| This tour is suitable for anyone who enjoys wonderful scenery, fascinating history and train rides. You should be able to walk a reasonable distance, primarily on flat ground. |
| Decided? Great! Booking is easy Just fill in a booking form. We will get back to you to confirm availability and price If you have any questions about booking with us, look at our Booking Q & A. If you cannot find the answer, we would like to hear from you. Click here or phone: 44 (0)1562632000 |
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| Page updated on: 12 November 2009 |
| This will be the third year that this unique tour will run, by far and away the best way to see the fascinating island of Cuba as we travel in our own private railcar covering a large part of the very interesting Cuban railway system. On our journey, we will see much of the culture which still dominates this unspoiled and forgotten world including, of course, the old steam locomotives which worked the sugar mills. Live steam is declining and each visit sees fewer in service, so visit now before it is too late. The Tour Leaders will be John and Angelina Pons who live in Spain and are both bi-lingual English-Spanish; John is a veritable expert on Cuba, having visited the island nearly every year since 1989 |
Undiscovered Cuba
The Trains and Treasures of Cuba
The Trains and Treasures of Cuba
28 February to 15 March 2010
Sunday 28 February (L)
We fly from London Gatwick on the Virgin Atlantic flight at 09.45 to Havana. Indirect flights are also available from other UK airports via
Paris or Madrid. A luxury air-conditioned coach will meet us at the airport and transfer us to our favourite hotel in central Havana,
opposite the Capitolio, for a three night stay. This coach will accompany us throughout our stay on the island, so we will not have to
hump our luggage around all day, nor on or off any of the trains.
Monday 1 March (B, L)
Our holiday begins at 09.00am this morning when our coach returns to take us on a Guided Tour of Old Havana, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, which is slowly and painstakingly being restored. The tour will end at the Cristina Railway Museum where
representative examples of steam, diesel and electric locomotives are being collected from all over the island, sourced from both the
FCC, the national (state-run) railway system, and MINAZ (the Ministry of Sugar). After a very Cuban meal at a nearby palm-thatched-
roof restaurant, the coach will return to the hotel those who would like some free time to further explore the city and then take the more
dedicated railway enthusiasts to visit first the FCC's Ciénaga Workshops and then three further sites where several former MINAZ
steam engines are being restored, some for static display, others to working order for future tourist train projects; with luck, one of
these will be ready and be steamed specially for us. In the evening, there is the chance of an optional visit to the world-famous
Tropicana Night Club and Cabaret Show. This is an extra (price TBC), not included in the basic tour price, and those interested in
going should say so at the time of booking the tour.
Tuesday 2 March (B, D)
Just outside Havana, a large area of parkland has been conserved, Parque Lenin. One of the delights of the park is a decent-sized
circuit of 3ft 0in narrow gauge railway worked with steam engines brought in from some of the closed sugar mills, and this morning
we will arrange our own photographic charter (services to the public are only offered at the weekend). Our train will do a circuit of the
park, starting and finishing its journey at the engine shed. At the end of the morning, our coach will transfer us to the Central Station in
Havana for another steam-hauled train ride, this time over the FCC to Bejucal, the first railway line to be opened in Cuba (in 1837). If
there is time, the train will continue through Güines to the Hector Molina sugar mill for a photo opportunity with our MINAZ steam
engine shunting cane cars at the factory. Eventually our coach will return us to our hotel in Havana.
Wednesday 3 March (B, D)
Today we leave Havana and begin our exploration of the rest of the island. Some of the railways we are hoping to travel on and steam
engines we want to ride behind are in out-of-the-way places and we will be visiting parts of the island tourists do not normally see.
Our first stop will be at Hershey Station, the midpoint on the Hershey Railway which runs from Havana (Casablanca) to Matanzas, the
only electrified line left on the island. The FC Hershey is a classic 1920s USA-style interurban, with wooden poles holding up a flimsy
tramway-type catenary. Most trains are now worked by some 3-car EMUs built in Barcelona (Spain) in the 1940s and acquired second-
hand only recently; but one or two of the original Brill railcars built in the USA in the 1920s are still in use and, after visiting the
workshops, we will have a ride in one of the Brills, hopefully down the scenic branch from Jibacoa to Santa Cruz del Norte. Our coach
will collect us from S.Cruz and transfer us to the José Smith Comas sugar mill, now closed but gutted and converted into a
Locomotive Museum with a collection of MINAZ steam engines from the surrounding mills. At least one is kept in working order and
we will charter an authentic (but empty) cane train to Cardenas where we can have several run-pasts on the freight-only Docks
Branch. There will be opportunities for cab rides, and riding on top of the tender (the Tour Leaders' favourite place!), and those who
can convince the Cuban crew that they know what they are doing will be allowed to drive. At the end of the day, our coach will transfer
us to an all-inclusive hotel in the nearby resort of Varadero.
Thursday 4 March (B, D)
This morning our coach takes us to Union de Reyes Station, where the loco and crew from José Smith Comas will be waiting to take
us on a fascinating tour of little-used and/or freight-only branch lines. From Union, we will head north on the Sabanilla Branch, to
Matanzas; here we will have a brief stop to see what is going on in the FCC engine shed and goods yard before continuing down the
Docks Branch; on our return from the port, we will branch off along the seldom-used connection to the FC Hershey's separate station
in Matanzas. Here our coach will be waiting to transfer us to the closed Australia Mill, now a Railway Museum and tourist train
operation. In 2008, the working engine was a Henschel (from Germany), one of the few steam locos ever delivered to Cuba not built in
the USA. We will be given a two kilometre ride out into the cane fields, and some “guarapo” to try (freshly-crushed cane juice). At the
end of the afternoon, we will travel in our coach to Cienfuegos, an elegantly-laid-out city on the south coast, and check in to the Hotel
Jaguar, spectacularly located at the end of a short causeway jutting out into the Bay, where we will stay for three nights.
Friday 5 March (B, D)
There is another World Heritage Site in Cuba, the town of Trinidad, just over an hour's drive from Cienfuegos. All cobbled streets and
“Spanish Colonial” style architecture, an example of how to live comfortably in a hot climate before Electricity was invented.We will
have a Guided Tour walking round the centre. Trinidad also has a railway station, though the line inland to Fomento was cut several
years ago when a hurricane blew over a high trestle bridge; however, the FCC have established a steam-hauled tourist train
operation on the remaining section, to Iznaga, to where we will take a ride; the working engine in 2008 was MINAZ 1552, a handsome
4-6-0 (a relatively unusual wheel arrangement in the MINAZ fleet). On the way back to our hotel in Cienfuegos, we will stop briefly at
Pepito Tey, where there used to be a sugar mill—now demolished—and several 2ft 6in narrow gauge steam engines are still to be
found in the remains of the engine shed.
Saturday 6 March (B,D)
Today the tour participants have a choice. Option One, for the less dedicated, consists of a Boat Trip around Cienfuegos Bay, one of
the world's great natural harbours, with a visit to the castle situated at the narrow entrance to keep the English pirates out. This
excursion will be led by Angelina, and will last approximately four hours; after a break for Lunch back at the hotel, she will take those
who want to the town centre, where the Cathedral and all the main public buildings have been lovingly restored and are very
photographable in the afternoon sun. The return to the hotel will be in horse-drawn carriages, the normal taxi service in this town.
Option Two, for the railway enthusiasts, will involve our first encounter with the historic Budd diesel railcar which is to be our chosen
method of transport for the rest of the trip. In the morning, we will traverse two freight-only branch lines high on Track Bashers' lists—
the Cienfuegos Port branch, and the branch to the Cement Works near Pepito Tey. The Budd will then take us to Aguada for a visit to
the 14th July Mill, one of the few mills with a narrow gauge field system which is still working, and we will ride on one of the cane
trains out to an “acopio”, the Loading Point where the cut cane receives a primary processing and is put in wagons for transport to the
mill.
Sunday 7 March (B,D)
Participants will again have a choice today. Option One, which should appeal to most of the party, is a delightful cross-country ride in
our Budd railcar, from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara via the little-used Cruces to Santo Domingo line. The Budd started life in main-line
service in Canada: it not only has air conditioning and tinted windows, and two lavatories with running water, but also a Bar with
fridges and a coffee-making machine. Angelina will take charge of the on-board catering and the Bar will be open throughout the
journey, not only today but every day. And cab rides will always be available. There is no better way to see and appreciate the Cuban
countryside! John, meanwhile, will offer an Option Two to the steam locomotive enthusiasts, consisting of travelling to S.Clara not by
train but in our coach and stopping at three closed mills en route where out-of-use steam engines are stored. Two of the mills had 2ft
6in narrow gauge field systems. In the afternoon, both groups will join up for a Guided Tour of the city of S.Clara, famous for its
connections with the Revolutionary leader Ché Guevara. We will be staying in S.Clara for three nights.
Monday 8 March (B, D)
The day begins with a journey in our coach to the closed Marcelo Salado Mill, now a railway museum with a thriving tourist train
operation. The stationary engine which used to drive the crushers has also been preserved. After examining the interesting collection
of locos, we will hire one of the operable steam engines and a charter freight train (molasses tankers requested) for a ride over FCC
lines via Sagua la Grande to the coast at Isabelina de Sagua. We will have several run-pasts for the photographers. Once again, there
will be the opportunity to ride in the cab or on top of the tender. At Isabelina, our Budd railcar will be waiting to return us to S.Clara.
Tuesday 9 March (B,D)
First our Budd railcar will take us to the José Maria Pérez Mill, near Camajuaní, which is still working and which keeps a sturdy 2-8-0
in reserve in case the diesels break down. We have asked them to form up an authentic steam-hauled cane train and take us to
another of the neighbouring mills, Heriberto Duquesne. We will travel in the caboose. H.Duquesne, which is also still working, has a
3ft 0in narrow gauge field system worked by Bo-Bo diesels built in the Brush factory in Loughborough (England) in the 1960s and
successfully exported to Cuba despite the severest disapproval from the USA for “sanctions-busting” (a subsequent shipment of
double-decker buses sank mysteriously in the mouth of the Thames). In 2008, we found three of the Brush diesels still at work and a
fourth one under repair, and were treated to a ride out to an “acopio” in the Breakdown Train, returning with a string of loaded cane
cars. At the end of the day, there will be the option of returning to S.Clara, either in the Budd railcar, or in our coach (the bus will get you
to the hotel sooner!).
Wednesday 10 March (B, D)
Our route today, in the Budd railcar, is S.Clara—Ciego de Avila—Morón—Brasil Mill—Nuevitas. At Ciego, we will stop to examine a
couple of MINAZ steam engines recently put on display in a public park; at Morón, to visit the FCC workshops where the diesel locos
of American and Canadian origin are overhauled; and at Brasil to see the Fireless locomotives shunting the loaded cane cars into the
factory, doing the same job they have always done since being supplied new to the factory in the 1920s: we will obtain some very
authentic photographs of a scene which has not changed for more than 80 years. At the end of the day, our coach will transfer us to an
all-inclusive resort hotel on the north coast.
Thursday 11 March (B,D)
In a Communist country, everything belongs to the state but our objective today is to ride a railway run by local rather than central
government, a situation uncommon if not unique in Cuba. This is the Manatí Railway. Our day will begin with a visit to the engine shed
at Manatí; then we will have a ride to Las Tunas (junction with the main line of the FCC), either in a clapped-out Brill diesel railcar, or in
“passenger carriages” (converted boxcars!) hauled by a rare MINAZ Class 2700 diesel locomotive. Our hotel for the next two nights is
in Bayamo. At Las Tunas, participants will have a choice of travelling to Bayamo either in the coach, for an early arrival, or in the Budd
railcar on a much longer route via Combinado (round two sides of a triangle).
Friday 12 March (B, D)
Our coach will take us across country to the closed Ranulfo Leyva Mill which is slowly being converted into an as-yet-unopened Steam
Locomotive Museum. The cane from the fields around R.Leyva is now taken to the neighbouring Bartolome Maso Mill for processing.
Two of the steam engines are in working order and by special request one of them will head the morning's loaded cane train to
Bartolome Maso (this is normally diesel-hauled) with us in the caboose. There will be several run-pasts on the way, and further photo
opportunities at the Acopio Paralelo when we stop to pick up more Fulls. At B.Maso, after a snack lunch in a Bar, we will have a
Guided Tour of the Mill: we will see the cane being tipped out of “our”cane cars and going through the crushers (five in a line), with the
cane juice pouring out; and then the remains of the cane, now squeezed dry and called bagasse, being fed into the boilers which
drive the machinery... Our visit will conclude with a visit to the mill's engine shed (MINAZ diesels built in the Soviet Union) and then our
Budd railcar will take us back to Bayamo starting, of course, with a trip along the mill's lengthy freight-only connection to the FCC. At
Yara, we will have a brief visit to the FCC engine shed (more Soviet diesels, and maybe a Chinese one) before returning to our hotel.
Saturday 13 March (B,D)
We have kept one of the best til the last! Today we hope to have two rides along different branch lines of Rafael Freyre's extensive 2ft
6in narrow gauge field system. Although the factory has closed, the lines are kept open because there is no proper road up the
valleys, and two centenarian steam engines are kept in working order as well as a wierd and wonderful selection of railcars. At
lunchtime, we will adjourn to a cafeteria at a bay nearby where Christopher Colombus is said to have first landed on Cuba. In the
afternoon, we will return to R.Freyre and attempt to get the “Bariay Curve” shot in the bag, considered by many enthusiasts to be the
finest location in Cuba. At sunset, our coach will take us to one of the hotels in the nearby resort town of Guardalavaca.
Sunday 14 March (B,D) All good things must come to an end and today it is time to go home. In the morning, our coach will transfer us
to Holguin Airport for the short internal flight to Havana, whence we will take the overnight flight back to London.
Bolt-on Extras
Bolt On Extra nº 1: Spend some days in Santiago de Cuba (as many as you like). Travellers on previous tours recommend a
minimum of three nights. After dropping homegoers at Holguin Airport, on Day Fifteen, the coach will continue to Santiago de Cuba
with those who want to stay on. Our Cuban guide will help you to check in at the hotel. When you decide to go home, take a taxi to
Santiago Airport for an a.m. flight to Havana; change planes in Havana for your overnight flight to London. We will be pleased to
arrange the extra hotel in Santiago, at the same preferential discounted rate we get elsewhere on the island, and also to book your
internal flight from Santiago to Havana.
Bolt On Extra nº 2: Return to Havana with the group, but not fly back to London immediately. Non-rail enthusiasts could hire a car and
do the west of the island (Pinar del Rio Province is very pretty); rail enthusiasts would stay a bit longer in Havana and ride the Hershey
Electric Railway end to end. Or you could visit Ernest Hemingway's old haunts (the bars he drank at; the hotel he lived in for a while—
you can visit his room; the house he bought outside of Havana—preserved as if he had just walked out the door; then hire a boat and
go fishing with an Old Man of the Sea). We will arrange the extra hotels and car hire, and one of John Bennett's friends will take you
fishing...
We fly from London Gatwick on the Virgin Atlantic flight at 09.45 to Havana. Indirect flights are also available from other UK airports via
Paris or Madrid. A luxury air-conditioned coach will meet us at the airport and transfer us to our favourite hotel in central Havana,
opposite the Capitolio, for a three night stay. This coach will accompany us throughout our stay on the island, so we will not have to
hump our luggage around all day, nor on or off any of the trains.
Monday 1 March (B, L)
Our holiday begins at 09.00am this morning when our coach returns to take us on a Guided Tour of Old Havana, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, which is slowly and painstakingly being restored. The tour will end at the Cristina Railway Museum where
representative examples of steam, diesel and electric locomotives are being collected from all over the island, sourced from both the
FCC, the national (state-run) railway system, and MINAZ (the Ministry of Sugar). After a very Cuban meal at a nearby palm-thatched-
roof restaurant, the coach will return to the hotel those who would like some free time to further explore the city and then take the more
dedicated railway enthusiasts to visit first the FCC's Ciénaga Workshops and then three further sites where several former MINAZ
steam engines are being restored, some for static display, others to working order for future tourist train projects; with luck, one of
these will be ready and be steamed specially for us. In the evening, there is the chance of an optional visit to the world-famous
Tropicana Night Club and Cabaret Show. This is an extra (price TBC), not included in the basic tour price, and those interested in
going should say so at the time of booking the tour.
Tuesday 2 March (B, D)
Just outside Havana, a large area of parkland has been conserved, Parque Lenin. One of the delights of the park is a decent-sized
circuit of 3ft 0in narrow gauge railway worked with steam engines brought in from some of the closed sugar mills, and this morning
we will arrange our own photographic charter (services to the public are only offered at the weekend). Our train will do a circuit of the
park, starting and finishing its journey at the engine shed. At the end of the morning, our coach will transfer us to the Central Station in
Havana for another steam-hauled train ride, this time over the FCC to Bejucal, the first railway line to be opened in Cuba (in 1837). If
there is time, the train will continue through Güines to the Hector Molina sugar mill for a photo opportunity with our MINAZ steam
engine shunting cane cars at the factory. Eventually our coach will return us to our hotel in Havana.
Wednesday 3 March (B, D)
Today we leave Havana and begin our exploration of the rest of the island. Some of the railways we are hoping to travel on and steam
engines we want to ride behind are in out-of-the-way places and we will be visiting parts of the island tourists do not normally see.
Our first stop will be at Hershey Station, the midpoint on the Hershey Railway which runs from Havana (Casablanca) to Matanzas, the
only electrified line left on the island. The FC Hershey is a classic 1920s USA-style interurban, with wooden poles holding up a flimsy
tramway-type catenary. Most trains are now worked by some 3-car EMUs built in Barcelona (Spain) in the 1940s and acquired second-
hand only recently; but one or two of the original Brill railcars built in the USA in the 1920s are still in use and, after visiting the
workshops, we will have a ride in one of the Brills, hopefully down the scenic branch from Jibacoa to Santa Cruz del Norte. Our coach
will collect us from S.Cruz and transfer us to the José Smith Comas sugar mill, now closed but gutted and converted into a
Locomotive Museum with a collection of MINAZ steam engines from the surrounding mills. At least one is kept in working order and
we will charter an authentic (but empty) cane train to Cardenas where we can have several run-pasts on the freight-only Docks
Branch. There will be opportunities for cab rides, and riding on top of the tender (the Tour Leaders' favourite place!), and those who
can convince the Cuban crew that they know what they are doing will be allowed to drive. At the end of the day, our coach will transfer
us to an all-inclusive hotel in the nearby resort of Varadero.
Thursday 4 March (B, D)
This morning our coach takes us to Union de Reyes Station, where the loco and crew from José Smith Comas will be waiting to take
us on a fascinating tour of little-used and/or freight-only branch lines. From Union, we will head north on the Sabanilla Branch, to
Matanzas; here we will have a brief stop to see what is going on in the FCC engine shed and goods yard before continuing down the
Docks Branch; on our return from the port, we will branch off along the seldom-used connection to the FC Hershey's separate station
in Matanzas. Here our coach will be waiting to transfer us to the closed Australia Mill, now a Railway Museum and tourist train
operation. In 2008, the working engine was a Henschel (from Germany), one of the few steam locos ever delivered to Cuba not built in
the USA. We will be given a two kilometre ride out into the cane fields, and some “guarapo” to try (freshly-crushed cane juice). At the
end of the afternoon, we will travel in our coach to Cienfuegos, an elegantly-laid-out city on the south coast, and check in to the Hotel
Jaguar, spectacularly located at the end of a short causeway jutting out into the Bay, where we will stay for three nights.
Friday 5 March (B, D)
There is another World Heritage Site in Cuba, the town of Trinidad, just over an hour's drive from Cienfuegos. All cobbled streets and
“Spanish Colonial” style architecture, an example of how to live comfortably in a hot climate before Electricity was invented.We will
have a Guided Tour walking round the centre. Trinidad also has a railway station, though the line inland to Fomento was cut several
years ago when a hurricane blew over a high trestle bridge; however, the FCC have established a steam-hauled tourist train
operation on the remaining section, to Iznaga, to where we will take a ride; the working engine in 2008 was MINAZ 1552, a handsome
4-6-0 (a relatively unusual wheel arrangement in the MINAZ fleet). On the way back to our hotel in Cienfuegos, we will stop briefly at
Pepito Tey, where there used to be a sugar mill—now demolished—and several 2ft 6in narrow gauge steam engines are still to be
found in the remains of the engine shed.
Saturday 6 March (B,D)
Today the tour participants have a choice. Option One, for the less dedicated, consists of a Boat Trip around Cienfuegos Bay, one of
the world's great natural harbours, with a visit to the castle situated at the narrow entrance to keep the English pirates out. This
excursion will be led by Angelina, and will last approximately four hours; after a break for Lunch back at the hotel, she will take those
who want to the town centre, where the Cathedral and all the main public buildings have been lovingly restored and are very
photographable in the afternoon sun. The return to the hotel will be in horse-drawn carriages, the normal taxi service in this town.
Option Two, for the railway enthusiasts, will involve our first encounter with the historic Budd diesel railcar which is to be our chosen
method of transport for the rest of the trip. In the morning, we will traverse two freight-only branch lines high on Track Bashers' lists—
the Cienfuegos Port branch, and the branch to the Cement Works near Pepito Tey. The Budd will then take us to Aguada for a visit to
the 14th July Mill, one of the few mills with a narrow gauge field system which is still working, and we will ride on one of the cane
trains out to an “acopio”, the Loading Point where the cut cane receives a primary processing and is put in wagons for transport to the
mill.
Sunday 7 March (B,D)
Participants will again have a choice today. Option One, which should appeal to most of the party, is a delightful cross-country ride in
our Budd railcar, from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara via the little-used Cruces to Santo Domingo line. The Budd started life in main-line
service in Canada: it not only has air conditioning and tinted windows, and two lavatories with running water, but also a Bar with
fridges and a coffee-making machine. Angelina will take charge of the on-board catering and the Bar will be open throughout the
journey, not only today but every day. And cab rides will always be available. There is no better way to see and appreciate the Cuban
countryside! John, meanwhile, will offer an Option Two to the steam locomotive enthusiasts, consisting of travelling to S.Clara not by
train but in our coach and stopping at three closed mills en route where out-of-use steam engines are stored. Two of the mills had 2ft
6in narrow gauge field systems. In the afternoon, both groups will join up for a Guided Tour of the city of S.Clara, famous for its
connections with the Revolutionary leader Ché Guevara. We will be staying in S.Clara for three nights.
Monday 8 March (B, D)
The day begins with a journey in our coach to the closed Marcelo Salado Mill, now a railway museum with a thriving tourist train
operation. The stationary engine which used to drive the crushers has also been preserved. After examining the interesting collection
of locos, we will hire one of the operable steam engines and a charter freight train (molasses tankers requested) for a ride over FCC
lines via Sagua la Grande to the coast at Isabelina de Sagua. We will have several run-pasts for the photographers. Once again, there
will be the opportunity to ride in the cab or on top of the tender. At Isabelina, our Budd railcar will be waiting to return us to S.Clara.
Tuesday 9 March (B,D)
First our Budd railcar will take us to the José Maria Pérez Mill, near Camajuaní, which is still working and which keeps a sturdy 2-8-0
in reserve in case the diesels break down. We have asked them to form up an authentic steam-hauled cane train and take us to
another of the neighbouring mills, Heriberto Duquesne. We will travel in the caboose. H.Duquesne, which is also still working, has a
3ft 0in narrow gauge field system worked by Bo-Bo diesels built in the Brush factory in Loughborough (England) in the 1960s and
successfully exported to Cuba despite the severest disapproval from the USA for “sanctions-busting” (a subsequent shipment of
double-decker buses sank mysteriously in the mouth of the Thames). In 2008, we found three of the Brush diesels still at work and a
fourth one under repair, and were treated to a ride out to an “acopio” in the Breakdown Train, returning with a string of loaded cane
cars. At the end of the day, there will be the option of returning to S.Clara, either in the Budd railcar, or in our coach (the bus will get you
to the hotel sooner!).
Wednesday 10 March (B, D)
Our route today, in the Budd railcar, is S.Clara—Ciego de Avila—Morón—Brasil Mill—Nuevitas. At Ciego, we will stop to examine a
couple of MINAZ steam engines recently put on display in a public park; at Morón, to visit the FCC workshops where the diesel locos
of American and Canadian origin are overhauled; and at Brasil to see the Fireless locomotives shunting the loaded cane cars into the
factory, doing the same job they have always done since being supplied new to the factory in the 1920s: we will obtain some very
authentic photographs of a scene which has not changed for more than 80 years. At the end of the day, our coach will transfer us to an
all-inclusive resort hotel on the north coast.
Thursday 11 March (B,D)
In a Communist country, everything belongs to the state but our objective today is to ride a railway run by local rather than central
government, a situation uncommon if not unique in Cuba. This is the Manatí Railway. Our day will begin with a visit to the engine shed
at Manatí; then we will have a ride to Las Tunas (junction with the main line of the FCC), either in a clapped-out Brill diesel railcar, or in
“passenger carriages” (converted boxcars!) hauled by a rare MINAZ Class 2700 diesel locomotive. Our hotel for the next two nights is
in Bayamo. At Las Tunas, participants will have a choice of travelling to Bayamo either in the coach, for an early arrival, or in the Budd
railcar on a much longer route via Combinado (round two sides of a triangle).
Friday 12 March (B, D)
Our coach will take us across country to the closed Ranulfo Leyva Mill which is slowly being converted into an as-yet-unopened Steam
Locomotive Museum. The cane from the fields around R.Leyva is now taken to the neighbouring Bartolome Maso Mill for processing.
Two of the steam engines are in working order and by special request one of them will head the morning's loaded cane train to
Bartolome Maso (this is normally diesel-hauled) with us in the caboose. There will be several run-pasts on the way, and further photo
opportunities at the Acopio Paralelo when we stop to pick up more Fulls. At B.Maso, after a snack lunch in a Bar, we will have a
Guided Tour of the Mill: we will see the cane being tipped out of “our”cane cars and going through the crushers (five in a line), with the
cane juice pouring out; and then the remains of the cane, now squeezed dry and called bagasse, being fed into the boilers which
drive the machinery... Our visit will conclude with a visit to the mill's engine shed (MINAZ diesels built in the Soviet Union) and then our
Budd railcar will take us back to Bayamo starting, of course, with a trip along the mill's lengthy freight-only connection to the FCC. At
Yara, we will have a brief visit to the FCC engine shed (more Soviet diesels, and maybe a Chinese one) before returning to our hotel.
Saturday 13 March (B,D)
We have kept one of the best til the last! Today we hope to have two rides along different branch lines of Rafael Freyre's extensive 2ft
6in narrow gauge field system. Although the factory has closed, the lines are kept open because there is no proper road up the
valleys, and two centenarian steam engines are kept in working order as well as a wierd and wonderful selection of railcars. At
lunchtime, we will adjourn to a cafeteria at a bay nearby where Christopher Colombus is said to have first landed on Cuba. In the
afternoon, we will return to R.Freyre and attempt to get the “Bariay Curve” shot in the bag, considered by many enthusiasts to be the
finest location in Cuba. At sunset, our coach will take us to one of the hotels in the nearby resort town of Guardalavaca.
Sunday 14 March (B,D) All good things must come to an end and today it is time to go home. In the morning, our coach will transfer us
to Holguin Airport for the short internal flight to Havana, whence we will take the overnight flight back to London.
Bolt-on Extras
Bolt On Extra nº 1: Spend some days in Santiago de Cuba (as many as you like). Travellers on previous tours recommend a
minimum of three nights. After dropping homegoers at Holguin Airport, on Day Fifteen, the coach will continue to Santiago de Cuba
with those who want to stay on. Our Cuban guide will help you to check in at the hotel. When you decide to go home, take a taxi to
Santiago Airport for an a.m. flight to Havana; change planes in Havana for your overnight flight to London. We will be pleased to
arrange the extra hotel in Santiago, at the same preferential discounted rate we get elsewhere on the island, and also to book your
internal flight from Santiago to Havana.
Bolt On Extra nº 2: Return to Havana with the group, but not fly back to London immediately. Non-rail enthusiasts could hire a car and
do the west of the island (Pinar del Rio Province is very pretty); rail enthusiasts would stay a bit longer in Havana and ride the Hershey
Electric Railway end to end. Or you could visit Ernest Hemingway's old haunts (the bars he drank at; the hotel he lived in for a while—
you can visit his room; the house he bought outside of Havana—preserved as if he had just walked out the door; then hire a boat and
go fishing with an Old Man of the Sea). We will arrange the extra hotels and car hire, and one of John Bennett's friends will take you
fishing...
Prices
Full 15-day holiday from London Gatwick in a shared room: £2,999
Full 14-day holiday from Havana to Holguin in a shared room: £2,499
Single room supplement: £250
Includes
Flights
Virgin 09.45 Gatwick to Havana a.14.40
Virgin 17.10 Havana to Gatwick a.06.45
We are pleased to offer this holiday in conjunction with PTG Tours.
Tour managers.
John and Angelina Pons from PTG
Geoff Cooke from Geoff's Trains (subject to adequate bookings)
Full 15-day holiday from London Gatwick in a shared room: £2,999
Full 14-day holiday from Havana to Holguin in a shared room: £2,499
Single room supplement: £250
Includes
- All rail travel and excursions as listed in the itinerary
- Hotel accommodation
- Meals as listed in the itinerary; B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner
- Services of our tour guides (this holiday is fully escorted)
- Tourist card (Visa)
Flights
Virgin 09.45 Gatwick to Havana a.14.40
Virgin 17.10 Havana to Gatwick a.06.45
We are pleased to offer this holiday in conjunction with PTG Tours.
Tour managers.
John and Angelina Pons from PTG
Geoff Cooke from Geoff's Trains (subject to adequate bookings)
