The Vintage Train to Elgin
PLJphotoMan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Distance80 km each way · 3 ft 6 in gauge
- DurationA ten-hour day, 08:00 to 18:00
- Best seasonSaturdays, October to April
Introduction
For most of the twentieth century the traffic over Sir Lowry's Pass ran one way. Between February and May the Elgin valley sent its apples down the mountain to the export coolers at Cape Town docks, at the peak an average of 140 loads a day, worked by steam until the 1975 season. The fruit no longer goes by rail, and beyond Somerset West the line has no regular passenger service at all.
What it does have is a vintage train on weekends, and it runs the other way. It leaves the Cape Town Foreshore in the morning, climbs the Hottentots Holland mountains on grades of 1 in 40 and stops at Elgin station, beside a 1940s apple warehouse that is now the Elgin Railway Market. The shed that once filled the wagons is where the passengers get off.
The train belongs to the Cape Rail Company, which began as Ceres Rail in 2013 and still sells its tickets under that name. In 2025 the Elgin run was hauled by steam; the departures on sale for the 2026–27 season are sold as diesel-hauled, behind the same red and cream coaches.
The Journey
The train leaves from Dockrail Road on the Foreshore at 08:05. It runs out of Cape Town with the suburban trains through Bellville, then turns south at Eerste River onto the Overberg line, opened to Somerset West in 1889, and crosses the farmland past Faure and Firgrove to Somerset West, under the Helderberg.
Over the mountains
At Somerset West the electric wires turn off to Strand, and beyond Sir Lowry's Pass village the climb begins: the single track works up the face of the Hottentots Holland range on grades as steep as 1 in 40, with the N2 road pass of 1830 alongside. Building the line over the top took from July 1899 to August 1902, slowed by the Anglo-Boer War. At the summit, 415 metres up, it passes through a 217-metre tunnel near Steenbras siding and comes out on the Elgin plateau.
Elgin
The train stops at Elgin station, about 80 kilometres from Cape Town. Alongside the platform stands the old apple warehouse, built in the 1940s by Italian prisoners of war and now the Elgin Railway Market: food stalls, a bar with local wine, beer and cider, a gin bar, craft and gift stalls, live music and a deck overlooking the track. The full market opens on Saturdays and Sundays from 09:00 to 16:00. The train is back in Cape Town at about 18:00.
The train
The coaches are vintage main-line stock, among them a former dining car and a bar coach, in the company's red and cream. On board there is a bar and a dining car serving snacks. For the season now on sale the train is diesel-hauled. The company also owns steam: Class 19D 3322, built by North British in 1948, burns oil and is in working order, and it hauled trains for the company in 2024.
Along the route
Andres de Wet / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · croppedOut to Somerset West
The train leaves the Foreshore, runs out through Bellville and turns south at Eerste River onto the Overberg line, past Faure and Firgrove to Somerset West, at the foot of the Helderberg. This far the line has been open since 1889.
Andres de Wet / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · croppedSir Lowry's Pass
From Sir Lowry's Pass village the line climbs the Hottentots Holland mountains on grades as steep as 1 in 40, beside the road pass of 1830. Nearby are the wheel ruts of the ox-wagon route that road replaced, a national monument since 1958.
Olga Ernst / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · croppedOver the top at Steenbras
At 415 metres the line threads a 217-metre summit tunnel by Steenbras siding, where in steam days crews from either side of the mountain met, swapped trains and went home. The Steenbras Dam lies on the plateau beside the road.
Abu Shawka / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · croppedInto the Elgin valley
Over the summit the line runs out across the Elgin valley, between orchards and vineyards, and stops at Elgin station, where the market's deck looks straight down onto the platform.A bit of history
Culture & experiences along the way
Danie Pretorius / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0Cool-climate wine
Elgin is the coolest wine region in South Africa, known above all for its Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. The market keeps a wine shop stocked from Elgin and Bot River estates and an Elgin craft-gin bar, so the tasting can start within sight of the train.
Malcolm Manners / Flickr · CC BY 2.0The apples of Elgin
The Molteno brothers turned this valley to deciduous fruit in the early 1900s, and it now grows about three-fifths of South Africa's apples. In the fruit season, February to May, the crop once left by rail for the export coolers at Cape Town docks; none goes by train now.Timetables
The train to Elgin runs on Saturdays, with extra Sunday and weekday departures over the Christmas and New Year holidays. There is one train a day: it leaves Cape Town at 08:05 and is back at about 18:00, a ten-hour day with the market in the middle. It is booking only: reserve a seat online before you travel.
Dates on sale, 2026–27 season
| Month | Departures |
|---|---|
| October 2026 | Sat 24 |
| November 2026 | Sat 7, 14, 21, 28 |
| December 2026 | Sat 5, 12, 19 · Sun 20 · Mon 21 · Wed 23 · Sun 27 · Mon 28 · Wed 30 · Thu 31 |
| January 2027 | Sat 2 · Sun 3 · Sat 9 · Sun 10 · Sat 16, 23, 30 |
| February 2027 | Sat 6, 20, 27 |
| March 2027 | Sat 6, 13 |
| April 2027 | Sat 3, 10, 17 |
The booking pages list these trains as diesel-hauled. No dates are on sale yet from May 2027.
As of 19 October 2026, from the dates open for booking in the operator's shop. Check Cape Rail's Elgin page (opens in a new tab) for seats before you plan the day.
Getting to the start
The train leaves from Dockrail Road, Foreshore, Cape Town, not from the main station. There is secure underground parking at the departure point for R80 for the day, payable when you book or at check-in; there is no other parking on site.
Tickets
There is one ticket: a day return from Cape Town to Elgin, sold online by the operator or by phone and email. Fares are by age: adults 18 to 59, pensioners 60 and over, children 4 to 17, and under-fours free. Parking at the departure point is extra.
Book before the day: the train runs on set dates only. From the operator's booking shop, in South African rand, as of October 2026.
Book your tickets
Adult day return
R799 · ages 18 to 59
Cape Town to Elgin and back on the same day, with time at the market in between.
Book Tickets (opens in a new tab, on Cape Rail Company)via Cape Rail CompanyPensioners and children
R649 for 60 and over · R599 for ages 4 to 17
The same day return at a reduced fare; children under four travel free.
Book Tickets (opens in a new tab, on Cape Rail Company)via Cape Rail CompanyRail Passes
No rail pass covers this train. It is a private heritage service with its own fares, so everyone buys the day return from the operator.
Places to Visit
The train makes one stop, at Elgin, so the places worth a day of their own are at either end of the line and along the coast below it.
Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0The Castle of Good Hope
The Dutch East India Company built this five-bastioned fort between 1666 and 1679 on what was then the shore of Table Bay; land reclamation for the Foreshore has since left it inland, a short way from where the train departs. It is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. The gateway dates from 1682, and the bell above it, cast in Amsterdam in 1697, is the oldest in the country. The castle houses a military museum.
Raymond Ellis / Wikimedia Commons · CC0Vergelegen
Willem Adriaan van der Stel, Governor of the Cape, settled this estate below the Hottentots Holland mountains in 1700 and improved it with the Company's resources, until the free burghers' complaints had him dismissed in 1706. The camphor trees he planted around 1705 still stand. The Cape Dutch homestead, the gardens and the winery are open to visitors.
Andres de Wet / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · croppedThe Kogelberg
South of Elgin the Kogelberg mountains drop straight into the sea along the R44 coast road. The nature reserve at their heart, proposed by Harry Molteno in 1951, protects about 1,600 plant species and is known as the heart of the fynbos. Its Palmiet River valley has some of the least disturbed riverside vegetation in the south-western Cape.Where to Sleep
The train is a day out from Cape Town and back. To stay in the Overberg instead, the old inn on the Houw Hoek Pass is a short drive beyond Elgin.
Where to stay
Zaian / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · croppedHouw Hoek Hotel
On the Houw Hoek Pass, beyond Elgin
Built in 1779 at a toll gate on the wagon road east and licensed in 1834, it calls itself South Africa's oldest licensed hotel, with spa, pools and mountain-view rooms.
Check Availability (opens in a new tab, on houwhoekhotel.com)via houwhoekhotel.comQuestions or corrections
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