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The Maui narrow gauge Sugar Cane Train's last run will be Dec. 31. They lost over half their right of way so the line is only about three miles at best. Both steam engines were just rebuilt this year. There is also a diesel narrow gauge switcher. Sad day and a huge loss for Maui and money for the new owners. Don

Last edited by scale rail
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I'm glad I shot almost every run for a week when they had sold it to a mainland company. We all thought that was the end of it. Maui folks got together and stopped the sale and a local guy and his partner bought it. I don't think anyone local will want it now that it's less than half the length it was. The plan was to move the station and turn table up on the hill at the new end of line. The cost was going to be huge. They have to charge $50 each to ride the Christmas Train.

Well anyway we have about 20 hours of HD video and interviews with the original owners and more. I think it will make a good hour or so video. Will keep you posted. Don

Dang it.

I was hoping to get back out there again and ride this again someday. Though it was a classic, "ride to nowhere" it was a lot of fun.

My wife and I were lucky to get to ride this. In 2003, we took a cruise ship through the islands and a storm blocked us from going to Fanning Island, so we landed at Lahaina instead (though there's no dock there, so we had to be ferried to the ship and back which took quite a while), just a few blocks from their depot with the turntable. They were running steam daily then. Did a luau that evening, too. Wasn't part of the original plan but it was the best day of the cruise, for me (and yes, my wife enjoyed it).

Lee, there is a siding about half way up the line. I asked the original owners about it. They told me at one time they ran both steam trains all day and they built the siding so they could pass each other. When we moved here eight years ago the one train was almost empty most of the time. The last owners didn't care about the train. There were three derailments that I know about in one year. On one of the last runs I was filming before they shut down the last time. A coupler fell apart just before we crossed the trestle. We had to slowly back down to the engine house with men working the hand brakes of the cars. Four of us had to search the high brush for parts of a coupler. We collected enough parts to make a coupler. The passengers thought it great fun watching us for about an hour. Don

No kidding on two Louisiana sugar trains running!!  Dang...missed those on my plantation and N'awlins self driving tour!!  No advertising, hiding under bushel?  And l even spent the night in a haunted plantation house. Ghost trains would go with ghost houses.  They had sugar cane and  mills in FLA , too... trains??....(l locked myself out of a rental car outside mill ruins in FLA. but think may be very old Spanish mill?)

News story on the subject:

The Sugar Cane Train’s “Holiday Express” may reach the end of the line after this year with the owners saying they currently are unable to secure a deal from a major landowner to keep the train running.

Train co-owner and Lahaina businessman Todd Domeck said that for several years they have been trying to work out a lease or purchase agreement with a private landowner in order to run the train full- time.

Last edited by nathansixchime
scale rail posted:

John, they do have a train on Kauai, and they have a couple original Hawaii steam engines but they seldom run those. DonUnknown-1

On our last visit to Kauai in 2018, we rode the Kauai Plantation Railway; afterward, my mother-in-law mentioned another train at Grove Farm, so I did a little research and called them; they were closed, but the woman I spoke with took my name and phone number, and that same day, Scott Johnson, their steam engineer, called me. He explained that they were closed, but he very graciously invited me for a private tour of the steam locos, engine house, and railroad. I spent the better part of a day with him, learning about the history of the locos and railroading in general on Kauai. It was fascinating, especially for me, since I volunteer at our Maine Narrow Gauge RR in Portland. Here's my wife and me in the cab of Wainiha!!

Wainiha2018

John

 

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  • Wainiha2018

Well, this is the first l have heard of any (two?) other than L,K, &P running sugar cane trains in the islands.  Did l say "candle under a bushel"? With a rental car on four islands pre 9/11, and a drive over "the road to Hana", l thought l'd seen it better than the average bear...not so.  I had seen a photo of a steamer abandoned in a remote? former sugar cane field.  Is there a book called "Hawaiian Railroading Then and Now"..?.sounds like one with annual updates is needed.  Have they gone back, post 9/11, to flying AMONG the islands?  I was on a deal that provided four cars and flights among four islands, and then later heard paranoia was rampant and you could only fly to Honolulu, and had to rotate back through it (more flights=more q$ and time) to get to other islands?

scale rail posted:

John, they have steam. Don't know why they don't run it more. They have two steam engines that are rebuilt. Donweb1_20180904TS2

Great shot, Don!! That's Scott Johnson, the engineer at Grove Farm who gave me the tour; really nice guy.  Unless I was mistaken, I think he told me only Grove Farm has steam; none at Kauai Plantation. I think Scott told me they run steam at Grove Farm once or twice a month; whatever their frequency is, I missed it by a day or 2 on our most recent trip to Kauai but it was a fun tour just the same; Scott's love of Hawaii railroad history is infectious. 

John

What l discovered to eat on Kauai was Lappert's ice cream, considered one of world's best...tasty good!  There is one in San Francisco, too,but lousy parking. Elsewhere?? If you drive down through lower P. Mich., multiple Kilwin's are maybe closer, and at other scattered U.S. locations.  Wuss luck, the Gettysburg PA. one has been closed the last two York's ..they need a new franchisee. 

Dan986 posted:
jhz563 posted:

20191129_103603[1]20191129_103611[1]

On the subject - This guy is hanging out in the PA RR museum

Thanks for the post. I inherited a LGB model of this engine from my dad. I thought it was a creative license variation from the Chloe molds. I had no idea it was based on a real engine that still exists.  

Too bad they don't mention that Jerry Best owned the engine, did the restoration, and donated it to the Smithsonian.

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