The narrow gauge Humewood Station has been in the news lately because of its rundown state. Although it always have had a bit of "character", it has deteriorated of late and fell into disrepair. Spoornet has now decided to demolish all the old structures on the property and to clean it up. I don't know if they have any plans to redevelop another station (for the Apple Express to use), but anything will look beter than what its been like.…
This is the view from the top of the Campanile out of the window facing north. The three lane freeway is the Settlers Freeway which connects the beachfront area to most of the city as well as the N2 highway out of town. The buildings on the left is part of the city centre while the bottom right of the picture is the Port Elizabeth Station. In the back the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is visible with the mountains beyond…
The Humewood Station is Port Elizabeth's main narrow gauge station and is mainly used by the Apple Express tourist train. Big parts of the old station is in desperate need of repair while a section of it acts as a grave yard for old steam trains and rolling stock. Steam train enthusiasts would probably look at the remains of some of those trains and pick away a tear in sadness. Unfortunately the reality is that Spoornet doesn't have much use…
Another pic taken from the freeway on the same morning as Monday's harbour sunrise pic. The railway line runs next to the freeway towards the Port Elizabeth Station. This is looking down onto the railway lines with one of the station buildings next to it.
The Old Railway Station Museum in Uitenhage is housed in one of the oldest railways stations of South Africa. Built in 1875 on Market Street in the year of the opening of the railway from Port Elizabeth, it operated as Uitenhage's station until 1951. For more information on the museum, the history of the station, the old trains and other memorabilia on display, visit the old Steam Locomotives in South Africa blog.
The sea wall between Sidon Street and Mount Road was badly damaged by this weeks huge waves, large chunks of concrete were tossed onto the railway lines.As you can see these Municipal workers have a massive task ahead of them!