U.S. railroaders lured by Cuba`s steam locomotives

One of the 35 members of the Niles Canyon Railway Museum in California who got a special permit to travel to Cuba, paid a visit to the city of Ciego de Avila to check firsthand the running of old-timed steam locomotives that still chug their way down the tracks to pitch a hand in the sugar harvest there. These time-stricken engine have become must-sees for an increasingly larger amount of tourists.

The American delegation toured sugar mills and railroad workshops in the province of Ciego de Avila some 430 kilometers east of Havana.

Mechanical engineer Henry Baum, who traveled to the island nation with a large entourage, expressed admiration for the excellent technical and preservation state of these almost-100-year-old engines built in the U.S. back in the 1920s.

U.S. experts come down to Cuba every year to do research on Ciego de Avila´s railroad system, especially motivated by the local sugar industry´s ancient rolling machinery.

Today, Cuba has 288 steam trains that have been running for over eight decades, with 24 of those locomotives hauling piles of sugar cane across the region.

Founded in 1961, the Niles Canyon Railway Museum is the only one in the United States that keeps steam trains moving freight and passengers. The tracks are operated by volunteers.