The story of the railway line

The Hex River Pass railway line was built in the 1870s to connect Cape Town and Kimberley after diamonds were discovered in the North. The line climbs to the Karoo plains at a steep 1:40 gradient and its cutting is the deepest hand-dug cutting in South Africa, according to Dawie du Preez. “The reason for building the station here was to test the brakes of the trains before they tackled the steep pass down to the Cape,” he says.

The line from Matroosberg Station to Touws River was removed and trains now travel through the mountains via the long Hexton tunnels, opened in 1989.

Spoornet wanted to remove the unused southern section of the line in 1989, but it was conserved thanks to the quick action of retired local farmer Stefaan Jordaan, who started using it to take visitors sightseeing on his tractor train, the Hexpas Express. pulls two coaches up the old railway line from De Doorns.

It traverses a magnificent natural conservancy, with regular stops along the way so you can admire the vegetation and view the 1902 graves of British soldiers.

At Tunnel Station you stop for a picnic and then, if you don’t want to go all the way to Matroosberg Station, slowly head back down to De Doorns.

You can also explore this area on a mountain bike: the Two Tunnels Mountain Bike Trail runs along the line through the beautiful Hex River Valley. Ride through two old tunnels and picnic at Tunnel Station, or tackle the longer route, which includes a stop at the Kaffrarian Rifles monument, erected in memory of soldiers who died here in a derailment. For serious mountain bikers, the annual Hex Valley Autumn Splendour MTB event offers a variety of distances (the longer of which goes up to Matroosberg Station).

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