Santa Lucia Via Estrecha

Following a visit to Cuba in 1979 by a group led by Jim Hutzler, enthusiasts became aware that MINAZ, the Ministry of Sugar, used several hundred steam locos during the ZAFRA sugar harvest, which ran roughly from December to May. The island had a very extensive rail network, apparently having more track per square mile than any other country, much of which was intensively used when the sugar cane was being cut, transported to CENTRALS, as the mills were known,and processed, leaving as bagged sugar or turned into molasses. There were also passenger services operated by Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FCC), but these had been diesel worked since the 1950s. The island's economy depended to a large extent on the success or otherwise of the annual Zafra.

Moreover, whilst most of the network was standard gauge, there was a significant mileage of narrow gauge (via estrecha in Spanish) on the sugar systems. Though by no means all steam, diesels having come in before and after the 1959 Revolution, a good variety of locos were still at work, mostly American built.

With around 160 sugar Centrals all over the island, there was plenty of exploring to do, aided by a list of locos obtained from Minaz by Jim Hutzler and Wayne Weiss. Bear in mind that the Communist regime was not keen on having foreigners roaming round taking pictures of economically important installations like the Centrals, however it was possible for larger groups to obtain official permission to visit a small number of establishments. My first visit was with a group in May 1980 at the end of the Zafra and I saw enough to want to return at some stage.

A couple of planned trips in the mid-1980s were aborted due to airline strikes thwarting travel to Cuba. A few groups had managed to go by the time I went again in March 1987 with Jim Hutzler, Wayne Weiss and Chris Walker - more mills had been visited and locos photographed. But there remained unvisited mills. On this trip we set out to look in - unofficially - at mills throughout the island and travelled eastwards from Havana.

Main target was CAI (Complejo Agro Industrial) Rafael Freyre, near the coastal resort of Guardalavaca in Holguin Province, much frequented by Canadian tourists, who had the option of an organised visit to the mill during their stay – which at least meant it was accustomed to foreigners. This had a 30'' gauge rail system as far as Jim knew. It had no connection to any other railroad. But quite a lot of narrow gauge lines had been converted to standard gauge in the 1960s and 1970s with Russian assistance, and there had not been any reports of the current situation at Rafael Freyre - or Central Santa Lucia to use the pre-Revolutionary name. So after various adventures elsewhere as we travelled across the island, we got to Freyre late in the afternoon wondering what we might find.

We drove by the mill and confirmed that not only did it still have a narrow gauge railroad but steam activity too. Next morning a short unofficial visit found seven 2-8-0s of which five were at work with two under repair; also three diesels. We set out to follow an empty cane train going into the hills and drove along a rough track adjacent to the railroad. But disaster quickly struck, when we ruptured the car's fuel tank on a rock! We managed to get back to our hotel and swap cars. It was late morning before we started to discover the scenic delights of this fabulous narrow gauge system and photograph loaded trains making their way to the mill in the afternoon. We reported our findings to the enthusiast fraternity on our return home and thereafter it became a 'must visit' for most railroad fans. After 1987, I was lucky enough to visit every year from 1989 to 2002, usually for a couple of weeks in February/March.

It was, as I recall, 1988 when Nick Tindall and Tony Eaton, two very accomplished photographers, explored the Rafael Freyre system and discovered the photo location above which became virtually a place of pilgrimage for visiting enthusiasts, including those on organised tours. With luck on your side, you could get a similar - or better - picture from around 4pm if everything was right - the light, the weather, the train arriving at a suitable time, smoke not blowing down and so on. This photo is of a 'real' cane train returning to the mill, not perfect by any means, but more satisfactory than later years, when things were running down and charter trains were 'fixed' to try and replicate this shot, It just wasn't the same.

The oil-burning steam fleet was seven Baldwin 2-8-0s constructed between 1905 and 1919 (there had been eight, but the first, built in 1892, had disappeared by the time visitors came), all supplied to this mill. The diesels comprised three General Electric Bo-Bo type originally supplied to Hawaii in the late 1940s and four Russian TU-7Es. The 2-8-0s did the bulk of the line work. One change I noted in 1991 was the wording on loco tenders, altered from 'CENTRAL RAFAEL FREYRE' to CAI RAFAEL FREYRE'. Also during the 1990s, tiny Baldwin 0-6-0 No. 1 built for this mill in 1882, was resurrected for tourist train duty.

Three lines radiated from the Central; one towards Potrerillo; one to the port of Puerto Vita; and the longest, about 24 kms, up into the hills via Bariay, Altuna and Progreso to La Uvilla, with various short branches serving loading points. At its greatest extent the system had 160kms of trackage, though somewhat reduced by the 1980s. The pictures, taken in various years from 1987 onwards, are on the long line and its branches unless otherwise stated.

This loco, Minaz 1387, still displays its original number - 5 - on the smokebox door as it blasts upgrade with a relatively modest load from the chucho at Palmarito, on a branch between Altuna and Progreso.

This time it is loco 10 - Minaz 1385 - at a loading point, having picked up more fulls before proceeding back to the Central.

A shunt taking place with the loco perched on a bridge across a creek.

Same occasion with a track gang's trolley in a spur waiting for the train to depart before the gang can resume work.

There was always plenty of work for the gangers; here they stand aside as a full train on the line from Potrerillo creeps over a section of track being fettled.

The poor state of roads up in the hills make horses a much better form of personal transport than wheeled vehicles - which were pretty rare in these parts anyway, apart from those used by officialdom. Tied to a hitching rail, the steeds take very little notice of loco 1391 shunting, it's an everyday sight for them.

The scenery along the lines was just superb. Loco 1389 pauses for a water top-up in splendid surroundings en route with empties going to distant loading points deep in the countryside. The cane in the field has already been harvested, otherwise this shot would not have been possible.

Way out in the hills, the train has reversed to a remote old style 'chucho' loader to pick up a couple of wagonloads and bring them to join the rest of the wagons, glimpsed on the bottom right of this picture. The cane probably came to the loader by ox cart, then still used in many places in the Cuban countryside.

Pig, cow, goats, horse, thatched roof dwelling, cart - a scene of Cuban rural life as one of Rafael Freyre's locos shunts empties at a loading point.

A close view of a 'chucho' used for transferring cane from ox carts to railway wagons. This is uncut cane, whereas most cane was stripped and cut into lengths before being hoisted into wagons at more modern loaders.

The loco has come back from a chucho with just two wagons and sits on the branch while the crew await authorisation to proceed onto the main line. The closest crewman has a phone which is used for communicating with the train controller at the mill.

Immaculately maintained 1388 shifts loads bound for the Central through a rocky gorge in real narrow gauge country.

Note the 'prancing pony' depicted on the tender - MINAZ steamers often had individual liveries, despite the State's control of all enterprises in Cuba.

1388 -original number 6 - storms back to the mill with a fully loaded train. As usual there are riders on the tender,

train crew in this case,but villagers often climbed up as well to get a lift in an area where public transport is scarce.

Several small railcars, usually locally made, were used on the line for transport - and I believe they still are in 2017.

On the Potrerillo branch a track maintenance car is about to reverse onto the spur so the GE diesel and its train can pass by en route to the nearby Central.

This was loco No. 1 at Central Santa Lucia in 1882 and presumably replaced animal power. Just ten years later, in 1892, it was superseded by the first of the 2-8-0s, but was retained for shunting and light work. After being on a plinth for some years, it was overhauled in the 1990s and steamed for tourists.

Sadly sugar cane production ceased after the 2002 Zafra, but the locos and lines survive, with passenger working by small railcars for local inhabitants, and tourist trains running a short distance into the hills.