St. Kitts Train ride a disaster - judge for yourself

[szdiver]

I don't usually put down a tour, but in this case, I will.

 

The St. Kitts Scenic Train looked wonderful and we decided to join it. We got the second trip at 12:30 and were taken by 6 buses to a meadow with train tracks. The ride up was a little hot and we looked out at very poor conditions, which I realize are around the islands. At the train tracks, we waited approximately 15 minutes for the train. The first group got off and took our buses back to the ship. (The captain's family was on this one)

Then, we proceeded to board. My husband, myself and our daughter went up to the top car and sat looking out at the sites. At first, we could see the ocean, mountains and lots of sugar cane. About 10 minutes or so into the ride, it started raining, and everyone was asked to go downstairs. It was nice enough down there, but the windows fogged up and all we could see was sugar cane brushing along the windows. At every crossing, there was a white pickup truck. (We found out later, he was clearing the tracks at every crossing and then rushing to the next one. Along the way, there were deep gulleys, gradually filling with water. A while later, the gulleys started getting worse, and we actually saw a goat and cow go by. The conductor pulled onto a tressel and stopped. That scared all of us, because we did not know whether the bridge would hold with all that water. It started coming up over the tracks and my daughter, my husband and I moved back two cars, because we girls got scared. Finally, the conductor sent back two girls who started singing for us but they were religious songs - that was not the right time for that, as it scared us more. Anyway, a while later, those in charge decided we would call the busses back and go to the ship that way. The tracks were about 2 football fields away from the road, which we could see. The buses finally got there and came onto the grass closer to the train. We had to climb down a hill to get into the buses and a few had trouble getting on. Passengers were helping each other, so it worked out there. About 1/2 mile down the road, there was a wash across the road, with very large logs and other debris. Finally, a truck with a shovel on front (forgot what it is called) came along and pushed the logs out of the way and stopped the water until we could get by. It is about 4:30 by this time and the ship is supposed to sail away at 4:45. About another mile along the road (we are only a total of about 8 miles from the ship the whole time), we got another gulley-washer across the road. This time, we cannot ford it because it is a bad one. Two hours later, or so, we finally got to go across. I know the #1 bus had problems with a car stalling in front of it. They thought they were going over the hill. It was a terrifying experience for all 127 people on board. As we finally got away from the flooding, there was a lot of traffic, so it took a little time to finally get to the ship. They actually went on to the pier and delivered us to the ramp onto the ship. Naturally, everyone was worried about us and the ship was still there. We were given hot chocolate and gradually, stopped shivering, but were all stressed out. The ship at first offered us 50% off, but we all insisted on 100% refunds.

 

First, I don't think the persons in charge on the train should have waited so long to get us back off. It seemed like they wanted to be sure to get their money. They live there, and should know what the weather is going to do when it is like that.

 

Second, I want everyone to make up their own minds about this tour, as it does not always rain. I am trying to be fair.

 

Third, I sure was greatful for the captain that he waited for us.

 

Fourth: The train was not that great to begin with - it went about 2-3 miles an hour.

 

This is just my version of what happened to me and my family, and I did email the St. Kitts Train and let them know how I felt about the whole thing.

 

There are about 100 other versions of this trip, so I await the others tales.

[QueensChick]

I'm so sorry to hear of your bad experience. How awful!

I'm glad no one was injured. Also, I'm glad the ship was there when you finally reached the dock.

[woodofpine]

Sounds like an Exciting Trip! :) Not exactly one I'd want to have been on... but exciting nonetheless. Look at it this way, it doesn't really sound like it was a beach day either.

[genmasjoy]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. We went on it in March 2004, but we had the first one in the morning and the weather was nice. For us, it was an enjoyable experience. Our train stopped at the field you refer to where you got on, and we took the busses back to the ship. I guess the key to whether to take that tour is the weather, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

[clan]

What a scary experience. This shows two advantages of a ship-sponsored tour: 1) The ship will always wait for you if you are on one of their tours 2) If you had booked the train on your own, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have gotten any of your money back.

 

Glad everyone was safe in the end.

[Coolmama_1]

Sorry about your adventure. We took the train in July (of course that was pre-hurricane season) and everything went off well. Our buses pulled right up to the train and the same returning. We were in the first group and were able to stay upstairs for all but the last 15 minutes. Then it started to rain. Not sure how much fun the second group had, but no control over weather:mad:

All in all, we enjoyed the train, but it certainly was much different than your experience.

[johnnycruise]

Sounds like quite an experiece ... reminds me of the movie, Twister, with the cow in the funnel cloud.

[TedC]

FYI,

Hurricane season starts in June and lasts through Nov.