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Riding the St. Kitts Scenic Railway
by Steve HitesEvery Caribbean island has an "island tour", but only St. Kitts can offer you that tour by narrow gauge railway.
The St. Kitts Scenic Railway's 3-hour rail / highway tour takes you on a 30-mile circle around the entire island. It's a unique way to see the entire island in a very short period of time from a very different perspective.
If you arrive in St. Kitts by cruise ship, the Scenic Railway Tour buses are waiting for you at the end of the pier. A 5-minute ride takes you out to Needsmust Station where you board the train.
The Scenic Railway cars are unlike any in the world. All of the railcars have two levels, and passengers are told that everyone has a seat on both levels, and can move back and forth as they wish. The open air upper "observation deck" has cushioned seating and complete 360 degree viewing. It's like being high above the ground in a vista dome without having the dome glass, and it's great for photography. There is an awning to shade you from the sun or from a sudden shower. The lower enclosed level is air conditioned, and has wall to wall carpeting, wooden tables with cushioned wicker chairs, framed artwork, a service bar, and modern washroom.
The tour is fully narrated, and there are speakers on both levels and spaced through the cars so that no matter where you ride you can hear the tour.
All the drinks and beverages are complimentary. Each car has a Car Attendant for service and assistance. A highlight is a "sugar cake" snack, made of sugar cane from the fields beside the track.
The train heads out along the Atlantic side of the island, passing through villages and farms, with wonderful views of the central mountain ranges on one side and the ocean and surf on the other. On clear days, Nevis, St. Barts, St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustasius are all visable from the railway.
Leaving the villages, the train rolls across a series of tall steel girder bridges spanning deep cayon "ghuats". Lucky observers may see green vervet monkeys scampering away. The light green of the sugar cane fields climb up to meet the darker greens of the rainforests on the steep flanks of Mt. Liamuiga, whose jagged volcanic tooth juts up against a blue sky, or cuts through racing clouds.
In the small villages, hundreds of children in school uniforms run out to wave at the train going by. Farmers in their fields and truck drivers on the roads do the same. Everybody in the whole country seems to be smiling. The three-person a cappella Scenic Railway Choir passes through each car singing old Caribbean folk songs, children's songs, and old traditional Caribbean hymns. The passengers love it: it must be the only railway in the world with its own choir.
The train covers 18 miles of railway in 2 hours out to La Valle Transfer Station. Here we stop, get off the train, and board the Scenic Railway's sightseeing buses to continue circling on around the rest of the 12 miles of the island via the Island Main Road. This part of the tour runs another 45 minutes, taking us through Sandy Point Town, under the guns of Brimstone Hill Fortress, past the graves of Thomas Warner and Sam Jefferson (great great grandfather of US President Thomas Jefferson), and back to Basseterre and the ship.
The Scenic Railway Tour operates in both a clock-wise (bus / rail) and counter-clockwise (rail / bus) direction. Either one makes a complete circle tour of St. Kitts.
Cruise passengers can buy the St. Kitts Scenic Railway tour from the Shore Excursion desks on board ships calling in St. Kitts.
Visitors to St. Kitts who are staying at island hotels or inns can buy Scenic Railway tickets from the hotel tour sales desk at their property. Reservations for this unique and popular tour are recommended.
For more information please visit StKittsScenicRailway.com
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