CHOO TJOE STEAMS INTO MOSSEL BAY (MEDIA RELEASE BY BarefootClients | MARTIN HATCHUEL Barefoot Writer) The historic Outeniqua Choo Tjoe made history when it steamed into Mossel Bay at the end of its first Museum-to-Museum Tour. This follows the temporary closure of the train’s traditional route between George and Knysna as a result of damage to the line caused by last year’s floods. Louis Cook, chairman of Mossel Bay Tourism, said, “We’ve always been concerned that the permanent closure of the line would bring an end to steam tourism in the Southern Cape. If that had happened, we would have lost an important product that attracts thousands of foreign visitors every year. But this new service - from the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George to the Dias Museum Complex in Mossel Bay - has secured the future of steam tourism at the same time as it’s created a new attraction for the area.” The Transnet Heritage Foundation began running the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe between George and Hartenbos - initially as a temporary measure - in December 2006. “This was fine in school holidays,” said the train’s operating manager, Kobus Volschenk, “but Hartenbos doesn’t offer much for passengers during the rest of the year and we had to look at ways to make the service more attractive.”We put our heads together and came up with the unique concept of using a working museum piece - the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe - to provide a ‘Museum-to-Museum Tour’.” Co-operation between various organisations - the Transnet Heritage Foundation, the Dias Museum, Mossel Bay Tourism and the Mossel Bay Municipality - was necessary in order to make this new service possible.“The Mossel Bay Station isn’t the ideal destination because of its distance from the town’s main tourism attractions, so it was necessary to create new platform facilities at the Dias Museum,” said Mr. Cook. This has now been done - and the train’s new schedule (it arrives in Mossel Bay at noon and departs again at 2:15 p.m.) allows time to explore the Museum, the town and the famous Santos Beach, right across the line.“Taken as a whole, this is a unique experience of the history of transport,” said Mr. Cook. “In a few hours you can explore historic cars and trains (like the one on which Kruger ran the business of the Transvaal Republic during the last days of the South African War) as well as a replica of the Caravel in which Bartholomeu Dias became the first European explorer to land at the Cape.” Besides the Caravel, other attractions at the Dias Museum Complex include a Maritime Museum, the famous Post Office Tree, a Shell Museum and a Braille Trail - which allows the blind to interpret the indigenous vegetation of the area for themselves. At the other end of the line, the Outeniqua Transport Museum houses a unique collection that includes many privately-owned vehicles as well as rarities like the ‘White Train’ - in which the British Royal Family traveled on their tour of South Africa in the middle of the last century.

“The Outeniqa Choo Tjoe will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of August and thereafter, in summer, it’ll run every day except Sundays,” said Mr. Volschenk.
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