The Glory of a Bygone Era in African railways reconstructed

The rebuilt 25 acre Capital Park property is now a gracious colonial style railway station, home and headquarters for Rovos Rail in South Africa.

Officially opened in 1943, Capital Park, with its locomotive sheds and marshalling yard, played a vital roll in the rail network aroung Pretoria before falling into disuse. Now the home of Rovos Rail, it boasts a small railway museum in addition to its other comprehensive facilities and will, with the addition of semaphore signals and a footbridge, recreate the atmosphere of a fully-fledged railway system.

The eyes of rail enthusiasts will be drawn to the vast carriage and loco sheds where teams of dedicated personnel keep the rolling stock in perfect order. This roofed workshop of 10,000m² straddles 15 railway lines with concrete inspection pits below, and is the ultimate repair and maintenance facility for any train operation. The low, red-bricked buildings alongside the new 300m platform house laundries, gleaming stainless steel kitchens and well stocked storerooms. This is the busy hub of a provisioning operation which rivals that of a world-class hotel in termso fo efficiency and attention to detail.