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Silvermine Stream. Later on it was also railed through to Salt River to reclaim the area over

which the Railway Workshops were extended.

Further along the line at Glencairn (Fig 3.2) where, later on, the train also stopped to serve those

employed at the Glassworks, sand was an equal problem which was only overcome by moving
the platform from the beach at the mouth of the Elsie's River to its present position nearer

Simon's Town where the shoreline is rocky.

Eventually the final section of the line to Simon’s Town (Fig. 3.3) was completed and was

officially opened on 1 December 1890 when Cecil Rhodes arrived on the first train and made a

speech on the platform, before everyone marched behind the band of the East Yorkshire
Regiment, which had arrived on the train from Wynberg, to the British Hotel for an official

luncheon and, of course, innumerable speeches.

Thus, over a span of thirty-six years, the railway was completed and although times have

changed and the line has seen various changes, not the least being electrification in 1928, it is

still a most important link between Cape Town and Simon's Town as well as for the burgeoning
population along the route.

Among the changes over the years have been the new improved stations at Glencairn, Sunny
Cove, Fish Hoek, Clovelly, St. James, and Muizenberg, to mention only those along the False

Bay coastline. Of these the most significant must be the new station building at Muizenberg

which was built in 1913, at the same time as the line from Wynberg was doubled, and is today a
National Monument which is greatly admired; but that that was not always so is clear from

reports in the contemporary newspapers in which criticism of it was voiced. It was suggested that

more space should have been given to the approach from the road to allow for the increase in
traffic which it was expected, rightly, would come with the passing years. It was also suggested

that the platform on the beach side should have been a broad one with a balustrade, seats and a
screen and two flights of steps leading to the sands, which at that time came right up to the

railway. As to the building itself, it was said that an opportunity had been missed and that on “a