Overberg branch line

From Van der Stel station in Somerset West a short line branches to the right to Strand.

The line passes through the fruit-farming area of Elgin before descending the Jakkals River valley to Botrivier.

A branch to Somerset West opened by the Cape Government Railways on 21 October 1889, and further to Sir Lowry's Pass Village on 1 February 1890.

The Hottentots-Holland mountains were a significant obstacle to any further development, and construction of a line over Sir Lowry's Pass only started on 12 July 1899.

In the mid-1920s the SAR embarked on a new phase of railway building, as part of which the line from Klipdale junction south to Bredasdorp was opened on 19 April 1924.

Map of the Overberg branch line
The line passing under the N2 national road on Sir Lowry's Pass
Class GEA locomotives passing at Steenbras in 1973