The Railway to Adventure

Due west out of Port Elizabeth a 2ft gauge railway meandered for 177 miles to the tiny hamlet of Avontuur (Afrikaans for 'Adventure', hence the title of this book), that for over 100 years served the deciduous fruit growing region known as the Langkloof. Much closer to Port Elizabeth an important branch to Patensie tapped the fertile vegetable lands and citrus groves of the Gamtoos valley. During the 1920s quarries were established near Patensie by the Eastern Province Cement Company (EPCC) and limestone was hauled by rail to Chelsea siding from where a 12-mile private line ran to the cement factory at New Brighton. This was vital business as it provided the railway's base traffic for over 70 years.

The railway was originally described in detail in Sydney Moir's seminal book, Twenty-four Inches Apart (Oakwood Press in 1963). More recently the story has been covered in eight parts of the authors' Soul of a Railway series published online. Since being put online, there have been many requests for the material to be published in book form and this book is the response to those requests. Interest in the South African narrow gauge has never been higher, especially with several of the locomotives featured here now working in the UK and elsewhere in the world (including three on the Welsh Highland Railway).