Franschhoek: 30th May 2023
I wasn't intending to share this clip, for I thought it was rather slight. But, I need to keep the blog going till we go away again in April … although we may get away for a few days before that.
So, I'll pad it out with a few facts and figures:
The tram runs on the track of an old railway, built in 1904, to enable farmers in the area to take their goods to market, and also, presumably, to haul grapes from the vineyards to the wineries. Previously, oxcarts had been used … and, slowly, trucks took over from the trains. The last train ran along the line in 1990, and the line was abandoned until 2012.
In that year, a single-decker 'toast rack' tram ran along the line, to be replaced in 2017 by a fleet of double-decker trams, based on the 'balcony trams' which ran in the British seaside resort of Blackpool around 1923. The only difference is that they're driven by a self-contained internal power source, rather than from an overhead wire. One of these is still at Blackpool, awaiting restoration, and another will shortly be on display at the Tramway Museum at Crich.
The tram doesn't visit all the wineries, but a fleet of buses, built to resemble trams, provide a service between the line and the wineries.
There's a wide variety of routes and tours to choose from. But, I'd advise not to take the longer, more expensive ones. If you sample the wine at every winery you visit, you probably won't be able to remember much about it!
Music: 'Bushwick Tarantella' by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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