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Hermanos Ameijeiras Mill |
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Long ago, the ancient port of Caibarién was the terminus of two narrow gauge common carrier railways. The first of them, the FC Caibarién - Morón of 2ft 3½in gauge, ran east to Chambas where it connected with the main line to Morón and was bound up with three mills of the same gauge including Centrals Narcisa and Vitoria, mills which were to become Obdulio Morales and Simón Bolivar after the Revolution. The other system was another common carrier, the FC Caibarién - Placetas founded in 1876, later part of the Cuba Central Railroad, which was of 3ft 0in gauge and ran south to Placetas linking up with four sugar mills whose railways were of the same gauge. The steam locomotives at Heriberto Duquesne Mill just lasted long enough to be seen working by enthusiasts, but those at Chiquitico Fabregat and Benito Juárez Mills did not and indeed the latter had lost its railway by the mid 1980s. The fourth mill was Hermanos Ameijeiras and steam has survived here, although apart from special trains for enthusiasts it has been restricted to the mill patio since 1990 when Brush diesels arrived. We are lucky that a number of visitors came here during that window of opportunity in the 1980s and recorded steam at work on the line. Traces of the Caibarién - Placetas line remain for the inquisitive where the intermediate station of Zulueta is virtually untouched as a bus depot. Part of the trackbed near Hermanos Ameijeiras mill has been used to put in a standard gauge connection to the Camajuaní to Chambas main line which has resulted in some mixed gauge trackwork within the mill area. |
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