Pincushion Protea Rob Dempster
'Allo 'Allo Gardens! (AAG)
Howick (uMngeni)

The Train and the Trunk

19 October 2026 		Pincushion Protea

After finishing school and my year in the Naval Gymnasium, I was headed to the Durban Campus of Natal University to study towards a BSc and a University Education Diploma. At that time they had started the construction of the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam (now the Gariep Dam), and my Dad had wanted me to join him in a business venture constructing houses for the workers building the dam.

I declined the offer, and so when the time came for me to head to Durban, I was taken to the Allanridge Station together with my red miners tin trunk. At that time the Allanridge Station was literally the, "End of the Line". Now it no longer functions as a Passenger Station. (There is no direct long-distance or commuter passenger train route running directly from Allanridge to Durban - Google)

The next day I arrived at the Durban Station where I caught a Taxi to Louis Botha Hall, the residence I was to stay in during the four years I spent at the University of Natal. ... and the rest as they say, "Is History".

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