Hawaii's Sugar Cane Trains

t one time in Hawaii, there were over 40 privately owned sugar cane railways in the Hawaiian Islands and now only two remain in frequent use. The locomotives hauled regular freight of sugar cane, pineapples, livestock, tin cans, containers and more and had scheduled passenger trains, as well. The last common carrier railroad with a main-line operation in the islands ran until the mid-1960s on Maui. For train enthusiasts, the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii have places where you can interact with some of Hawaii's train history and maybe even take a ride on a sugar cane train.

  

OAHU — The Hawaiian Railway Society operates a 6-mile train ride on the original OR & L main line from the station in Ewa Yard. The trains, which run on Sunday afternoons between Ewa Station and Paradise Cove, are powered by two Whitcomb diesel switchers. The train museum features exhibits of old locomotives and rail cars, a tiny gift shop and a picnic area. The Oahu Sugar No. 7, a narrow-gauge 0-6-2T steam engine, is also in Ewa on display at the Waipahu Cultural Garden and Plantation Village.



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MAUI — The Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad, also known as the Sugar Cane Train, operates out of Lahaina and was build in 1970 as a tourist attraction to commemorate the Sugar Cane Trains that served Hawaii. The 2-4-0 steam locomotives, with open-air coaches, use a segment of track used by Pioneer Mills sugar-cane railroad to take visitors on a 6-mile adventure along the scenic coasting between Lahaina Town and Kaanapali. The train operates daily and offers several rides per day and a sunset dinner train ride some evenings.

HAWAII — In Hilo, the Hawaii Consolidated Railway concrete roundhouse still stands and an old station nearby has been refurbished as a museum of railroad history.

The Laupahoehoe Train Museum stands on the site of the old Laupahoehoe Train Station and showcases photos, memorabilia and stories of when the trains were an important part of transportation on the Big Island. The Hamakua portion of the railway, which spanned numerous gulches and water crossings, is known as the most expensive section of railway built in America in its time. Much of the railway was washed away by the 1946 tidal wave, but many of the current highway bridges on the Hamakua Coast were built on the original railway trestle foundations.

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