Re: Cuban Steam Harvest last season?

Manalich is the last "real" steam show in Cuba. Watching a narrow gauge 2-8-0 charge in across the standard gauge diamond with 22 loaded cane cars under a volcano of black smoke is quite a thrill. One morning, they even had to double head the last short stretch into the mill yard after the train stalled just before the diamond.
It helps to visit Manalich on more than one day. Over a two day span we saw four of the five narrow gauge 2-8-0's under steam, nos. 1306, 1307, 1308 and 1365, plus their really nice 2-6-0 no. 1338 which was switching the yard on the second day. The fifth 2-8-0, no. 1351 was in the engine house and had been used earlier in the month. No. 1308, built in 1900, is probably the oldest regularly operating engine in Cuba this year.
Of interest, on both days a 2-8-0 took a weed burner car out on the line and worked out to the far end of the system, about 15 km. from the mill in preparation for harvesting the most distant fields. This run is long enough that the engines have to take water at the tank at Santa Barbara.
An intriguing sight in the engine house was a Baldwin 0-6-0 with a four wheel tender which was visible in the very back. Since security was tight and there were two barbed wire fences in front of me, I couldn't get a look at the builder's plate. Could this be the 1898 Baldwin 2-6-0 which was reported to be dumped behind the shed back in 1997? If so, someone has started some restoration work, as it had a new jacket and new boiler bands, but no cab.
In addition, the boiler, running gear, side tanks and cab from an 1873 Manning Wardle 0-6-0st are in various parts of the yard. The machine shop chief, who restored the "Volcano", the 1902 Cagney, says he hopes to be able to restore this engine as well someday!
The mill also has a standard gauge Baldwin 2-6-0 no. 1402 which switched sugar hoppers out to the FCC, plus a Vulcan 2-8-0 no. 1704 under repair in the shed. Their 1892 standard gauge Rogers 2-6-0 no. 1403 has been put on display near the entrance to town. While we were there, a train came in on the FCC with two steamers in tow and the 1402 dragged another Vulcan 2-8-0 no. 1806 out of the shed and added it to the train. The crew said they were being taken to Havana "to a museum."