The remains of what was thought to be a century old railway line caused quite a stir during low tide on Fish Hoek Beach on Monday 30 January.
The City of Cape Town’s Coastal Management Branch spent most of Monday morning trying to uncover the line.
Fish Hoek Valley Museum curator Sally Britten shared images of the old sea wall to illustrate that it was not a railway line.
She explained: “The position of the ‘rails’ was plotted on a 1945 aerial photograph and are a remnant of the old sea wall, which was made of railway sleepers that had fallen over years before and have now been exposed.
“To surmise that they are part of the railway that was laid to remove the sand dunes is incorrect.”
She further revealed the wall was previously exposed on Fish Hoek Beach in December 2009.
“In three images from December 2009 of the palisade sea wall, its in a state of collapse after it had been exposed by summer high tides and seas.”
Deputy Mayor and Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment Eddie Andrews said in a statement the very low beach levels exposed the piece of history, which has been buried in the sand for over 90 years.
He said: “We are still trying to establish the facts, but early on we suspected that the exposed line formed part of a temporary spur line, built on the beach in 1929, when the government of the day decided to remove all the dunes from this section of Fish Hoek Beach. However, since then, we have concluded that it is most likely a substantial remaining piece of the first beach revetment built in 1930 at Fish Hoek Beach.”
Andrews added that the revetment was built with sleepers from the railway line and joined by rail components, thus the confusion with the spur line.
“Lying on its side it looked like a railway line. It has been buried for over 90 years, and was briefly exposed on Monday.”
He added that the City had no plans to remove the line at this stage.
“The very low beach levels have exposed the revetment. We believe that this will be temporary only, until the coastal processes cover it again, over time. Our coastline is very dynamic and winds and cycles and storms have an ongoing impact – this was evident during the recent surge, coupled with the full moon spring tide last month. So there is no need for us to take action, we will let the natural process unfold.”
However, should the revetment remain exposed the City will consider removal.
According to the City, in 1930 a majority of the village board requested the Railway Department to remove the dunes in exchange for a hundred pounds.
Those who were in favour of having the dunes removed, erected the revetment and proposed the planting of trees and flowers, while the opponents labelled it “vandalism” and predicted there would never be a garden by the sea.
“I suppose what we also learn from the brief sighting of this piece of history is that the more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Andrews. “Nearly 100 years later and the problem of windblown sand on railway lines and roads remain, as do conflicting opinions on how to live in harmony with nature.”
