The Trinidad Train System

Sometimes it's funny how history comes back now and then. In this case, Indira was joking about how a train would be implemented in Trinidad with her friends, and that jogged my memory. Sorry about not joking along, and sorry for not commenting.¹

You see, Trinidad and Tobago used to have trains. My Uncle Yattin, a few months ago, told me of his ride on the last train in Trinidad - where he took his dog on the train with him, and rode in the back of the train (where the animals were) because his dog was 'bad' and needed some... management. But the history of the trains in Trinidad is an interesting one. I am not an expert on the topic, I know what I have been told and what can be surmised.

The trains in Trinidad were built by the English (or, better, by Trinidadians who were under English rule at the time) for transporting sugar cane to the refineries, and for transporting sugar to the ports. In doing that, they also built a transport system which survived for decades. In fact, it survived until after independence. As best as I can tell, this happened between 1962 (Independence) and 1976 (Republic within the Commonwealth).

As I was told by three people of, admittedly, the same background but of different decades in age: Allegedly Dr. Eric Williams closed the trains down because he didn't like the Englishman running them. Is that accurate? I don't know, but it's one perception of the truth.

What that meant was roads had to be built to transport people - and despite the Pitch Lake in Trinidad, the roads are still more pitiful than countries without a pitch lake. So the train system, which could have served the people of Trinidad was closed. And now, it exists only as a joke in weblogs, though recently trains have been built to transport LNG to the ports... Switching sugar for LNG, without the benefit of transporting people.

When you can't change things, the only thing one can do is joke, I suppose. And goats ride in the caboose, just like young men with unruly dogs. :-)

¹I have no reason registering on personal sites to enter comments, but I have a severe problem with Microsoft's Passport and I won't give them my data (though they may have some record of me in their past). Further, the trackback links provided are not valid. I go with the EFF on that. It's disturbing when I cannot comment on a weblog because of that. Fortunately, other 'mass blog' sites allow people to comment from without the particular 'mass blog' requirement. Blogger and other sites apparently have this ability, maybe Microsoft's blogs do. But if I have to give some meta site my information so I can comment on a weblog, I won't. Sorry. Consult your meta site.