Century City Tramway is a locally designed and built tram that first opened in 2023.
Built around a classical 1920’s look, visitors can enjoy a 20 minute ride on the old Rantanga Junction Railway line.
Dress for the occasion in your best vintage-style clothing and enjoy the experience with us.
Every weekend and public holiday.
Operating days will be at the sole discretion of management.
Closed on wet weather days.
Operating times between 10:00 – 17:00. Last tram ride departing at 16:30 as per the schedule.
Weekends
Every Saturday and Sunday
2024 Public Holidays
16 December & 26 December
Closed: 25 December 2024 & 1 January 2025
One ride takes approximately 20 minutes.
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R70 per person: includes one ride around Century City.
Family pack: a family pack of 10 rides can be bought for R600. (No refunds will be applicable.)
No booking required. Tickets are sold at the boarding platform.
Card facilities available. Strictly no cash.
Where to board:
Please wait next to the track, ready to board.
Depart in front of the Club House by Intaka Island
10.00 | 10.30 | 11.00 | 11.30 | 12.00 | 12.30 | 13.00 | 13.30 | 14.00 | 14.30 | 15.00 | 15.30 | 16.00 | 16.30
Depart in front of Century City Hotel close to Ratanga Park
10.15 | 10.45 | 11.15 | 11.45 | 12.15 | 12.45 | 13.15 | 13.45 | 14.15 | 14.45 | 15.15 | 15.45 | 16.15
Well-socialised dogs handled by a responsible adult will be allowed to join in on the fun.
This will only be allowed should there be sufficient space available as priority will be given to paying visitors.
After the demise of the Midmar Historical Village’s in Kwa Zulu Natal in 1998, a new theme park development in Cape Town bought some of the rolling stock, including steam locomotives and planned to run it within the park.
Very little information exists of this period in time but it was soon redeveloped, and the heritage equipment was sold off and relocated to Sandtone Estate. A “Texan” steam outline diesel train set was bought from Severn Lamb and ran there until the closure of the park in 2019
The track was changed many times over the years and extended out of the park to a nearby parking lot. This was then redeveloped again as the city swallowed up every available piece of land. The track was concreted into position and paving ran right up to it forming a pedestrian walkway.
With the Ratanga them park now closed, the developers redesigned the space into a public park with housing and hotels on the outer borders, the track was cut out of the park and a new terminus established.
The track was now 1.5km long with a balloon loop at either end, running along the water’s edge adjacent to the Canal Walk shopping center. Ratanga public park being at the one end and a bird sanctuary/wildlife area, Intaka Island at the other. Now under the control of Century City, they needed to get the wheels turning again on the newly remodeled line.
Thats when we got a call at WLR, after much debate and meetings the reimagined Century City Tramway concept was agreed upon. What followed was 10 months of intense research, design and construction. The criteria was to build something with old world charm, be emission free, can do an emergency stop in less than it’s own length and require as little mechanical maintenance as possible.
Using dimensions from trams in local museums a full cad model was first drawn up and simulated to go around the tightest bend of 9 meters on the existing railway. Wheels had to be sourced from a mining equipment supplier as our lathe was just not big enough and the cost of machining from solid would have been too much anyway. The electric motors were scanned using 3D digitizing technology and the bogies was then modeled around them. Once the bogies were complete, a temporary chassis was built to mount the battery and electronic drive components on to take for a test drive. The frame also had a height gauge to make sure it cleared all the bridges, one bridge had to be cut to allow the clerestory to pass through. We borrowed a battery from the supplier and established that it was a touch too small, so the next size up was ultimately chosen.
The frame and body were fabricated and being put together in stages small enough for two men to be able to carry the various parts without needing a forklift. Everything was sandblasted and phosphate dipped to make sure the metal is protected from the ocean air where it lives. A test bench was assembled and left in the park over the busy December period to test every backside that passed it to make sure everyone “fits”. To keep the center of gravity low, the battery box was fabricated out of 6mm steel and slung below the frame. The box has external ports where all the different controls plug into, so should a better drive solution arrive one day it can easily be swapped out. A drive motor is mounted in each bogie to supply power to the wheels, a third electric motor runs the air compressor used for the fail safe park brake. Each bogie carries its own little 5-liter air tank that keeps the brakes on even if all power and air supply to them fails. The compressor also comes in handy for cleaning the floor with a quick coupler under the steps to plug in the airgun.
It is drivable from both ends, a master key unlocks the control panel. The controls are dead simple to understand. Ignition on, brakes off, select gear and open the throttle. Notching back to zero will regenerate and slow down the tram without touching the brakes. If you can’t learn to drive it in 5 minutes.
The tram touched down on its new home track on the 1st of July 2023.
Century City Parkrun
(Location might vary depending on weekend markets & local activities)
