Our Story

Our railway has a unique story – one of passion, preservation, and becoming a unique adventure that invites our guests to slow down.

Gold lines with a diamond shape in the center on a white background.

Journey through out History

Lets Take a Trip Back in Time

Discover how Cape Rail continues a proud railway legacy through heritage, restoration, and unforgettable journeys across the Cape.

Vintage train compartment with green seats and a wooden table.

Steam train with smoke on a mountain track amid green and rocky scenery.

The earliest breaths of who Cape Rail is today started in 2010 with the birth of Atlantic Rail – a company started by Ian Pretorius and his family. Ceres Rail then started as a separate entity in 2013 with a freight focus and tourism being a spin-off that started in 2015.

In 2017, Ceres Rail bought Atlantic Rail, and the two joined forces to lay the operational foundation for who we are today. In 2020, Covid hit and forced us to take a step back, with no operations taking place until November 2021. In this time period, the company changed management, and changed track.

The vision of Cape Rail Company was born during the Covid period, and the future of the company was plotted out. It was decided that before we could change our name from Ceres Rail Company to Cape Rail Company, that we really needed to earn it.

This saw our entire philosophy change from one where people are taken on a train ride, to one where guests are invited into our story – where our onboard service and staff form the core of the experience, and the railways and train journey are the world in which they operate.

Steam train on tracks with mountains in the background.

It took 5 years for us to feel that we were in a place that we could claim that we are indeed the Cape’s railway company- Add to that 3 titles in the KFM Best of the Cape Awards as the “Best Adventure Experience.” – and we decided that the name had now been earned.

Moving forward, we are heavily invested in creating experiences that foster human relationships onboard the train, and invite guests to slow down to a pace where they can absorb the world passing by, reengage with themselves, and start to reclaim what the hustle of the world has stolen.