Thirty-Six Inches Apart - Cuba

It was definitely an adventure to tour Cuba independently in 1987. Tourists went on package tours and stayed in Havana or in beach resorts dotted around the island and only did officially approved sightseeing.

But that year hiring a car in Havana became possible, so four of us took advantage of this new freedom to drive around the island and visit some of the one hundred and fifty plus sugar mills across Cuba. There were ones which had been visited in recent years and others which as far as we knew had rarely if ever seen an enthusiast.

Taking pictures of trains was very much frowned on by the police, public and mill staff so it was a risky proposition and could land one in a whole heap of trouble. It wasn't as if four fairly big white guys in a small car could even begin to look inconspicuous in a dusty town or canefield somewhere in the middle of the island, where they hardly saw any visitors. At that time the second language in Cuba was Russian, there weren't many hotels where foreigners could stay and fuel could be difficult to find, also food was not at all plentiful.

It should be remembered that in those days the sugar industry was far and away the most important part of the Cuban economy, so foreigners appearing and taking a close interest in what was going on was bound to arouse suspicion. Some mills we visited very briefly as we got the feeling it wasn't healthy to hang around, whilst others did not appear to be at all worried by our presence and taking pictures. Sometimes we stayed away from the mill and were able to take photos out in the fields with crews being friendly towards us.

One target to visit was Minaz mill 435 Hermanos Ameijeiras near Placetas in Villa Clara province, it was three foot gauge, or thirty-six inches, of particular interest to our American colleagues, as it was common on narrow gauge railroads in the USA.

We drove by the mill and stopped briefly to look at the loco shed. It was our feeling we were not welcome so we then went to the acopios (loading points) where the cane was brought in by tractor and transferred to railway trucks for transport to the mill. At an acopio several kms away we managed to find a train headed by one of the mill's six working 2-8-0s, E1351, a neat and well-kept loco.

Due to some quite steep gradients on the line trains had to be split en route.

On our 1989 visit loco E1667 had 23 loaded cane cars and a caboose to take back to the mill. At a siding about eight km from the mill, it split the train, taking eight cars only to another siding around four km out. It repeated this journey twice before taking the whole load into the mill.

Perhaps we got carried away by the pursuit. As we approached the mill on a dirt road, we were flagged down by a mill security official who asked us to accompany him into the mill, which we did. We waited for some time before the boss man appeared and asked what we were up to. He was not appeased by our explanation - tourists interested in trains - and said the local police had been called from the nearby town.

The police turned up and we accompanied them to their station in town. We had to surrender our passports and were asked to also give up the films we had taken. Well, we gave them some films, not ones that had been exposed, but they seemed satisfied. After return of the passports they told us, in effect, to 'get out of town and don't come back'.

Outside the loco shed was this centenarian, a Baldwin 2-6-0 of 1887 - always at this mill, in later years it was plinthed at the entrance. It never displayed its allocated MINAZ 4-digit number (1156) which suggests it had been out of use for a number of years, possibly since the mid 1970s.

So we didn't go back there....for two years. We turned up again in 1989.

Another of the fleet in action, E1431 - new in 1925 to this mill when it was called Central San Jose.

And, like 1987, we got apprehended. I am pretty sure we saw the same boss man again. But the atmosphere had changed in the intervening period. This time, he just laughed and waved us away. As long as we stayed away from the mill environs, he wasn't bothered.

With that made clear, it was a good mill to visit, a longish narrow gauge line - official figures stated 40 km in 1982 - with well-kept steam locos. Also of interest to Brits, from the late 1980s it acquired some Bo-Bo diesels built by Brush of Loughborough. British built locos were fairly thin on the ground in Cuba. These had been supplied in the 1960s by the Labour government when the Americans embargoed any of their goods going to Cuba and were originally used on mill lines further east.

Steam line working was gradually taken over from about 1988 by more Brush diesels transferred from mills which had converted to standard gauge. We saw Brush diesel 2734 on line workings in 1989.

E1373 sits outside the loco shed waiting for its next duty. The air pumps are prominent on the smokebox and as with the other locos here, it has an American style bell.

E1667 about to shift a good load of cane to the mill for processing.

One of the Brush diesels at Hermanos in 1997 with its colourful livery!

With steam reduced to yard shunting four locos were transferred to work at other mills -

1350 was sent to mill 105 A.C. Sandino in 1993 and after that to Parque Lenin, Havana, for use on the public railway there.

1351 went to mill 207 Gregorio A Manalich in 1994, which was particularly interesting as the railway there was 30 inch - two foot six - gauge. The loco was indeed regauged to 30 inches, showing the versatility of the design.

1373 and 1667 were both in steam at Hermanos in 2000, but in 2001 they were working at A C Sandino. 1373 subsequently went to Parque Lenin.

In later years, it was possible to visit the mill yard without being chased away. The picture below depicts 1431, the last working steam at Hermanos, ready to shunt in 2001, with an interesting tableau on the building.

E1431 remained at Hermanos until around 2006 when it also moved to Parque Lenin.

1351 on the 30 inch gauge at G.A. Manalich in 2001, still working hard. Manalich seemed to enjoy changing the liveries on its locos in latter years.

A. C. Sandino's locos rarely looked smart. Former Hermanos Ameijeiras engine 1350 storms uphill from Dos Hermanos acopio on the Sandino system in 1998. The steep grade on this section meant the loco would get to the summit of the line then return for another load before heading for the Central.

My visit to Parque Lenin, Havana on 7 March 2010 found three ex-Hermanos Ameijeiras locos: 1350 was dead but had been used a week earlier; 1373 appeared to be having boiler repairs; 1431 was working trains on the leisure park's railway. 1431 has acquired a new identity* as it takes a seven coach train full of passengers round the 36 inch gauge circuit of about 9km, probably built using materials from the same gauge tracks of Central Habana Libre. * Though I have a note that the tender showed 'CENTRAL SAN JOSE' - must have been on the other side!

Footnotes:

The mill's original name was Central San Jose. The 1948/49 Gilmore Sugar Manual noted it had 42 kms of 36 inch gauge railroad and six oil-burning Baldwin locos.

1373's first MINAZ allocated number was 1668 i.e. one of a pair with 1667, but was subsequently altered to 1373 on transfer here from a mill further east, taking the number of the 'original' 1373 which was at mill no. 622 Argelia Libre, Manati. That loco was scrapped in the 1970s.

It seems possible that 1667 should also have been renumbered in the 13XX series.

The mill had been connected to the 36 inch gauge common carrier the FC de Placetas - Caibarien. Three of its steam locos went to sugar mills, though not to Hermanos. Two ended up at mill 105 A C Sandino and were still there in the 1990s.

Fifteen 36 inch gauge Brush Bo-Bo diesels built in 1968/69 worked on MINAZ lines. One, 2734, was shunting at Hermanos on our 1987 visit, whilst in 2000 we saw seven there: 2721/2724/2726/2729/2731/2732/2734. Some were still working in 2009 at the nearby Central Heriberto Duquesne.

Hermanos Ameijeiras closed at the end of its 2002 season, along with many other others.