The Hershey train V

Car begins to fill for afternoon run between Havana and Matanzas.
   Later that same day I return to Casablanca Station (the ferry across the harbour can be a story for another time). I take a seat on the first car and notice a fellow passenger looking around and taking photos – guess I won't be the only non-Cuban on this trip.
   I glance over at the station and see a woman pointing at me from inside. A man in a purple shirt and blue jeans comes into the car – I find out later he's the conductor – and tells me I must buy a ticket at the office. Here I can't simply pay the conductor.
   I'm North American, I want to say. What do I know about train travel?
Before the train leaves, there's time for talk.
   Inside the station, I hand the woman 1.40 CUC and now, properly paid up, am rewarded with a smile. The train is filling but my seat is still free. We leave on schedule.
   The conductor is busy. The electric door to the car isn't working and he needs to hold it open at each stop. Between stations we chat, and I learn he is also a train driver and a mechanic. The employees rotate through the various tasks. He's also a train buff – not really a surprise – and he asks me about Canada's CP and CN lines, and the train rides through the Rocky Mountains. Now I must confess out loud my ignorance about trains, this time in my own country.
  Other people speak, and I'm told, "The train killed a cow this morning." The mystery of the stop between stations is solved.
A fan of American action movies decides to show off his knowledge of English expletives. "Son of a bitch!" he roars. "Bastard!" "Motherf**er!"
   I cringe, but then I look around and see no one is paying attention. Ah, very good, I tell him.
   At Hershey, my cab driver is waiting. He was early; we're right on time. Far as I'm concerned, you can set your watch to this railroad.

Welcome aboard: Rural stops are frequent.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovered in Cuba, a rare Mercedes bird

Image
(December 2012 note: See update link, below.)     GUESS I'LL have to set aside my search for the younger Batista’s 1956 Corvette. An even tastier trophy has emerged – a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, better known as the Gullwing.    Even on the Island of Surprises, I’d be astounded to come across one of these rare beauties. But in a brief section on Cuba in Automobiles Lost & Found (Haynes Publishing, 2008), I see a photo of a battered 300SL observed by author Michael E. Ware outside a private garage near Havana.    The Gullwing, unmistakable lift-up doors in place, is dented and rusting and missing its engine, yet still would be prized by collectors the world over . . . if only they could extract it from Cuba. Restored, the Silver Metallic example with Lipstick Red interior might be worth more than $700,000 U.S.    Reached in England, Mr. Ware tells me he was holidaying in Cuba when an acquaintance brought him to an unnamed communit...
Read more

The Cuba Gullwing chronology

Image
How the 300SL would have looked new. Wikipedia photo.     IN SIX YEARS , no topic here has drawn more attention than the story of Cuba's rotting Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Visitors from around the world seem endlessly appalled and fascinated by the sad fate of such a rare and beautiful car.      The same analytics program that tells me the home nations of these visitors tells me where on this blog they land – and it's apparent that many are missing the full story (or as full as anyone has been able to make it). The world's largest Internet indexer – you know who I'm talking about – insists on routing the curious to a five-year post and refuses to make note of subsequent entries.    Why? Who knows?     To provide a more complete picture, here's a list of CARISTAS entries on the Gullwing, which, to be clear, was first brought to the world's attention by British auto historian Michael E. Ware in Automobiles Lost & Foun...
Read more