Westgate Railway Station - Johannesburg

-

Built: 1958

Architect: Unidentified

"The new Westgate railway station, in the heart of industrial Johannesburg which was opened on November 1 (1958), for non-European passengers has quickly established itself as a point of arrival and departure for workers who reside in the residential areas on Johannesburg's southern and south western boundaries. On November 4, the station handled 19,000 passengers, arrivals as well as departures. Two days later, November 6, the number had increased to no fewer than 22,000 and to 32,800 on November 7.

The Railway Administration hopes that non-Europeans who work in the vicinity of this station will not hesitate to use it since the facilities provided there plus its strategic situation in relation to the industries of Selby Township at the bottom end of Sauer Street will save them both time and trouble. It takes ten minutes less from Westgate to New Canada than from Johannesburg to New Canada. At present 26 trains a day (weekdays) are scheduled to arrive and depart from Westgate but this number could be increased if the demand were to justify such a step.

The Westgate station is of more than usual interest since it is on a new line, the construction cost of which made it the most expensive line in Southern Africa . It cost £1,500,000 to build a line one-and-a-half miles in length, from Crown to Westgate." (1958)

Map location

Google Street View 2013.

Google Street View 2025.

Sources

  • South African Railway News. April, 1958.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John O'Reilly

-
Image
Full name: John Robert "Diamond Jack" O'Reilly Lifespan: 1831 Grahamstown - 1904  Taung Occupation: Travelling peddler, hunter, diamond prospector, farmer John O'Reilly Timeline Personal details John Robert O'Reilly was the eldest son of James O’Neill O'Reilly (or James O'Neil O'Reilly) and Ida Hendriks (Yda Wilhelmina Hendrikz). His father left the family poorly provided for, prompting O'Reilly and his brothers to become traders and hunters. He first married Maria Greaves (1845 - 1884, British Bechuanaland) in 1868, in Colesberg. They had six children. After Maria's death, he married Henrietta Sarah Renou (1867 Port Elizabeth - 1947, Taung) in 1886. The ceremony was officiated by Rector William Thomas Gaul (1850–1927). They had seven children (totaling 13 for O'Reilly). The territory known as British Bechuanaland (annexed 1885, later incorporated into the Cape Colony and Union of South Africa) encompassed areas including Vryburg, Maf...
Read more

Rhenish Mission Church (Sarepta) - Kuils River

-
Image
Aka: Uniting Reform Church, Sarepta Built: 1843 Architect: Unidentified Status: Extant (Source: URC on Facebook) Timeline Location Notes The Rhenish Missionary Society (named after the Rhine River region in Germany) was one of the largest German missionary organizations, formed by amalgamating smaller missions dating back to 1799 and officially established on 23 September 1828. Its first ordained missionaries were dispatched to South Africa by year's end, where they began work in various towns, focusing on conversion to Christianity and community support. In 1829, the Society founded its first congregation in Stellenbosch, with Reverend Paul Daniel Lückhoff as the initial minister. Jana (Johanna) van den Berg (c.1800 - 1860), also known as Moeder Jana , was a formerly enslaved woman who, like many others emancipated in 1838, settled in the sandy dunes surrounding Kuils River - an informal community with little access to formal institutions. She became one of the earliest memb...
Read more

Coert Steynberg

-
Image
Full name:  Coert Lourens Steynberg Lifespan:  1905 Hennopsrivier - 1982 Pretoria Occupation:  Sculptor, medallist. Coert Steynberg. Unidentified photographer. Timeline Biography Coert Steynberg was a prominent South African sculptor and medallist. He worked in a variety of materials, including granite, marble, sandstone, glass, bronze, copper, and wood, and created both large-scale public monuments and smaller, more intimate private works. Early Life and Education Steynberg in Venice, third from left. Unidentified photographer. Born in Hennops River (near Pretoria) in the Transvaal Colony. At the age of four, his family moved to Bethal (Mpumalanga) where he matriculated. Steynberg studied art at Rhodes University in South Africa before advancing to the Royal College of Art in London, where he studied sculpture under Gilbert Ledward . Here he received the August Spencer trophy for best sculpture student. Steynberg spent six years abroad, during which time he toured Europe...
Read more