trams | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Jane Bodin, a resident of Camps Bay, is to be commended for establishing the Camps Bay Trails. Having researched the history of the suburb, she compiled the trials, to share the Camps Bay historic gems with others, reports the Atlantic Sun.

The Trails start at the Camps Bay Library, at which steps is a plaque of Philly, a large white horse which roamed the suburb between 1932 and 1967 with Nellie, his friend the donkey. Then the Trails move to the War Memorial, on the corner of Link Street and Victoria Road, and built after World War I. The Memorial honours those from Camps Bay who fought in the First and Second World Wars. In fact the road running along the sea was named in honour of Queen Victoria’s 1887 Golden Jubilee.

The Theatre on the Bay building was the original building for the powerhouse of the trams that ran between Sea Point and Camps Bay from 1901 onward. The building has also been used as a cinema and a church. The stone cottages on the bottom end of Geneva Drive were built over 100 years ago, as homes for the tram drivers. In Crown Crescent, around the corner, wooden historical Swiss cottages imported from Norway were established.

The oldest church in the suburb is the St. Peter’s Anglican Church, for which building commenced in 1905, but completed in 1929, as was the Dutch Reformed Church completed in that year. The Fairways in Camps Bay was once the grounds of a nine hole golf course, a Kramat and a synagogue. The Roundhouse, leased to the restaurant, is the oldest building in Camps Bay (built in 1786), followed by The Retreat (1857), now used as a boutique hotel. The Rotunda behind the Bay Hotel was built in 1904.

The promenade of Camps Bay has 35 palm trees, planted by James Riddel Farquhar in the 1900’s, who wanted Camps Bay to look like New Brighton! Camps Bay is also recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, for having the longest serving chemist (of 70 years) in the world, being Phillip Isaacs.

For more details about the Camps Bay Trails, see www.campsbaycommunity.com

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

A novel means of allowing tourists and winelovers to taste the wines of Franschhoek and sections of the Paarl wine region, as well as the renowned restaurants of Franschhoek, is being developed by Franschhoek entrepreneur Dave Blyth and his son Sean. They are planning to operate two historic trams on an unused railway track running between Franschhoek and Paarl, reports the Cape Argus.

The project costs R 10 million to become operational, and the 1930’s trams, costing R 2,5 million each, will be imported from Australia. They are expected to start operating from the end of the year. The Blyths have signed a lease with Transnet for the use of the train track.

The novel tourism service is to offer an hop-on hop-off service, with 10 – 12 stops planned, giving its users a safe way to drink-and-drive their way to Franschhoek’s wine estates, to eat at some of the best restaurants in the country, to visit a lavender farm, to try their hand at trout fly-fishing, and maybe even do some shopping at a craft market. The tram will travel at 45 km per hour, and will halt at every stop every hour. The trams can transport 50 passengers at a time, who can enjoy an audio commentary on the highlights they are passing.

“Our aim is to create a tourism icon here in Franschhoek on a par with the Table Mountain Cableway or the Cape Point funicular. We want the train to become synonymous with Franschhoek and winetasting” said Blyth.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com