Got this on a Yahoo Group. Check out stkittsscenicrailway.com

CARIBBEAN BUSINESS
January 9, 2003

By JOHN COLLINS

St. Kitts & Nevis (SKN) is the latest Caribbean country to abandon sugar,
but it hasn't given up on the narrow-gauge railway that used to transport
the cane from the fields to the mill for processing before export.

Sugar has been the principal export of the small country (with a land mass
of 104 square miles and a population of only 38,765) for more than 100
years. In view of increased competition in the sugar trade and declining
consumption, the smallest nation in the western hemisphere is counting on
tourism to diversify its economy ($283 million gross product and $6,880 per
capita income).

Although it has been receiving visitors for hundreds of years, St. Kitts and
neighboring Nevis have only 1,700 rooms total in hotels and guesthouses.
Last year, it received only 74,543 overnight visitors and 264,734 cruise
ship passengers.

Both figures are expected to increase significantly in 2003. Marriott is set
to open in February the 460-unit first phase of its new, massive 950-unit
resort on St. Kitts. The posh Four Seasons Resort on Nevis has earned a
reputation as one of the Caribbean's outstanding attractions. The number of
cruise passengers should also jump as other cruise lines schedule more calls
at picturesque Basseterre, SKN's capital.

The SKN government turned to the old railway for transporting sugarcane and
decided to transform it into a scenic railway for shuttling visitors around
the island in air-conditioned comfort. SKN Prime Minister Denzil Douglas
unveiled the venture at the recent Miami Conference on the Caribbean.

The railway has four cars, each of which can carry 28 passengers on two
levels, the upper open-air and the lower air-conditioned. A spokesperson for
the railway said beverages are served but not food.

The venture is operated by the St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturers Co., an agency
of the government, and is headed by Patrick Williams. The railway already
has its own website, www.stkittsscenicrailway.com, which touts the tour as
the "most luxurious and entertaining shore excursion in the Caribbean."



rdavis@rypn.org

I'll be in St Kitts later this month and will have a ride. No steam, but should be interesting.

bas1210@comcast.net

I went there in 1992 (while in the Navy), and recall seeing what I can only describe as a "baby" GE 44-tonner parked outside of a building/shed.

> I'll be in St Kitts later this month and
> will have a ride. No steam, but should be
> interesting.

While it is true there is no working steam on the island, St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corp. does own a derelict Kerr Stuart & Co 0-4-2T.

If you happen to see it or any other steam equipment, a picture from yet another remote corner of the work would be appreciated.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a


Surviving World Steam Project
james@survivingworldsteam.com

More disscussion, including responses by one of the project's team members is found on Railroad.net

St. Kitts Scenic Railway discussion thread
jgerlach@trainsofthought.com