I spent some time today exploring the grade of the Hawaiian Railroad, a 20-mile long, 3-foot gauge common carrier that in one form or another brought sugar from the mills along the Kohala coast to the port in Mahukona for nearly 60 years, from the early 1880s into the 1940s. Information on the line is limited, but it is written up in several books including a dedicated book from 1971 called Narrow Gauge in a Kingdom by J. C. Conde. There's also some info on line, such as [
www.coffeetimes.com]. Today's trip covered the 1-mile stretch from the old harbor of Mahukona to the Kapa'a Park Road, which is the most accessible and probably best preserved stretch. This area once had a lot of trestles, which seem to have been converted to fills with lava rock retaining walls. Continuing north goes into posted and fenced property, then through some developments that have mostly destroyed the grade, and finally into the sugar cane region which has a lot of private property and is largely jungle and rain forest. I've poked around Mahukona a few times before, but I don't know why I haven't taken the time to hike this grade until now. It's only a 25 mile drive to Mahukona for me, and without photo stops the round trip hike would be just over an hour.
See replies for more photos.
The surviving depot at Mahukona dates to 1930.