Hundreds of tires will roll over them without a second thought.
The dual railroad tracks leading to the hulk of the former Lihu‘e Plantation sugar mill have been layered over by coats of blacktop, and only by looking carefully, remnants of the original railroad tracks can be found along the shoulder of Haleko Road, its existence overshadowed by the growth of weeds.
“A lot of things have happened in 50 years,” said Scott Johnson, the engineer for the Grove Farm Homestead Museum. “Today marks the 50th anniversary of the last Grove Farm sugar load that was hauled by steam locomotives to the Lihu‘e Plantation mill.”
On Saturday, Johnson celebrated the event when about a hundred Cub Scouts, their parents and families showed up at the Haleko Road landing for a ride aboard “Paulo,” one of the restored steam locomotives belonging to the Grove Farm Homestead Museum.
According to an article on the front page of the Grove Farm Plantation News, Sept. 24, 1957, marked the final day of harvesting and grinding operations for the 1957 crop of sugar that totaled 34,908 tons that was grown on 4,027 acres.
Johnson said Elisio Antonio parked the “Wainiha” for the final time after making its final haul of cane cars from Haiku Field 10 with “a long toot of its whistle.”
The whistle marked the “Iron Horse’s” departure from the sugar era, while celebrating the fact that the 1957 crop was well above its projected 30,740-ton forecast.
According to the front page of the plantation newspaper, plans for the 28-ton Baldwin locomotive that was purchased in November 1955 from the Lihu‘e Plantation Co. were uncertain.
Options called for the locomotive to be either sold, scrapped, or kept as a historic museum piece.
Fortunately, keeping the locomotive originally owned by the McBryde Sugar Co. was the wise decision. According to Johnson, Antonio had the honor of firing up Wainiha, and bringing it back to life in 1975 after it had been restored at the Puhi baseyard.
Johnson said in addition to Wainiha, Antonio had a hand in the restoration of “Paulo” in 1981, “Kaipu” in 1982, and the No. 77 cane car in 1983.
“Elisio was a fireman under Ernest Rosa,” Johnson said. “And when Ernest retired, Elisio was promoted to engineer. The rest is history.”
When the Wainiha pulled its final load in 1957, Grove Farm Company was only one of two remaining sugar companies utilizing locomotives to haul cane for processing.
With the Grove Farm news of using trucks to haul cane starting in 1958, Lihu‘e Plantation became the only sugar company to retain the use of locomotives for cane hauling, the article said.
Johnson noted that a lot of things have taken place since that final load rolled into the Lihu‘e Plantation in 1957.
On Saturday, Paulo, which celebrated its 120th anniversary this year, welcomed the visiting Cub Scouts and their families, the tiny locomotive releasing its overload of steam in a “shooshing” white plume into the blue skies in the shadow of the stack of the Lihu‘e sugar mill.
The tracks Paulo sat on, awaiting its cane cars to fill with Cub Scouts, are the same tracks that led to the sugar cane fields, and the cane cars have been restored to where on Saturday, they carried Cub Scouts instead of sugar.
Johnson pointed out the fact that despite its age, Paulo and the other locomotives in the trainyard of the Grove Farm Homestead Museum are keeping with the times.
He pointed out the “biodegradable” designation on the label of a gallon of “pin, journal and bearing oil” essential for the operation of the locomotives.
“This means that in 10 days, 60 percent of this oil will have broken down,” Johnson said. “Additionally, the fires that create the steam to move the locomotives are stoked with wood recycled from a company in Puhi.”
Johnson said he invited the Cub Scouts to come and celebrate after he was invited to speak at a Roundtable meeting of the Boy Scouts of America, Aloha Council last week.
“They asked me if all the Cub Scouts could come,” Johnson said. “I told them, ‘Sure, the more Cub Scouts come, the longer we get to play trains.’”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
