The old Klipfontein Railway Station was the overnight stop for the narrow-gauge railway that transported copper ore from the mining villages of Okiep and Nababeep via Steinkopf to the harbour of Port Nolloth.

The lack of water along the route meant that steam locomotives could not be used. Instead, a team of four mules hauled each of the ten ore wagons. It took 40 mules to pull one train, and the 146km journey took two days to complete with an overnight stop at Klipfontein Hotel at the top of the Anenous Pass. Fresh mule teams were stationed along the line as the Cape Copper Company owned 220 mules, 18 donkeys and 23 horses as well as a dedicated tannery which produced harnesses for the animals.

In 1886 the first steam locomotive was used on the Port Nolloth section of the line, but a steam-hauled train covered the entire distance for the first time only in 1893. On the westward journey, the train ran without traction down Anenous Pass and covered the entire 88km to Port Nolloth “powered” by gravity.

During times of drought mules were still used and the line remained in use until 1942, when it was diverted to Bitterfontein. The track was lifted in 1942 and all that remains today is the occasional raised sand and gravel ridge seen at Klipfontein and next to the N7 between Okiep and Steinkopf, on which the railway was built.

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