Some unfortunate news from The Maui News:
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End of the line for ‘important part of the history of Maui’ (July 25, 2014)

You need to be a subscriber to read the article, but the article begins with "Its last riders will be going aboard Aug. 1. The popular attraction is one of the state's last steam engine railroads and has served as a historic..."

When I was in Maui last December, the track was very poor condition. It needs lots of new ties. A diesel locomotive derailment caused a four day shut down. Steam did not run the whole time I was there.

This story is no surprise.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20140725_Popular_Hawaii_tourist_attraction_set_to_close.html?id=268602852
A non-paywall link

Jeff

Any clues as to the disposition of their rolling stock? They had some handsome steam locomotives. The two former Carbon Limestone 2-4-0s were fine engines to ride behind, #3 has a really nice SP-looking 'whaleback' tender. Their turntable was right alongside the main street, which turned a few heads on people driving down Honoapiilani Highway (I almost saw two rear-end collisions from driver's finding them face to face with a locomotive on the table).
I guess I'm now lucky to have ridden it. When my wife and I went on a cruise of the islands in 2003, we weren't even supposed to dock at Lahaina originally. A storm between us and some outlying islands added that port to the trip. Just a short hike from the dock up the hill to the depot and we rode what was pretty much a 'train to nowhere' but at least it had steam running at the time.
Funny, the website doesn't mention this at all. http://www.sugarcanetrain.com/

When I tried a few minutes ago the website did not allow booking after the end of this month.

GME

My wife and I rode in 1994 while on our honey moon. Great line. Still remember the singing conductor! I took lots of slides and bought a T shirt I still wear, a patch, and their VHS tape, The Sugar Cane Train. I gave their engineer an M&H patch and invited him to ride the M&H when he visited the states. Like most Hawaians I met he politely declined saying he would / could never leave Paradise! (Not the Lancaster County one!)

Maybe he could never leave Paradise since it costs so much to live there?

Back in the early 80's I had some serious discussions with them about working there. They said I had to know how to play the ukulele and sing to be conductor, but they were also hiring engine crew. They offered $8 per hour, which sounded good back then. Then I spoke with a friend who's lived there. He laughed and said "So, are you gonna sleep in the train or on the beach? You can't afford rest on those wages!" A talk with the railroad indicated that yeah, a lot of the new guys worked second jobs for a few years and often shared housing. Not my idea of Paradise so I passed...

Not a whole lot of specifics that have been communicated, but you can certainly go on TripAdvisor and get a lot of insight as to the way the year has been going.

I remember at one time the ridership on this was phenomenal - I think when Kyle had it, and when the sugar cane operation was still running as well. I wasn't aware that had been closed as well (see the railroad web page).

There is a thread about this over on the Narrow Gauge Railroad Discussion Forum:
See this thread: http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,270164,270164#msg-270164

Some interesting posts. Reports that the latest owners have only been able to barely sustain the operation. Also report that the one maintenance/shop man had decided to retire after 30 years and gave several months notice.

Addenda to my previous post:

When I was in Maui last December, the railroad was clearly in financial trouble. In spite of many gauge bars, the rails spread on a curve and the diesel locomotive fell in. All the ties appeard to be original. I didn't see any new ties anywhere. I saw no signs of recent track maintenance although it had been weed sprayed.

The derailed train was next to the main highway. Great advertising. It sat there four days before the railroad was able to remove it. The railroad did not start operating again for several more days. I had bought a multi-ride ticket but was only able to take one round trip.

From a distance paint on the two steam locomotives looked good. However all the coaches were shabby and badly needed new paint as did the the display locomotive at the depot. The coaches were clean inside but the paint was old.

Signs posted by the railroad were peeling and needed repainting.

The gift shop has a nice assortment of items for sale. However they had no stock depth. Only one or two of each item was on display but the shelves behind them were empty.

The employees were all very friendly but were not able to answer many questions about the railroad operation. Business was very slow except for one shool kid special. I would estimate trains were operating at about 20% of seating capacity. Advertising was in local tourist guide books.

This is a shame because it once was a very good well patronized ride.

Very, very sad.

Update?

http://www.lahainanews.com/page/content ... erway.html


More at the link.