Monument Station
As we slowly roll into Cape Town Station on our daily Metrorail commute, my wife remarks that she had seen a road or stairwell going subterranean on one of the platforms. She says that, years ago, mention was made of "much going on underneath Cape Town Station." We are Baby Boomers and grew up during the Cold War. According to folklore, Tygerberg is just a hollow shell filled with military rations, installations and equipment. Imaginations run wild yet few people ever get to the facts.
I start doing research and find that part of Cape Town Station is called Monument Station. Access is more or less next to the Train Lodge on Old Marine Drive, enter from Adderley alongside Paul Sauer Building, drive down past bust terminals, then to your right more or less next to the Train Lodge and Atlantic Rail.
A duo of a Class 15F in front of a Class 25NC (to be confirmed.)
These locomotives are parked at the old Parcel Terminal on Platforms 25 and beyond. Converted passenger carriages were called Parcel Cars or Parcel Vans and conveyed parcels between Johannesburg and Cape Town. These parcels were then routed via underground tunnels to the old Darling Street Post Office.
Is Cape Town Station still such a boring place? I always thought it to be great as it also has a Tourism Desk with accredited Tour Guides! Go discover Cape Town Station, go on the outside to visit Monument Station and take pictures of these old behemoths as well as two Class 6E1's and a 16D steam engine with the red tender and some vintage carriages.
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I start doing research and find that part of Cape Town Station is called Monument Station. Access is more or less next to the Train Lodge on Old Marine Drive, enter from Adderley alongside Paul Sauer Building, drive down past bust terminals, then to your right more or less next to the Train Lodge and Atlantic Rail.
A duo of a Class 15F in front of a Class 25NC (to be confirmed.)
These locomotives are parked at the old Parcel Terminal on Platforms 25 and beyond. Converted passenger carriages were called Parcel Cars or Parcel Vans and conveyed parcels between Johannesburg and Cape Town. These parcels were then routed via underground tunnels to the old Darling Street Post Office.
Is Cape Town Station still such a boring place? I always thought it to be great as it also has a Tourism Desk with accredited Tour Guides! Go discover Cape Town Station, go on the outside to visit Monument Station and take pictures of these old behemoths as well as two Class 6E1's and a 16D steam engine with the red tender and some vintage carriages.
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www.thingscapetown.blogspot.co.za
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