STEAM FROM STATFOLD BARN FOR THE SUNNY CARIBBEAN!
When the debt-ridden Barbados Government Railway closed in 1937, few would have imagined steam locomotives ever running on the island again. However, more than 80 years on, the vision and determination of one man, along with expertise drawn from throughout the UK heritage railway sector, has ensured steam-hauled trains are in action there once more.
The scheme is the brainchild of Barbados architect and entrepreneur Larry Warren, owner of the historically-important St Nicholas Abbey estate, which includes a Jacobean-style former plantation Great House, and complements the restored steam-powered sugar mill and world-class rum distillery operating on the site.
Barbados, the most easterly of the islands in the southern Caribbean, is part of the English-speaking West Indies. On November 30, 1966, Barbados became independent from Britain, and on November 30, 2021, became the world’s newest republic after officially removing The Queen as its head of state in favour of a president, Dame Sandra Mason.
Origins
Barbados is about1 ⁄10th larger in area than the Isle of Wight, with a population of approaching 300,000. The 400-acre St Nicholas Abbey estate sits in the north-east of the island, high on a ridge enjoying views over the Atlantic to the east and the Caribbean to the west, amid a lush landscape of fields, sugar plantations and woods of mahogany and palm trees.
Sugar drove the development of the original Barbados Railway during the late 19th century. Construction of the 23-mile-long line – which was originally 3ft 6in gauge and in 1896 converted to 2ft 6in – commenced in 1877 and the first trains ran in 1881. It linked the deep-water port of Bridgetown on the west coast with sugar factories and cane fields in the south and east of the island, before heading north through Bathsheba and terminating at Belleplaine in the north-east.
The railway was, however, always a shaky proposition. Under-investment and the cheap option of an alignment that in places had to fight for space with the relentless pounding of the mighty Atlantic meant the line’s fate was sealed from the start. The ongoing battle against the saline miasma and frequently having to replace washed-away track was a constant drain on the shallow pockets of the successive companies.
By 1937 the cheapest solution was to close the line forthwith. Today, much of the old alignment remains visible
