James Lawson is, I suspect, a more than useful cricketer. Little does he know that I once scored 36 for the school second XI. Plus, he whooped me so frequently on the badminton court that I had to eventually walk away, moaning about bad knees. Not content with all that, he has followed me to the swimming pool, where he powers down the adjacent fast lane, splashing water in my face at every opportunity.
James went on holiday to a country I’ve never been to
[Barbados] and sent me a photo of a steam loco I’ve never seen, on a railway
that I knew nothing about. I promptly overlooked it. There’s only so much a man
can take. Now he’s muscling in on my one remaining area of expertise. If I
encourage him, in no time at all he’ll be writing books about trains that actually
sell. Not content with my measly excuse about losing his message, he sent it to
me again. There is no escape. I promised a blog. It’s the least and best I could
do.
The first Barbados Railway was a late nineteenth century
venture to carry sugar cane to Bridgetown. It closed in 1937 and is now a
footpath and cycleway. The St Nicholas Abbey Heritage Railway is a much more
recent affair than its name suggests. The 1.5km, 2’ 6” gauge line connects the
Abbey to Cherry Tree Hill and has been operating only since 2019. The tourist
line runs in the grounds of a complex that includes the main house, a
plantation, a steam-driven mill and a rum distillery.
No. 5 is Tjepper, 4 cylinder, 0-4-4-0T articulated German
Mallet built by Jung in 1914. It was rescued from a sugar plantation line in
Java and found its way to the Statfold Barn Railway in 2009, where it was
rebuilt before its arrival in Barbados.
James would no doubt be able to tell the story in much more detail than this but I just thought I’d get in first while I still can.
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