Peter Ball continues his epic History of Southern African Railways series with this superb piece on the line from Mossel Bay to Oudsthoorn. He sets the historical context, highlights the incredibly difficult terrain for railway building and concludes that it is remarkable that the line was built at all.
The Outeniqua Mountains run parallel to the coast in the region we now call the Garden Route, they separate the coastal strip from the valley of the Olifants River, which is better known as the Klein Karroo. The mountains were a natural barrier to those who wished to venture inland beyond the coastal shelf and the native people of the Cape, the Khoikhoi, were the first to discover ways over them, by following animal tracks.
Terrain Map (Google Maps)
When the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) established a victualing station at Cape Town (in 1652) for its ships sailing to and from the Spice Islands it never intended to colonise the region, however it did send out expeditions for the purpose of trade with the Khoikhoi. One such expedition took place in 1689 and was led by Ensign Isaq Schrijver who was sent eastwards over the Hottentot-Holland Mountains, along a track which would become the old Cape Wagon Road.
His journey took him and his column of men through the Overberg and further onto a...
