Modern day steam W
hen I was growing up in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s I always wanted to be a locomo- tive driver. The fascination lasted into my high school years when suddenly diesel re- placed steam. In the intervening years I have taken many photos of current railways and
equipment, but working steam engines have always eluded me. During a vacation in Holguin, Cuba, in February, 2001, I was delighted to discover that one ex- cursion offered was a trip through the countryside on a train pulled by a steam engine. The train, at Santa Lucia, was owned by the Rafael Freyre sugar factory and used on the adjacent collective farm. The “passenger cars” in this context were the cars used to take the workers to the fields and consisted of stacking auditorium chairs welded to a flat car! In 2001 this sugar factory was in full production and had seven 2-8-0 Consolidations in working condition. Engine No. 1 (La Mambisita), an 0-6-0, was on display at the highway turnoff to Santa Lucia. The tourist train was pulled by 2-8- 0 No. 1386. This engine was built in 1917 by Baldwin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After watch- ing me take an entire roll of pictures of the engine, the fireman invited me to ride in the cab on the trip back to the Rafael Freyre yard. Fantastic! For a number of reasons I did not return to this area of Cuba until 2010. What a change! A hurri- cane in 2008 devastated much of Holguin and the sugar factory was in ruins. In 2000 Cuba had about 175 active sugar factories but by 2010, due to the reduced world prices for sugar and a con- version of the large collective farms to private small holdings, the number was down to about 80 in the whole country. Having been badly damaged, Rafael Freyre was closed, but the tourist train was still running. La Mambisita had acquired an active roster number, 1180, and was scheduled to pull the train that day but unfortunately was in the shop for repairs. (At least the hurricane made photography inside the repair shed easier!) This diminutive locomotive is the second-oldest working engine in Cuba; the builder’s plate says “Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, 1882, No. 6456.” In its place the train that day was pulled by the diesel-powered passenger car. In February, 2011, I decided that rather than take the tour I would go over to Santa Lucia on my own and see what was happening. Thirty convertible pesos (about $35.00 U.S.) got me a ride by taxi to Santa Lucia and the taxi driver as a translator for four hours. (I didn’t want to end up in a Cuban jail for trespassing in the yard!) The result was a wonderful time wandering around the yard taking photographs. Nobody complained when I was poking around the repair shed where 2-8-0 No. 1387 was undergoing some repairs and the self-propelled car from the previous year was getting a new motor. On this day La Mambisita was pulling the tourist train, and I went out along the tracks to pho- tograph it. Unfortunately, the sun’s direction wasn’t good enough for a usable picture, so I did the next best thing and followed it around the yard when the train came back. The photo shows just how small this engine really is. The tender is only as wide as the track gauge, which is three feet. The railway has been renamed Central Santa Lucia and the display on the highway turnoff was now occupied by 2-8-0 No. 1391. And finally, I present a photo of a reliable method of transportation in Cuba–a horse!
JOHN ILIFFE
photography/JOHN ILIFFE 38 FEBRUARY 2011
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