Steam & Excursion > Lahaina Railroad for sale for scrap

Over on Ozark the nifty narrow gauge railroad is available for the blowout price of $150,000. The catch, you need to haul it all away to a new home which will be quite expensive considering it is on an island.  Very sad to see it come to this. I bet the ties are basically mulch at this point. I rode this when I was 12 and it was neat railroad.  Just can't make it work in the modern world.

https://ozarkmountainrailcar.com/railEquipment.php?itemId=3264&category=Passenger%20Equipment

Listing Update 10/4/21....Seller has reduced the price to $150,000.00. Buyer will be responsible for removing the track, rolling stock, rail, ties, turntable, tools and supplies. All items to be removed in a reasonable amount of time. The Lahaina Railroad started operations in 1969 as a tourist train in the Hawaiian town of Lahaina. Operating on five miles of track, the railroad gave tourists the chance to tour the sugar cane fields and enjoy some of the stunning scenery of Maui. The train has not been operating the last few years due to land lease issues, the owner has decided to sell the companies assets. There is no real estate being offered in this sale, just the physical assets that include locomotives, cars, track equipment, tools, rail, ties,etc. They buyer will be responsible for removing the assets from the property and arrange shipping, please include estimated removal time in any offer.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Sorry,  I did not win that Powerball last night.

That's a heck of a buy except for the $1.5M to get it taken up and moved somewhere. Be a good time to 3 rail the
HRS line.

Out 

Might be a dumb question but was this the only active railroad left in Hawaii?

How about the operating rail museum at Ewa,  on Oahu?

I rode "TheSugar Cane Train" in the 1980's when there were still cane fields & ocean views. With all the development on Maui in recent decades, there was nothing left but views of housing developments & the backside of shopping centers. It was nice in it's time, but the island outgrew this fun little train. I hope the rolling stock finds a good home.

Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

Yes, moving the equipment to Oahu would be the cheapest and probably the only way to save this equipment.

And be the best home.
Victor

PHall Wrote:
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> Yes, moving the equipment to Oahu would be the
> cheapest and probably the only way to save this
> equipment.

Good question. In addition to the tourist train from Barbers Point on Oahu, there is the Kauai Plantation Railway on Kauai. Appears to still be in operation, based on the website. Images attached are from the railway's website.

 

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Very sad. Looks like it was a neat operation.  I too was going to ask if it was the only tourist railway in Hawaii? It's the only state where I have not ridden on a train. 

These pictures are from 2/6/13.  The LK&P appeared to have a good crowd on that day.  In addition to the Kauai Plantaion railroad I have read that there are two or three operable steam engines on a nearby former plantaion that a group maintains and operates occasionally.  Does anyone know more about that?  Gerry

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Got lucky on one trip and caught the 30" gage Grove Farm operation with the 1887 built "Paulo" at Lihue, Kauai.

It was not far from the Kauai Plantation Railroad which we also rode.

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I really don’t think “authenticity” was what the LK&P was striving for.

I rode the railroad in 1997, and it was a fun ride. So sorry to see it go.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> Red paint on drivers and pilot seems to be the
> curse of death to every tourist line that uses
> it.  It might look pretty to some but mostly it
> destroys the authenticity of the narrow gauge
> train.  If the Durango & Silverton had painted
> any red on their engine in 1950, it would have
> been gone by 1960, but instead the train was
> nearly like it was in 1885 and kept it historic
> character.  

Posted from iPhone

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> Yes, you are right "I really don’t think
> “authenticity” was what the LK&P was striving
> for."  And look where it took them!  If their
> business plan was not working, why did they not
> try to do something else before they ended it all
> in a junk pile?  Is it because they had one
> manager all those years who refused to see the
> problem?  
>
> If the business plan of having fancy painted
> engines and trains did not work here in a very
> scenic location, where could anyone relocate such
> equipment and be successful?  There are hundreds
> of profitable tourist railroads all over the USA
> and only Tweetie and Disney World/Land and very
> few other look like this. Maybe that LK&P should
> become a rail bike operation; they make BIG
> money.
>
> I know of a Pine Creek RR in Allaire State Park,
> NJ that really needs a steam engine as none of
> their work at the Black Hole of NG museums.  Type
> size for vision not volume.


I think it had much less to do with equipment presentation and a lot more to do with no more sugar came fields along the Sugar Came Train route and loss of scenery due to development. It was a tourist operation based on scenery from the get-go, with riders there for a tropical vacation rather than the train. You can paint the train as authentic or gaudy as you want and it won't help anything if riders only get to see barren fields or the butt side of modern houses and strip malls. I don't think there was a way out any manager could have implemented other than relocation.

Posted from Android

The LK&P was hugely successful in the 1980's and 1990's hauling well above 200,000 passengers a year.  A large portion of the patronage was Japanese tourists on package tours. In the early 1990's they built a second consist along with Oahu RY 4-6-0 #85 to increase capacity.  Credit for the LK&P's success can be credited its owner, Kyle Rys who were very pro-active in marketing and promotion.  For years the LK&P had the highest profits of any Kyle property.  I did a couple of one-month gigs with the LK&P in the late 1980's as a vacation-relief engineer.  The place was hopping.  The LK&P could not find workers for their track gang, so every winter they imported the C&TS's laid off track gang to do track work.

Somewhere in time, the Japanese biz died off which was a big hole in the revenue stream.

In 1996, the principles of Kyle Rys retired, selling out to a shortline holding company,  Statesrail.  There were a few tourist-only railroads in Kyle's portfolio, along with a couple with very limited freight operations.  These lines included the LK&P, Yreka Western, California Western and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.  They turned down purchasing all these except the LK&P, stating they weren't interested in the poor financial history of the above, but liked the fact that the LK&P was a simple operation and IT PRINTED MONEY...... lots of it.

Statesrail was bought by RailAmerica.  RA had absolutely no idea how to market a passenger operation.  I took a Hawaiian island hopping cruise in the early 2000's.  One of our ports of call was Lahaina.  I could not find any information on the railroad, either aboard ship or ashore in Lahaina.  I finally took a cab to the RR station and caught the next train.  There was only a handful of passengers.  Eventually RA sold the place to local interests who kept things running a while longer.

The biggest issue with the LK&P is it did not own its right of way.  When founded in 1969, the right of way was leased for 50 years.  The lease expired in 2019 and the land owners want to see resort hotels where the RR runs.  When I was working there in the late 1980's the right of way lease situation was in the minds of everyone and there was significant studies made of where to move the RR, but nothing ever came of it.
 

Sad but not surprising end to the "Sugar Cane Train"

For the last ten years, I vacationed across the street from the service facility.  Suspected the end was near a few years ago when one of the street crossings was covered over with asphalt.

Ron


 

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Just returned from Kauai.  Kauai Plantation Railway is operating, doing nice business.  Neat little ride using GE 25 ton diesels.

Grove Farm steam operation is down due to COVID I was told but the engines are getting serviced and operations will return.  Their hours were limited so I did not visit aside from a drive by.

Rode the LK&P in 1988 and it was a great ride.  Would be a great addition to the Hawaiian Railway Society operations on Oahu assuming they could raise the funds for movement.

Z

callum_out Wrote:
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> As I said a 3rd rail at HRS would do some good,
> still think it'd be $1M plus to get everything
> done
> but there has to be some money around to get that
> done.
>
> Out 

Aren't they both 3' gauge? Why the need for a third rail?

Posted from Android

A-1 Wrote:
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> callum_out Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > As I said a 3rd rail at HRS would do some good,
> > still think it'd be $1M plus to get everything
> > done
> > but there has to be some money around to get
> that
> > done.
> >
> > Out 
>
> Aren't they both 3' gauge? Why the need for a
> third rail?
>
> Posted from Android

Yes they're both 3 foot gauge...

PlyWoody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Red paint on drivers and pilot seems to be the
> curse of death to every tourist line that uses
> it.  It might look pretty to some but mostly it
> destroys the authenticity of the narrow gauge
> train.  If the Durango & Silverton had painted
> any red on their engine in 1950, it would have
> been gone by 1960, but instead the train was
> nearly like it was in 1885 and kept it historic
> character.  

Oh, my! In that case, you should be sure to contact the Walt Disney Company to alert them that the railroads at Disneyland, Disney World, and their other parks face an imminent threat due to the color of their driving wheels and pilots?