|
eThe International Steam Pages |
|||||||||||||
|
Cuba Railway Potpourri |
|
|
Click here to return to the Cuba Sugar Mill Index Page The main steam part of Chris West's report has been subsumed into the main mill summary but his other observations and comments are left here for those with a wider interest. This page also includes some of Chris Walker's explorations in the far east of the island. Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FCC) Itinerario 12, which commenced on 24 September 1995 is still in force. Division Occidente A visit was made on 30/3/97 to the Taller de Locomotores Jose Ramirez Casamayor, Habana. Plinthed at the main entrance to the works is a 15" gauge 4-4-0 Cagney, numbered 26. This loco used to work a circuit of track around the social club. Full access to the works was denied but it is believed that most of the locos present were identified. These included seven MLW CoCos, a TEM2TK, an M62K and a red painted BetL BoBo numbered 061. Division Camilo Cienfuegos The passenger service between Casa Blanca and Matanzas consists of four return workings. It seems to be worked by a mixture of equipment. On 31/3 20803 was noted at Casa Blanca at the head of two Pionero coaches. An evening service on 6/4, seen at Matanzas, was worked by railcars 3025+3026. The pantograph from 3026 had been removed and it was taking power from 3025. A morning arrival at Matanzas on 9/4 was formed of 21004 hauling Brill railcars 3010+3007, both of which were operating as trailers. An interesting freight working was noted on 6/4. TEM4 51035 was first noted at the head of a train of loaded bogie open wagons in the yard adjacent to Camilo Cienfuegos mill. It then proceeded along the Ramal Bainoa, through Bainoa itself which is the end of the electrification, to Roble. At Roble the train was left at the junction. Unfortunately the train was slightly too long for the road and the bufferstop, which was steam loco 1512, was pushed across the road crossing. This formed an unusual hazard for the bus service on this road. 51035 then proceeded with its caboose to Cntrl. R.M. Villena, where a brief stop was made, before proceeding to Aguacate. At Aguacate a train of concrete sleepers was picked up which was then worked back through Cntrl. R.M. Villena. The train of loaded open wagons was subsequently noted at Cntrl. Boris Luis Santa Coloma. The gypsum quarries at San Antonio provide traffic for division, the gypsum being shipped from the Muelle Dubrocq. On 5/4 a TEM4 was noted at Matanzas Hershey station heading a train of empty wagons for San Antonio. Another source of traffic is the Havana Club distillery at Santa Cruz del Norte where a pair of GE electrics were noted on 6/4. It was not possible to enter Camilo Cienfuegos depot. This continues to hold a number of withdrawn locos, although some cutting does appear to have taken place. 52504, a Clayton CoCo remains stored out of use. MINAZ The 1996 harvest totalled 4.45 million tonnes and the predictions for 1997 were that there would be a "modest" increase. There was little evidence of the increased harvest being as a result of greater quantities of cane being crushed. If anything the sugar mills appeared a little quieter than last year, although this might have been as a result of mechanical breakdowns. Just how MINAZ would manage with another near 10 million tonne harvest, which was achieved in 1970, remains to be seen. The MINAZ planners appear to be getting more skilled at moving locos around as work patterns change. Many of the larger diesel locos are provincially allocated and there is considerable evidence of them moving between different mills as the season progresses. This has enabled many of the longer and more dramatic runs being dieselised for at least part of the Zafra. There have also been a number of instances of steam locos being transferred between different mills. It is now six years since MINAZ took delivery of any new diesel locomotives and the older Soviet diesels were built more than twenty years ago. However, despite the shed foreman at E.G. Lavandero complaining about the difficulties of maintaining diesels, there is little evidence of them falling apart Taller Matanzas Visited 5/4/97. Located near to the Muelle Dubrocq. The workshop shunter, 2310 a GE 44 tonner was under repair. A 37 was seen delivering wagons for repair and shunting the nearby sugar terminal. MINAZ, Escuella Capitación, near Agramonte Visited 9/4/97. 1120 is retained as an instructional tool. The school was deserted, presumably because all tuition takes place outside the Zafra. If such schools are organised on a provincial basis, which seems likely, there could be another twelve schools, and locos, to be found. Non-sugar Industrial Railways Cia Siderurgica Acinox, El Cotorro works, Habana formerly known as Empresa Siderurgica Jose Marti
(ESJM) The works was established 1959. Visited on 30/3/97, access to the loco depot was denied
but five locos were identified. Four were MINAZ class 38s, two of which were in MINAZ
livery but lettered Antillana de Acero and with a cabside logo including the letters
ESJM.
The other two were lettered Acinox Antillana, one was painted dark blue and the other
light blue and grey. Also present was a smaller diesel possibly a TGM25 or a 6wDH. On a
second visit on 10/4 two of the 38s were seen again with a MINAZ liveried Tu7E. Fabrica Vidrio Orlando Cuellar, San Jose de los Lajas An unidentified diesel loco, similar to a TGM25, could be seen, from the road, at this works on 1/4/97. Fabrica Martires de Artemisa This cement works was visited on 3/4/97. 50815, a BetL BoBo DE, painted dark red and orange, was seen in use. Fabrica Equipos Ferrov. Jose Valdez Reyes, Cardenas Visited 9/4/96. The two derelicts could still be seen from the road, these appear to be in faded MINAZ livery. The MINAZ Tu7.E seen out of use at the wagon works last year has been transferred to the MINAZ workshop at Cntrl. Sergio Gonzalez. Puerto de Cardenas Visited on 9/4/97. The BLH 4wDH was in the yard, apparently serviceable, with the two Cardenas Ironworks locos, both of which were dismantled. The VIW and Brookville seen last year had gone, presumed scrapped. Conclusions To understand the decisions made about the use of locomotives in Cuba we need to look at them in the context of the way the country works. Definitive information may be impossible to obtain, but the logical interpretation of observations should come up with something pretty near the truth. The key facts are that Cuba is a centrally planned economy, with one dominant industry
(sugar) and that industry is seasonal. Concepts that we are familiar with, such as the
buying, selling and renting of equipment may be irrelevant. A significant part of the plan will involve the diversion of resources (fuel, equipment, labour) to the sugar industry during the Zafra and their return to other industries out of season. There are virtually no reports of visits to Cuba other than during the first four months of the year so it is difficult to fully appreciate what occurs out of season. However, every visitor will have noticed how during the Zafra all industries other than sugar seem to be proceeding on a care and maintenance basis and that all major construction projects appear to have been abandoned. It is likely that a visitor to Cuba in, say, August would find the cement, paper and steel industries booming with capital projects a hive of activity. The sugar industry would, of course, be slumbering at this time of year. It is interesting to note that this year Cuban television reports stated that, with the exception of a small number of mills where special circumstances prevailed, all sugar mills would close for the season at the end of April. This decision would appear to have had very little to do with the completion of the sugar harvest as it was unlikely that all cane would be cut by that date. However, it may well have been so that resources could be released to other industries so that their plans could be fulfilled. As part of the planning process each enterprise will have to set out its locomotive requirements, together with details of its existing loco roster. Any enterprise which has more locos than it needs will have to surrender them to another enterprise which cannot meet its traction requirements. There will not be a sale as no money need change hands, the loco will just be part of one enterprise’s planned outputs and another’s planned inputs. In the ultimate Marxist state, which has never been achieved outside the pages of a text book, money could be totally eliminated. In Cuba there appear to be several tiers of planning. In the sugar industry the lowest level is the sugar mill, which is attached to a province, all of which fall under MINAZ. For FCC, the intermediate level between individual loco sheds and the ministry, MITRANS, is the operating division. In planning the utilisation of traction a spare loco at a sugar mill would first be made available to other mills within the same province, then to different provinces and ultimately to different ministries until it matched a requirement. Hence, Central Fructuoso Rodriguez’s 1526 has worked at several other sugar mills in Matanzas province, a MINAZ 38 has been seen, out of season, at the head of an FCC passenger train and MINIB’s TEM2TKs from Emp. Cmdte. Rene Ramos Latour work sugar cane trains at Central Nicaragua during the Zafra. The fact that virtually all locomotives carry numbers from a ministerial number series
and are not renumbered by the enterprise where they are working fits this hypothesis very
well. Historically three locos at a sugar mill would have been numbered 1, 2 and 3. Maybe,
after a few years of transfers between different mills owned by the same company and old
locos being replaced by new they would end up with 2, 3 and 37, but the logic of the
numbering scheme would be there if you took time to work it out. Today a sugar mill could
have locos numbered 1534, 1720, 1721, 1807 and 37172. Similarly FCC locos working in industry such as 34030, 50401 and 50815 are not
necessarily sold out of service, despite being painted in a livery that appears to be
associated with the enterprise where they are now working. If FCC had a requirement for
small, non-standard, diesel locos then these would no doubt be drafted back from the
present users. It is hoped that the above interpretation of Cuban loco operations will promote thought in other enthusiast visitors to the country. My hypothesis will be confirmed or challenged through further observations. The greatest areas for more research are the use of MINAZ locos outside the Zafra and the allocation of locos to enterprises which fall under neither MITRANS or MINAZ. Other visits in Eastern Cuba FCC Guantanamo Station 19.2.97 This is a terminus, with a flat (grade) crossing at the far end. There is quite an extensive timetable of trains, including several to a station shown as Km 18.5; possibly this is the station for the US naval base. A passenger train seen at the terminus was a fairly modern Sumitomo railcar, No. 4060. Also here was a 81xxx diesel loco. Closed banana railway, near Baracoa 19.2.97 and 20.2.97 Investigations locally suggested that this 3ft 0in gauge railway, with at least 20km of
track, opened in the late 19th century and ran for about 40 years, closing in
the late 1930s, although some parts may have lasted quite a bit longer. It was owned by
the Di Georgio Fruit and Steamship Co., subsequently taken over by United Fruit. There are
still rotting remains at two locations hidden deep in plantations. Some 15km from Baracoa
is a place called Bahia De Mata to where it is believed the railway ran to transfer
bananas to barges and then to ships. A few km from here the old trackbed is still in use
by villagers and is quite clearly defined. In an abandoned plantation we found 3 bogie
flat wagons and close by was the remains of a 2-6-0, believed to be a Porter of 1929. The
smokebox has rotted away, there is no cab or chimney, but the wheels and most of the
motion are still intact. Felton 21.2.97 The two derelict locos previously reported are still here; one is certainly a 2-6-0, while the other is probably also a 2-6-0. The adjacent derelict plant is an electricity generating station, not as previously reported, and the locos were probably used for shunting coal wagons here. Locals claimed they are both ex-sugar mill locos from the Oriente province. About a km away, back towards the main road, on the left hand side, is a loco boiler dumped, probably a Baldwin. A short distance away was a distinctive looking small centre-cab Bo-Bo diesel, painted red and cream, appearing useable, inside a fenced electricity power plant. Click here to return to the Cuba Sugar Mill Index Page |
|
Rob Dickinson
Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk