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Wednesday 12 March 1997

Colin went in to see the manager of the railway while Mary waited in the park outside ---

Thursday 13 March 1997

We went with Frances on the track inspection car to Sambo Creek this morning. We were accompanied by a two-man crew and the railway manager, Rafael Maradiaga. It was slow going over a section in town along the road as the flangeways had become blocked with gravel. There is a road-rail bridge over the Rio Congrejo (Crab River) and then we entered a lovely green section as we passed through groves of citrus and banana. To the north we could glimpse the beach and to the south were the mountains. As we were leaving town we had to stop for a horse which was grazing on one side but was tethered by a rope on the other side of the tracks.

At one point we came across a couple of fellows who were loading palm leaves for roofing onto a railway push car. They had to unload the car and throw it off to let us pass. The break was worthwhile as it was by a bridge with a lovely view of a river with the beach beyond. The 60 lb rail is in pretty good condition.

We passed through the villages of Peru and Corozal as well as Cuyamel which has a small admission fee but beautiful grounds. Sambo Creek is a large garifuna village from where it is possible to get a boat across to the Hog Islands. Once again the beach was virtually deserted even though there were a number of fishing boats and dug out crews around.

Colin bought Coca-Cola all round at the village store and we ran backwards to La Ceiba. We caught up with the two with the push car of palm leaves. They were pleased to see us because we were able to give them a push as well as help them unload. Arriving back at La Ceiba, the accountant took our money - $US20 for the morning!

      C

Friday 14 March 1997

We took a taxi into town this morning and were amused to see that the driver sounded the horn by holding two wires together. We sampled Patty's juice and Mary sat in the park while Colin talked (bribed) his way into the railway yard this morning. It is well secured behind a strong fence with a padlocked gate. Yesterday's crewman took him around while the engineer was working on one of the locomotives. There are now four people working on the railway together with one accountant and the general manager. There are two motorized rail mounted cranes, #4 and #5 as well as an oil fired Piledriver #5.

The locomotives in the shop and the area were:

The Plymouth and the Davenport were derelict but they claimed that most of the rest could be made to operate. In fact only #3 and #29 are used while #26 and #27 could be used with very little work. In addition to the above #33 is at Puerto Cortez while #1went to Panama.