Hawaii's Unknown Railways

[Ocklawaha]

LOL! More like, "Ask Ock how many narrow gauge 25 T switchers he's been on." Answer - LOTS.

I was laughing at the article and the reporters apparent ignorance of the railways of Hawaii. The island's had 7 major railroads and 33 industrial lines (many built for agricultural shipments).

This was no "abandoned military narrow gauge railroad" this was once a very modern and comprehensive network. The 'common carriers' (railroads competing for freight and passengers) were mostly gone by 1950, with the Oahu Railway hanging on much longer. The final piece of this network served the military installations and port around Honolulu, closed in 1971. There WERE some cool US Navy engines and cars that moved around the base or were sent out over the CC roads to various bases with supplies.

These common carriers included:

Hawaiian Agricultural Company - 2 foot gauge, between Punaluu and Pahala
Hawaii Consolidated Railway - Extensive standard gauge network on the east of the island.
Hawaii Railway - a 3ft gauge line between Mahukona, Kohala and Niulii at the northern tip of the island.
Hilton Waikoloa - A tram system connects the main buildings of the resort complex on the northwest coast of the Big Island
Ahukini Terminal & Railway - A 2ft 6in gauge line on the east of the Kauai island.
Kauai Railway - A 2ft 6in gauge line on the south of the Kauai island.
Kauai Plantation Railway - A newly constructed 3ft gauge tourist line, some 2½ miles in length.
Kahului Railroad - A 3ft gauge line on the north of the Maui island. It closed in 1966.
Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad - Lahaina to Kaanapali, about 6 miles, on the west side of the island.
Oahu Railway & Land Company - 3ft gauge 160 mile network, with its double-track main line was one of the most advanced rail systems, including Mikado locomotives and automatic block signals.
Koolau Railroad - A 3ft gauge on the east coast of Oahu.

Not unlike Jacksonville or Los Angeles, Honolulu once had an extensive urban railway system. Honolulu Tramways.




The Oahu Railway & Land Train Terminal opened in 1927 at 325 North King Street near the piers of Honolulu Harbor. Designed by architect Bertram Goodhue, the building’s style is Spanish Mission Revival. The Terminal structure features a somewhat open arcade area on the ground floor, stucco walls, a red tile roof, and a four-sided clock tower.


Anyone want to guess what that round shaped building was? Once the heart of Hilo's rail system, where engines were serviced, this roundhouse was actually a casualty of the April 1, 1946 tsunami that devastated Hilo.  The wave didn't physically touch the 1921, eight-bay concrete roundhouse, but it destroyed nearby railroad tracks and bridges.  A group of Big Island sugar plantations had run the trains as the Hawaii Consolidated Railroad. After the wave it was never rebuilt.


6 miles of the original mainline of the Oahu Railway remain in service as a historical railroad.


Waialua Agricultural Co, railroad shops. Waialua Sugar Company in the town of Waialua, on the North Shore of Oahu, was home to one of the largest sugarcane plantations in the state of Hawaii.


Oahu Railway and Land Company passenger train pulling into Honolulu Terminal, a quick walk through the station and out the door to awaiting streetcars of the Honolulu Tramways.


Near mile post 6 on the Oahu Railway.


Oahu Railway "Pay Train"- at the Ewa Mill station, workers were paid in CASH.


Riding the nonexistent railway in Hawaii today... Amazing journey.


No self respecting railway would be without a place to wine and dine shippers. This is the private parlor car of Benjamin F. Dillingham, head of the old Oahu Railway & Land Co. (OR&L)

Today most of Hawaii's once extensive railway system looks like this:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/25396-05-oahu-railway-and-land-company-track-at-nanakuli-oahu/

[SightseerLounge]

Amazing history!

[Ocklawaha]

You can get the details on the new HART System here:

http://www.honolulutransit.org/

Most of it follows an old military narrow gauge railroad ROW that encompassed Pearl Harbor and down to the ports of Honolulu.

As you can see they are moving along with the project.



I have been on the tourist line that remains that starts in Ewa past the West Loch between Pearl and Barbers Point and runs out to the power plant on the SW side of Oahu. Oddly, you can follow the ROW on Google Maps as the camera car drove all the way out to Kaena Point on the dirt. Oahu has a rich rail history dating back to when it was a leading exporter of sugar cane and pineapples. The military rail was all that was left by the early 80's.

http://www.hawaiianrailway.com/index.html



So while it appears this is Hawaii's first "rail" activity, it actually is just a revival. Ask Ock if he has ever seen a GE 25 ton narrow gauge switcher?

[Ocklawaha]

Here's a sample of those military trains, but remember except for on base trackage, these were NOT military railroads. They did amazing service during World War II, carrying just under 2,000,000 military men and women. The US Army also operated a couple of trains of US Railroad Artillery, as coastal protection against an axis invasion.

Navy Yard box cars, note the use of automatic couplers and full air brakes, the Oahu System also featured automatic block signals for traffic control over its double track mainline.


Small saddle tank engine not unlike the ones that operated at the cement works and Glidden Chemical in Jacksonville. The tank across the boiler carried the water, there was a small coal bunker behind the cab, thus these locomotives never needed a tender or 'coal car.'



Lualualei, West Loch Branch, Railroad Tracks, US Navy Magazine, Pearl City.


US Navy ammunition train on the Oahu Railway, almost identical trains once ran on the large railroad at NAS JAX coming out of the fences and across Roosevelt to interchange cars on the ACL Railroad.


US Navy Mine School siding.


U.S. Army Coast Artillery Railway Fort - Ewa, Kapolei.

[spuwho]

LOL! More like, "Ask Ock how many narrow gauge 25 T switchers he's been on." Answer - LOTS.

I was laughing at the article and the reporters apparent ignorance of the railways of Hawaii. The island's had 7 major railroads and 33 industrial lines (many built for agricultural shipments).

This was no "abandoned military narrow gauge railroad" this was once a very modern and comprehensive network.

Ock, agreed, at its peak it was a fully functional rail network, I was speaking only to where the new transit line will be located.

I have looked up the ROW's around Kahuka and through the Dole Plantations. If ever in Hawaii, its just another fun thing to do as part of the island experience.

[billy]

When I lived on Oahu( first near Pearl Ridge, then in Makakilo), I came across an old trestle bridge out towards Wainae (sp?), probably for an agricultural line