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Simón Bolivar Mill |
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Simón Bolivar Mill is the twin of Obdulio Morales Mill, with which it shares a common history and gauge of 2ft 3½in. Originally named Central Vitoria, they are just a couple of kilometres apart and in recent times they have often alternated opening years with the cane from the one's collection area being delivered by rail to the other. By 1999, all steam activity within the two mills had been concentrated at Simón Bolivar Mill. Long ago Simón Bolivar Mill had its own railway, the FC Yaguajay which, after crossing the FC Caibarién - Morón and the main road at Centeno, headed south up into the hills to Iguara also linking up with the main line. Only its branch to Jobo Rosado still survived until recently, long the major attraction of this mill, known as 'Bolivar Bank'. This is the steep climb from Centeno, such that both empties (up) and fulls (down) had to be split and worked in two sections. The thrash on the journey up was tremendous with the train being heard up to ten minutes before it arrived. However, it was scarcely used in 1998 and was not used at all in 1999. Apart from the pictures in this section, it is worth mentioning that a number of postcards of old locomotives in this area have been used in the history section of the main Zafra sequence... |
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