The official opening of the Milnerton Railway was on 23 September 1904 when besides Woodstock, three stations were added : Paarden Island at 3.20 miles, Yzerplaats at 4.14 miles and Milnerton at 5.40 miles from Cape Town respectively. The journey itself took 20 minutes from Cape Town to Milnerton and back.
Trains, it was also made known, would run at "20 miles an hour", two carriages being held sufficient for the time being to cope with the weekday flow of traffic for mainly the horse racing enthusiasts.
Four trains ran on weekdays. On Saturdays two extras in the afternoon, while on Sundays traffic was restricted to a mere two trains, with corresponding return journeys.
Despite the virtual absence of any residents in the surrounding area, the Cape Government Railways attempted to further stimulate traffic by purchasing three boats, "complete and suitable for river working" at the total cost of £28 to be used for pleasure trips on the Diep River Lagoon.
But time had more than come for the removal of the last visible link with Milnerton's Railway Age after 1956 when the roads took over and rail were no longer needed.
Since the end of the service, the platform, from which untold thousands of race-goers and others had embarked, had become a mere obstruction. The land could not be sub-divided and sold or built upon, as it was too narrow.
The platform was removed and a commemorative plaque erected to mark the site where the Milnerton Railway Station formed part of a private railway that linked to the state line at Craig’s Crossing at Woodstock.
The original brass plaque that was stolen and replaced with a synthetic in 2011, but since then again been vandalised.In May 2011 we saw the new mode of transport linking Milnerton with Cape Town, the IRT dedicated transport system. This now takes us into the modern age, with transporting up to 120 people per trip every few minutes in peak periods.
This plaque was subsequently re-positioned during construction to widen the roads to make way for the new IRT Station.
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