A LARGE group of British, American and local steam train enthusiasts have returned from the first ever five-day tour of the Apple Express, singing its praises.

The event was organised through the British-based international steam train tour operator Geoff Cook and he is already planning his next package trip to Port Elizabeth in conjunction with the Apple Express team.

Visitors The Herald spoke to yesterday said the history of the narrow gauge line up the Langkloof, and the leg between Gamtoos and Patensie, made the journey particularly special.

The line was built in the early 1900s to connect the Langkloof and its burgeoning fruit-growing industry to the export point of Port Elizabeth. The 284km line from Port Elizabeth up the kloof to Avontuur was completed in 1906 and remains the longest “two-foot railway line” in the world.

The Apple Express is one of only two narrow gauge steam trains still operational in southern Africa. The other is in Ixopo in KwaZulu Natal but it runs on a privately owned line whereas the Langkloof line is owned by Spoornet.

The Apple Express also runs across the highest narrow gauge bridge in the world. Built in 1904, Van Stadens Bridge is 77m high.

Briton Ian Sclanders, 57, said the Apple Express had rekindled his boyhood fascination with steam trains.

“I became enchanted with its history and context. This trip was a great success. The staff were friendly and helpful and passionate about their work. It would be a great shame if this heritage was lost. Yet the biggest challenge facing the train appears to be keeping the line open.”

Fruit farmers now use trucks to transport their produce. However, as roads become busier there could be a return to rail and this could help secure it for tourism as well, he suggested.

The trip was special for Sclanders because his sister-in-law was the late Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality city councillor Lesley Lowe, who was the driving force behind the rejuvenation of the Apple Express until she died of cancer just over a year ago. Fittingly, this journey was the first proper outing for the locomotive engine which was rebuilt and named “Lesley” after her.

Ted Pearson, 83, originally from the former Rhodesia but now resident in London, said he had been a steam train fanatic all his life and had travelled on them in China, north and south America, Australia and New Zealand.

“The Patensie leg winds along a river past sandstone cliffs so it is very special ... It is an experience I think everyone should have. Long may it continue.”

Stellenbosch residents Kenny Allen, 24, and his father Philip Allen, 57, were also well satisfied. Kenny, a mechanical engineer masters student at Stellenbosch University, said there was no better way to travel than by steam train.

“The scenery seems to look better because of the train. It‘s something to do with the steam billowing out ... We got to talk to the driver and the fireman at the different stops. The close relationship they have with their engine is magic.”

Peter Burton, a retired farmer from Addo and one of the founding volunteers behind the Apple Express section 21 company that runs the train, said the journeys were a labour of love. “The money goes towards paying staff, accommodation and lunches and teas and coal – R2000 a ton. But mostly it goes towards the restoration of our locomotives.”