Bermuda Railway

Bermuda Railway
Pillar of one of the former railway bridges
Route 1931
Route length:	34.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend St. George's Wellington Mullet Bay Oil docks Ferry Point Coney Island Bailey's Bay Crawl Shelly Bay Aquarium Flatts Store Hill Devonshire Prospect Pond Hill Racecourse Tennis stadium Serpentine Road Richmond Road Queen Street Hamilton – Front Street Middle Road hospital Rural Hill Elbow Beach Ord Road Cobb's Hill Belmont Khyber Pass Riddell's Bay Lighthouse Black Bay Church Road Frank's Bay Evan's Bay George's Bay White Hill Bridge Hill Somerset Bridge Sound View Road Scott's Hill Road Broom Street Somerset

The Bermuda Railway was a 34.9-kilometer single-track standard gauge line that operated in Bermuda from October 31, 1931 to May 1, 1948. In the 17 years of its existence, its entire length has been used for passenger and freight traffic, which served most of the archipelago from St. George’s in the east to Somerset in Sandys Parish in the west.

construction

Construction began in 1926, two years after the government granted the Bermuda Railway Company a forty year concession . The construction of the almost 35 kilometers long Bermuda Railway took more than seven years. Difficulties in acquiring the required land and financial and technical problems resulted in a number of railway laws being enacted in favor of the company. By May 1930, all bridges and most of the substructure had been completed, but less than five kilometers of track had been laid, so that more than half of the required work remained. Therefore, the British construction company Balfour Beatty, experienced in railway construction, was commissioned to complete the work, which it completed in late 1931.

The cost of building and buying rail vehicles, adjusted for inflation , was around B $ 40 million .

Infrastructure

Route of the Bermuda Railway at Somerset Bridge

The single-track Bermuda Railway had fourteen passing points. To minimize the land acquisition required for right of way , more than 10% of the route was led over 33 wooden and steel bridges that span the ocean.

vehicles

The vehicles consisted of gasoline-powered railcars built by Drewry Car Co. in England between 1929 and 1931 , including eight rail buses with 120-horsepower gasoline engines, six first-class rail buses with a gross weight of 20 tons and two freight rail buses each weighing 14 tons Total weight. The company also acquired some freight cars and, during World War II, two Brill rail buses that were imported from the United States. Two classes were offered: First-class or Pullman cars with individual wicker chairs and standard cars, which were called "toast racks" because of their continuous bench seats, with the seat backs folding over the seats in both directions.

business

Regular passenger traffic began on October 31, 1931 between Hamilton and Somerset and ran from 6:00 a.m. to midnight at intervals of one to two hours, depending on the time of day. Operations began between Hamilton and St. George on December 19, 1931. The Bermuda Railway's trains were used in the 1930s by commuters and school children, as well as frequently for shopping, as private cars were not allowed in Bermuda until 1946. Special trains were run for cruise passengers .

Traffic increased temporarily during World War II due to the American and British forces and the construction of naval and air bases. In the post-war period, the Rattle and Shake , as the railway was colloquially known, fell to less than half between 1946 and 1947, because the previous customers switched to cars and buses.

The End

The infrastructure was extremely costly to maintain because the railroad ran along the coast and the proximity to the ocean made rotting and corrosion a significant problem at the facilities. The condition of the many wooden truss bridges deteriorated increasingly. Falling passenger numbers led to ever higher deficits. This caused the government to abandon the Bermuda Railway in favor of bus transport. After 17 years of operation, the last train ran on May 1, 1948. The rail vehicles were later shipped to British Guiana (now Guyana ), where they ran for a few years in the 1950s.

legacy

In 1984, 29 kilometers of the disused railway line were opened as the Bermuda Railway Trail as a hiking trail and, on some asphalt parts, as a bike path. The Bermuda Tourism Department published a pamphlet with the highlights of the trail, which Frommer's travel guide calls one of his “Favorite Bermuda Experiences” and praises the “panoramic seascapes, exotic flora and fauna and soothing sounds of the island's bird life”.

A small, private Bermuda Railway Museum operated in the former Aquarium Station , east of Flatts Village, but closed shortly before the operator's death in 2011. In 2015, Railway Magazine reported that two of the Bermuda Railway's former freight cars still existed in Georgetown , Guyana , raising hopes for their possible restoration and future display in Bermuda.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Keith Archibald Forbes: Bermuda's Railway Trail. Scenic walking and pedal cycle area follows where train operated from 1931 until 1948. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
2. ^ ^{A b} Edward Harris: Last wagon of the Bermuda Railways . In: Mid-Ocean News , January 13, 2006, p. 12. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Simon Horn: Building the Bermuda Railway . Retrieved September 4, 2014 and January 27, 2018.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Pomeroy, Colin A .: The Bermuda Railway - Gone but not forgotten! . Bermuda Press Limited, Bermuda 1993, ISBN 0-9521298-0-9 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Simon Jones: Bermuda carriages found in Guyana - report . The Royal Gazette , July 14, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015 and January 27, 2018.
6. ^ Bermuda Railway Trail . Bermuda Dept. of Tourism. Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2008 and January 27, 2018.
7. ↑ Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince: Frommer's Bermuda 2002. 2002, ISBN 0-7645-6439-0 , p. 163.