29 Aug 2014
Cuba celebrates rail heritage by restoring 40 locomotives for grand exhibition
BY Tom Anstey
A large exhibition on Cuba’s rail heritage is set to open following an eight-year project to repair and restore 40 locomotives. The open air exhibition will take place at the country’s national Railroad Museum.
Steam locomotives and Cuba share a rich history, with the country's engines the first to appear in Latin America. The first railroad line in the country opened in 1837. Cuba was the seventh country anywhere in the world to use steam trains – before the likes of even Holland, Italy and Spain – thanks to the nation’s booming sugar industry.
A workshop in Havana, Cuba, tasked with repairing and restoring the steam locomotives first opened in 2007 – becoming a popular tourist attraction in its own right along the way. The workshop will close down over the next few months upon completion of the final two steam engines to be restored.
The "locomotive graveyard" where the trains have been restored has been a surprise hit attraction for visiting tourists
A small team of engineers has been working on locomotives constructed between 1878 and 1925 with the backing of the Havana Historian’s Office, which has funded the project to display the restored engines as an open air visitor attraction.
The Railroad Museum first opened in 2009 on the 172nd anniversary of the first railway journey in Cuba in 1837 and the new open air exhibit marks a major expansion for the popular tourist attraction.
The Havana Historian’s Office has recalled 30 locomotives on display in other areas of the country repaired by the team, to be part of the new exhibition.
"They were brought from many corners of Cuba, where there is a sentimental relationship with these trains,” said Ariel Causa, project leader, speaking to Spanish language news agency Efe. “Their history is entwined with the history of sugar, which in turn is the history of the Cuban people."
In 2004 more than 200 steam locomotives on the island were named as objects of national heritage and the final stages of the restoration project will be complete by December of this year.
At least seven of the 40 engines date back to the 19th century, with the oldest dating back to 1878, remaining in operation for 127 years until 2005.
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