Colin Churcher 2020

We had some heavy rain in 1981. I found this inspection trip on a bridge in the heavy forest.   The purpose was to assess the effect of last night's rain on the track. A cane loading station with a train almost loaded. There were some areas where the track had flooded A St. Kitts work train At Basseterre several hopper cars already filled with bagasse ready to be used to repair washouts. At Basseterre this locomotive had come from the abandoned Antigua railway (Antigua No. 1) These are sugar cars which carry the refined sugar from the factory over the short branch to the harbour This is the venerable Armstrong Whitworth locomotive No.12 which was used on the harbour branch. It was a 12 ton, 85hp.,   0-4-0 diesel electric built by AW in 1934 (serial D40). The story was that there were only two driver s who knew how to make it go. When one of them died the harbour branch was reduced from a two shift to a one shift operation. When the second man retired or died the locomotive was...

  My second visit to St. Kitts was in 1979, four years after my first. I found the railway pretty much the same as before I did manage to catch a cane train traversing the long trestle in the north of the island At a cane siding Getting ready to leave with a full train Waiting for the loading to be completed Ready for the off.

On the west coast the trade winds blow strongly. Making this interesting tunnel for the trains. At the Basseterre factory a string of cane cars is being pushed inside Each car is unloaded separately. Bagasse is the "straw" which is left after the juice has been extracted. I think most of it finished up being spread back on the fields but the railway kept a supply loaded on rail vehicles that could be used to fix track problems caused by washouts. In other parts of the world I have seen bagasse used to fire steam locomotives on cane railways (stay tuned) The small Rustons were used around the factory sidings. Instead of getting into the cab it was more like putting it on! The brake tenders were very important for controlling heavy trains. Brakes were only available on the locomotives and tenders. The sandhouse provided much needed sand to help control wheel slip No. 17 was a Whitcomb, complete with American style headlight and bell. Don't know if the bell was ever used Thi...

  A train of empty cars at Boyds I made visits to St, Kitts in the Caribbean near Antigua in 1975, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1991. There was a railway moving sugar cane to the factory at Basseterre. This was 2' 6" gauge built in a "Q" shape around the island, about 30 miles. The factory is at the base of the "Q" with the short "tail" serving the harbor. On my first visit we arrived at the hotel after dark,  The taxi had bumped over a rough piece of road just before the hotel entrance.  I woke up the next morning to a low growling sound. It turned out we had a view across the cane fields to the railway track. The rough road was a railway crossing. With one man driving the train the rest of the crew were very relaxed Cane was brought to the nearest siding and loaded into tbe trucks There were many Hunslet locomotives. Each road locomotive was paired with a water filled tender to provide extra braking The Davenports were a little larger and were described...

  Martinique Driving around Martinique on 26 March 1975 I spotted this line of disused cane wagons at Riviere Salee, I then found this abandoned locomotive An abandoned Davenport This is a Brookville One never knows what might be lurking in the vegetation so I did not investigate further. Panama In 2000 I did a small project in Panama where the broad gauge (5' 0") line was about to be changed to standard gauge and the electrification changed to diesel. The aim was to transport containers across the isthmus and to provide a passenger train. I didn't get much opportunity to get out - a good thing bearing in mind the overgrown right of way. Overgrown electrified track Broad gauge switcher Tracks by the canal Antigua Sugar cane operations ceased in Antigua in 1971 but traces of the railway remained for many years afterwards. The Welshpool and Llanfair Railway repatriated a locomotive (Joan) to work in Wales Plymouth locomotives 4 and 11 April 1991 Plymouth Locomotive No. 12, A...