FIJI Sugar Cane Tourist Train                      Railway Pages Index

The island country of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean creates memories of tropical Paradise that last a lifetime. In addition, Fiji has trains - not many and not fancy, but easily found by tourists. One is shown here from a vacation in 1993. The Sugar Cane Train runs from Sigatoka up to Natadola Beach. Nearest airport is Nadi, Fiji, about an hour north of Sigatoka.

A very pink steam loco converted to diesel, with open-air excursion-style passenger cars, hauled us the 10 miles from the depot near the Shangri-La Hotel to Natadola Beach. Tracks are two-foot gauge (610 mm) hidden in the grass. A picnic BBQ buffet was laid out in the trees for lunch - very peaceful. Bring your own bottled water, as parasites abound and they are mean! There was no tourist development at the beach in 1993, but one hotel is now complete and a second is in progress.

Real sugar cane cars were hidden in the bushes and under sheds, but no one was using them that week.  The sugar cane lines cover 375 miles (600 km) of industrial rails - the largest garden railway in the world.

Be sure to visit a Fijian village with a Fijian guide. The cultural contrasts are worth the side trip.

Photos by the author.

Coral Coast Railway
Tel: 011.679.652.8731
Fax: 011.679.652.0434

No direct website - see nice review at
http://www.railserve.com/jump/jump.cgi?ID=15422

Area description at  http://www.fijiguide.com/Guide/Islands/coralcoast.html
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/coralcoast/0352010029.html
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."