difficulty running it at a profit; this did not bode well for the profitability of a line from Caledon to Swellendam. Construction on an extension began in 1914, reaching Rietpoel on 5 January 1914, Klipdale on 6 April 1914, and Protem on 30 June 1915. This route was a compromise, Klipdale being about halfway between Riviersonderend and Bredasdorp. " Protem" means "for the time being", reflecting the intention to continue the line to Swellendam at some time in the future. Ultimately, though, the NCCR was taken over by the

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

(SAR) in 1925, making such an extension unnecessary. In the mid-1920s the SAR embarked on a new phase of railway building, as part of which the line from Klipdale junction south to Bredasdorp was opened on 19 April 1924.

References

* * {{cite map , title=South Africa Passenger Services 2009 , url=http://www.sa-transport.co.za/trains/maps/SA-Passenger-Services-Map-2009.pdf , publisher=Bruno Martin Railway lines in South Africa 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in South Africa