Down memory lane by train

I really enjoyed the column by Deon Strydom called “The train to Willowmore” ( go! #135). It brought back my best childhood memories. As a young child in the early 1980s, my mom Jennifer, my brother Gregory and I (inset photo) would take the train to visit my grandparents every winter holiday. They lived on a farm near Ugie in the Eastern Cape. We’d depart from Bellville Station in the evening, and around 11 am the next day we’d have to change trains in De Aar. Another train trip would get us to Sterkstroom, where we’d get off and sit in the waiting room, keeping warm near the Queen wood-burning stove. By midnight it would be bitterly cold. On at least two occasions, the stationmaster offered for us to come back to his house to warm up and have a few hours’ sleep. A hot bath and a quick breakfast were included, of course, as was a lift back to the station to catch our train the following morning. The final leg of the trip was in an old steam train that was mostly meant for cargo. I sometimes wondered if the passenger coach was added on just for us – I can’t remember there ever being anyone else on this train besides us, the driver and a conductor. To this day, the smell of burning coal always reminds me of the southern Drakensberg, of having soot in my nose and hair, and my grandparents eagerly awaiting our arrival on the station platform. Of all my life experiences, I hold these train trips closest to my heart. I am so grateful that I caught the tail end of this sort of travel in South Africa. SONA SALES, Cape Town