Railroads on Kauai

[pH]

A few photos from a holiday on Kauai - railroads weren't the main interest!

 

A couple of shots of a bridge on the former Ahukini Terminal and Railway Company in Kapaa:

 

 

There is another bridge just downstream of this one, with a pedestrian bridge built on top of it. New cross-beams have been laid on top of the existing ones on the bridge, and the deck built on top of them. The rails are still in place on the rail bridge. With the bright sunlight, I didn't think details would show up in the shade underneath the new deck, so I didn't take any photos, but I should have tried .

 

This is the walking/cycling track built on the roadbed north from Kapaa:

 

The shelter in the background is at the near end of a mile long surfing beach, and there are several others along the way. The railroad ran as far north as Anahola, but I don't know how far the path goes - we were driving, and the road goes inland, while the path stays on the coast.

 

The Kauai Plantation Railway is a new tourist line, construction of which began in 2004. The plantation is a working concern, developing new varieties of fruits which they hope to put into commercial production. But it also has several tourist attractions, the railway being one. There are two locos, a Whitcomb and a GE. The GE was locked up in the engine shed, and not available for photos, but here's a couple of the Whitcomb:

 

 

 

and one of it with one of the two passenger cars:

 

 

These cars were built on existing flat cars and contain some features I don't ever remember seeing before, like wooden journal covers :

 

 

and wooden parts in the suspension :

 

 

(Apologies for the lack of contrast - I had to use flash under the cars because of the strong shadows in the bright sunlight.)

[Ursa Major]

The wooden parts in the suspension are probably to compensate for weak springs which may have been further compressed by the added weight of the coach body on the former flat cars. The journal covers are likely to be home made replacements for lost originals to keep sand and dirt out. Super pics, thanks for sharing.

 

The Whitcomb could be an N to HOe (or HO to On30) conversion. Did it have "Lima, made in Italy" stamped on it anywhere?

[Pete Piszczek]

Nice set of photos, thanks for posting them.

 

You might be interested in this volume. It's the last of four albums and covers Kauai. I have all four albums and they are a great read- rosters, maps, profuse photos, really top notch stuff!

 

Hawaiian Railway Album Volume 4

[pH]

Thanks for the recommendation, Pete, but this is already on order from Amazon . I'd already seen the tourist line near Lahaina on Maui, and traces of the railroad around Oahu, so I thought it was about time I got some background.

[Pete Piszczek]

Thanks for the recommendation, Pete, but this is already on order from Amazon

 

They should have published the hardback volume first, although I can see the logic in determining interest via the cheaper soft back versions. The photography and printing is really top notch in the softbacks. Heavy glossy paper with contrasty images, really a joy to peruse...

[pH]

"Hawaiian Railway Album WWII Photographs Chapters 1-4" by Gale Treiber arrived yesterday. As you said, Pete, it's really well produced. I see in the introduction that the author had help from a photographic technician who did a lot of work on old negatives to produce photographs of the quality in the book - he did good work ! One comment - I would have liked to see more photos of trains 'in the landscape' rather than so many of locos only. (If you look at my own photos on Fotopic, you might find that a bit hypocritical .) But I do understand - as Trieber says, film was scarce because of military requirements, so Norton and others concentrated on the locos. (As a teenager in the early 1960s, I also suffered from a shortage of film. That was a result of a shortage of money, but the result was the same - mostly locos.)

 

I find it amazing how many railroads there were on the Hawaiian islands, and that I must have crossed many of them without realising it. It's another reason for more trips to Hawaii (as if I needed another reason ).