Cuba Stronghold of American Steam DVD

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This show was also released in 1996 as part of the Steam Around The World Series, and is now being offered on DVD for the first time in 2021.

This video depicts American-built engines still operating in Cuba during the sugar cane rush which is during the winter harvest. This video is strong in great action lineside photography where the engines are working very hard, as we witness highlights from a visit in 1996. You'll enjoy heavily loaded cane trains on both standard and narrow gauge lines. These are some of the best steam lines in Cuba, and we think you will really enjoy the show these engines give us with plumes of smoke to the sky, and great audio from the exhausts as they struggle to pull the heavy trains. There is a nice introductory segment in the tape which shows some of the Cuban surroundings and even includes many classic vintage American automobiles still operating. You'll see some wild things like a big ALCO 2-8-2 with a cow racing it, and a train that breaks apart as it is moving. Standard gauge mills visited are Granma which includes a thunderous train through the F.C.C. station at Carlos Rojas, the Boris Louis Santa Coloma (the mill on a hill) shows how Cuban steam engines can be thrashed on this line with stiff climbs. The Ifrain Alfonso has the only active big American 2-8-2's which are well covered (We see 2 different ones), and Luis A. Bergnes is a small mill but has attractive engines, and a cart of sugar cane being pulled by oxen. The narrow Gauge mill of Obdulio Morales gives the viewer some superb shots as we see a train struggling back to the mill. Last, but not least, is the fantastic long line of the Mal Tiempo (also Narrow Gauge) Mill consisting of dramatic scenes with locomotives making more racket and smoke than one can imagine. This is very interesting video with little shuffling about, since its all great action scenes. The sugar harvest in Cuba has greatly declined and today is operated by diesels making this steam show all the more rare. See several Baldwin and Alco built U.S. Steam engines at work while the sugar harvest was still busy in 1996. Check it out, today!