Hartley Neita, ContributorWHEN THE first train ran from Kingston to Spanish Town, St. Catherine, in 1845, Jamaica became the first country outside of North America and Europe to have a railway service. Today, that service is no more.
And with Highway 2000 the now showpiece of development, it may never be resurrected. I would, therefore, love to hear from the candidates vying for the office of Prime Minister to say if they have any plans for the railway.
The generation of my youthful years knew the pleasure of travelling in the coaches as they swayed from side to side, with the engine screaming its whistle as it approached stations.
As children, one of the lessons we had to learn in civic classes was the names of these stations. We also knew the attractions at each station, such as the women on the platforms selling bammie and fried fish at Old Harbour, and oranges at the Porus railway station.
PLEASURE OF TRAVELLING
For a time, too, tourists enjoyed the pleasure of travelling on the Governor's Coach from Montego Bay to a station close to the Appleton sugar factory where they saw how rum was made, and being able to purchase a tropical shirt of dress en route.
Thousands of school children travelled the train from their home towns to attend Clarendon College in Chapelton, to Cornwall College in Montego Bay, Titchfield High School in Port Antonio and Beckford and Smith's High School in Spanish Town. Life-long friendships started on these journeys.
In my elementary school in Clarendon, we looked forward to the annual railway trip to Kingston for a day's outing.
There we visited the Kingston Ice Making Company, the Dixie Doodle Ice Cream Factory, the Match Factory and the Gleaner Company where we had our group photograph taken. We even travelled on the tram car to Hope Gardens to see the peacocks and orchids.
OBJECTIONS OVERCOME
According to old newspapers, farmers originally objected to the introduction of the railway. This was because the 'iron horse' replaced the carriages and carts drawn by mules, donkeys and horses which dropped their dung on the roads and which they had been using as manure for their farms.
It did not take long, however, for the railway to be seen as a blessing by these farmers as they could now ship their bananas in bulk to the shipping ports of Montego Bay, Port Antonio and Kingston much cheaper than was possible before.
The train also carried copies of the Daily Gleaner and the Jamaica Standard to towns on its route much faster than cars.
And it was the railway that carried hundreds of carpenters, masons, electricians, welders, painters and other tradesmen from Kingston to the May Pen and Four Paths Railway Stations, from where they were taken by trucks to the United States Naval and Air Base which was constructed in Southern Clarendon during the early 1940s.
Memories of the railway also include the tragic accidents which took place on the line.
There was a crash near Balaclava in 1938 which left 32 dead and injuring over 70.
Four years later, a freight train collided with a trolley crowded with passengers near May Pen, killing 12 (including the first headmaster of Clarendon College, and injuring 32.
And there was the Kendal crash on September 1, 1957 when a train carrying excursionists derailed, killing some 175 persons and injuring over 400.
My father almost lost his life when a train hit his car with two friends, Dickie Vassell and U.T. Wolfe, while driving to a meeting of masons in Kingston.
ROMANCE OF JOURNEYS
Despite the tragedies, however, there was a romance of journeys by the train.
The service taught many a passenger about the importance of punctuality, as when it was known that the train would arrive at a station at 8.40 a.m. and leave at 8.44 a.m., anyone arriving at 8.44.06 a.m. was left stranded on the platform.
So, I would love my grandchildren and their friends to enjoy this romance. And to learn, too, the penalty for being late.
