Page 95 - Bulletin 17 2013

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of Directors of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company which was floated in 1926

with a capital of £60,000, put up mainly by Graaff and Oppenheimer.

Preliminary investigations suggested that wind directions needed consideration in the
alignment of the cables. It was decided they should run approximately north-south so that

neither the south-easter nor the north-wester should blow across them but rather more along
them. Strömsöe proposed that the lower station should stand between Kloof Nek Corner and

Platteklip Gorge and this, plus the wind factor, fixed the cable alignments to the mountain top

and the position of the Upper Station on the confined area of the Western Table. A lease
would have to be signed with the Council for the site of the Upper Station, while land would

have to be purchased for the Lower Station from the Gardens Syndicate headed by Mr Higgo.

And an approach road would have to be constructed from Kloof Nek which was the most
direct route from the Docks where most visitors were expected to originate.

The first Board meeting of the TMACC was held in November 1926 and agreement was

reached on the important items: the purchase of land, a 99 year lease (1926-2025) with the
Council (who were custodians of the mountain) at a rental of £1 per annum, acceptance of the

tender from Adolf Bleichert & Co., of Leipzig for the construction of the cableway, and the

appointment of Walgate and Elsworth as architects for the Upper and Lower stations, and the
tea-room on the summit.

Many tasks were undertaken simultaneously, the first of these being the construction of the

1.6 km approach road. By agreement this was to be done by the TMACC to Council
specifications and then handed over to the City on completion. Work started in 1927 and was

completed by April 1929. The route to be followed by the cables was surveyed, and Mr

Roschert of Bleichert & Co., was seconded as ‘erecting engineer’. He organized a temporary
ropeway to the summit with wooden trestles carrying the cables (Fig. 2.11), and he built the

first ‘car’ known as the ‘Soapbox, 12 ft x 6 ft, that went up and down the ropeway with men

and materials required for constructing the Upper Station. A second car was known as the
‘Coffin’. This system was operating by April 1928, driven by a petrol engine at the bottom.

In December 1927 work started on the Lower and Upper stations using heavily reinforced
plain concrete. In November 1928 Scottish stonemason, Mr Black, commenced building the

tea-room on the summit in dressed stone and completed it in January 1930. (Figs. 2.12 –
2.15.)