| Sugar cane is the reason
for the railways existence and the largest remaining active section is on the
main island of Viti Levu which has an area of around 500 square miles. There is
a large sugar mill at Lautoka in the north western corner of the island, a few
miles north of the international airport at Nadi. Narrow gauge lines run off
along the coast both north-eastwards and southwards with numerous branches
running off into the canefields. There is a large yard at Nadi, adjacent to the
airport where loaded trains are often held while waiting for space at Lautoka.
There is no active steam, the remaining locomotives seen being diesel 0-4-0 or
0-6-0. It appears that each type is numbered upwards from 1 in sequence so
several numbers are duplicated! When I visited Lautoka the two yard shunters
were both numbered 16! In the south of the
island a section of the southern line is used by a passenger tourist train which
operates between a hotel complex at Cuvu and the nearby town of Sigatoka. This
section is known as the Coral Coast Railway and one of the locomotives is an
original steam locomotive which is powered by a diesel motor hidden in the
tender! At the time of my visit the train was diesel-hauled. The station by the
hotel complex also acts as a small museum and it was from here that I obtained
the map on the right.
Click on the links below for pictures.
Page 1: Nadi to
Lautoka
Page 2: Lautoka yard
Page 3: Lautoka scrap
yard
Page 4: Cuvu station
and museum
Page 5: Cuvu and the
diesel at Sigatoka
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