Take a nostalgic train ride on KZN's Inchanga Choo Choo

If you are the kind of person who would enjoy owning a typewriter for that old vintage feeling when writing or a vinyl disc player for that nostalgic feel in your home when playing music, then we suspect that you are likely to love a ride on one of the best steam trains in South Africa.

We are talking about the Inchanga Choo Choo, a project of the Umgeni Steam Railway. This non-profit organisation runs the Inchanga Choo Choo with three-hour rides on the last weekend of each month and on select holidays. You travel all the way from Stokers to Inchanga Station and back again! 

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This specific locomotive you will board is named "Wesley". He is a Class 19D locomotive which was built by Borsig Locomotiv Werke, Hennigsdorf in 1938. The coaches vary in age; some were built as long ago as 1908, most in the 1930s, and the youngest was built in 1953. The people who experienced these as they became popular back then are now grannies and granddads. Maybe you should take them on a trip on the steam train for ole times' sake?

Steam trains are so rare. We are primarily using our cars, planes or public transport to move from one location to the other. 

The 1850s saw the first steam locomotives emerge in South Africa, leading the charge of progress. Umgeni Railway Station opened in the 1880s. 

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Their trains run on a 3ft, 6in (1067mm) gauge heritage railway line on a route that follows part of the Durban to Pietermaritzburg mainline. This railway has some of the steepest railway gradients in South Africa. So, you are guaranteed a rollercoaster-like ride, but a little less scary and dramatic.

You trip on the Inchanga Choo Choo includes going through a 53-metre-long tunnel at Drummond. Built in 1878, it is possibly the oldest tunnel still in use in South Africa.

We cannot think of a better and more fun way to learn and experience the history of our country. You will also learn that the Umgeni Steam Railway is a non-profit company run entirely by volunteers.

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If you are wondering how a steam train works, the fire has to be started the night before, with volunteers staying up to keep it going, in order for it to be hot enough to run the train the next morning. So, there is some old school labour that goes into making motion possible. 

So, when can you and yours visit? 

The Inchanga Choo Choo runs on the last Sunday of each month unless otherwise stated on the schedule. They also operate during special holiday periods like Christmas and Easter.

Trains depart from Kloof Railway Station: 

The next trips: 

- August 28 at 12.30pm

- August 29 at 8.30am and 12.30pm

Tickets:

 - R260 (adults) 

- R190 (children under 12 and pensioners).

- Free (Children under 2 are free) 

- R800 (Family package) 

For more information visit umgenisteamrailway.com.

Main Image Courtesy: Bruce Bennet