Saturday, May 14, 2016

Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe, South Africa

Next comes a fantastic train card that Sandra sent me as part of our swap!



The card shows the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe train which was the last remaining continually-operated passenger steam train in Africa, ending operation in June 2009.
The railway was completed in 1928, linking the towns of George and Knysna in the Western Cape, South Africa. The 3 hour journey also stopped in the towns of Wilderness, Goukamma, and Sedgefield. The scenic 67-kilometre route went along the rugged coastline of the Garden Route before ending by crossing a bridge over the lagoon in Knysna.

In 2007, the train's owners, Transnet Limited, announced that the train was not regarded as part of its core business. Transnet initiated a tender process to dispose of the train to a new owner/operator. However, on August 19, 2010 Transnet announced that, following unsuccessful attempts to find such a new operator, the train would cease operating. Nonetheless, the Western Cape Province's Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Minister, Alan Winde, says he is resolved to keep this heritage tourism asset operational.

well, fingers crossed for that!!




the train card comes with, among else, two fantastic train stamps, issued in 2010 in a set of 10 train stamps, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of South African Railways.
That horse-looking stamp is also from 2010, from a set of 16 Crafts' stamps, while the fish one was issued in 2000 in a set of 11 fish stamps, with this one showing the Blackbar Triggerfish.

Thank you so much Sandra!!

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