SUN, SEA and SAILS

“I’m gonna repeat that,” Patricia shouts down the mic. “Rum punches and pina coladas are free.” A cheer goes up. After all, potent libations are just what you need at 9.30 in the morning when you’re about to rock and roll along a narrow-gauge track on the only train in the West Indies.

I’m in St Kitts on a railway carriage that was brought here from Seattle in 1926 to carry sugar cane from the fields to the factory for processing. It’s set to take two hours to cover just 18 miles of track.

“We go at camera speed,” Patricia laughs as the train jolts back and forth, and finally rumbles off, swaying alarmingly from side to side as it balances on a track that’s just 30 inches wide.

Sugar was the main industry on St Kitts from the 1600s until