No news on remnants of the train that once ran as a tourist road there, or of the guy ftom Calif. who mived there and was momitoring that? Hope he got out! He lived close to that railroad.
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That's our fellow forumite Scalerail...and another current posting asks the same question. We all hope and pray for the best.
The pictures coming through are not very encouraging. I can't believe the devastation in Lahaina!...will it ever be the same as I remember from my visit in 1982?? I remember that they would intentionally burn the cane (sugar) fields as part of the farming process for that important product, but THIS is indeed something else!
We rode the Sugar train a couple time. Was a fun ride. I haven't heard anything from the news about that area of the island. Lots of hotels along the beach. I would watch the train from our hotel room.
The pictures I've seen look like not much left of Lahaina!
Forum member scale rail is Don McCuaig, a superb 3-rail modeler whose California layout was featured in OGR Run 248 in an article titled "Journey in Time Along the Milwaukee Road." Don subsequently moved to Lahaina, Hawaii, and among other articles written for the magazine, wrote one titled "All Aboard the Up-and-Running LK&P" for Run 300. The LK&P is the Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific tourist railroad that ceased operations a couple of years ago. I do not know how the rail line equipment or structures may have fared in the current fire, but my guess is that the news is not at all good.
I have not heard from Don in some time, but I believe he sold his beautiful Lahaina home not too long ago and moved back to the mainland. Someone else here who knows Don may have more up-to-date information. Having lived in Hawaii for some 17 years, I have a number of friends and former newspaper colleagues who live on Maui, and my hopes and prayers are with all of them.
There is a photo of what's left of the engine along with the news of the fire that can be found on National Public Radio's website: www.npr.org
I rode the Sugar Cane Train on my honeymoon back in June 1991. It is tragic what happened to Lahaina. As for the railroad, I fear that any chance of it every opening again will probably never happen.
Stuart
It wasn't going to reopen before the fire. I believe most of the equipment was stored at the Kaanapali end, so the locomotives and coaches probably survived the fire. Lahaina Station, I don't know. Most of the tourist strip where the train was was destroyed by the fire. The railroad actually wasn't running into Lahaina for a while before they closed. They boarded at one of the stations at the other end and ran shorter trips. I think the land under the ROW at one point near Lahaina was sold.
