Waterworks Museum, Engineering museum near Hely-Hutchinson Reservoir, Table Mountain, South Africa
The Waterworks Museum is a building at the foot of Table Mountain that displays machinery, photographs, and tools. These items record how dams and water systems were constructed on the mountain starting in the 1800s.
Water infrastructure building started here in the 1890s to supply the growing city of Cape Town. A retired engineer founded the museum in 1972 to preserve these early construction projects.
The collection here shows how early water technology shaped life in South Africa. You can see the tools and methods that people used over a century ago to manage water in this region.
Visitors reach the museum on a hiking trail of about 6 km from Constantia Nek, where parking is available. The path climbs steeply, so bring plenty of water and wear sturdy shoes for the walk.
A restored narrow-gauge railway with a Scottish steam locomotive sits here, which engineers took apart and reassembled on the mountain in 1898. The engine was originally meant to carry supplies during dam construction.
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