town of Touws River developed around this railway depot, at which locomotives were changed after the climb over the Hex River Pass. It was particularly busy because of the need to bank trains over the pass; banking locomotives were turned at Touws River to return to De Doorns. From 1924 it also served as the junction for the branch line to Ladismith. The closing of the Ladismith branch in 1981 and the opening of the Hex River Tunnel in 1989 reduced the importance of Touws River as a depot. Now a sleepy town, surrounded by farms, mountains and game reserves, it preserves open-air displays of steam engines in memory of its history as a railway centre. Governance Touws River received municipal government in 1962; with the transformation of local government in South Africa it has been incorporated into the Breede Valley Local Municipality. It is located in ward 1 of the local municipality, which in turn falls within the Cape Winelands District Municipality. the ward councillor was J.J. Januarie of the African National Congress. Geography Touws River is located at an elevation of on the southwestern edge of the Great Karoo, east of the Hex River Mountains and north of the Langeberg, at the point where the Donkeys River flows into the Touws River. It lies just to the south of the N1 highway, by road from Cape Town. The railway line passes through the town, with the yards and depot being located just to the north-east; by rail it is from Cape Town. Demography The 2001 Census recorded the population of Touws River as 6,781 people in an area of , giving it a population density of . Of the population, 87.7% described themselves as Coloured, 10.1% as White, 2.0% as Black African, and 0.2% as Indian or Asian. As a first language, 97.7% of the population spoke Afrikaans, 1.2% spoke English, and 0.9% spoke Xhosa. 38.6% of the population was under the age of 18. References Populated places in the Breede Valley Local Municipality 1877 establishments in the Cape Colony