One Hundred Years of St. Kitts Railroading

It's May 1st, 2012, and we wanted to start the month announcing to one and all that this year marks the 100 Year Anniversary of the first St. Kitts "Sugar Train". According to the late Jim Horsford in his 2004 book "The St. Kitts Railway", construction of the 30-inch gauge industrial rail line from the Factory Pier to the St. Kitts Basseterre Sugar Factory - with a "West Line" branch running out 4 miles to Trinity (Palmetto Point) and another "North Line" branch running out to Bourryeau Estate (Mills's) - was finished on February 28, 1912. It was celebrated with a "special train" that operated for invited dignitaries. A photograph of this "first passenger train" to ever run in St. Kitts fortunately survives today in the National Museum collection in the Old Treasury Building. So, as the Scenic Railway trains run back and forth over the line this summer, St. Kitts can boast a full century of railroading in the West Indies

Special Train on new factory pier at opening of sugar factory, 1912 with steam locomotive No. 3 "Queen Mary". Courtesy National Museum Collection.