By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Joy Bowles, a Hawaiian Railway Society assistant administrator,
stands in an engine that recalls the days when trains were
an important means of transportation here.

Oahu train carries
old island memories

Turn-of-the-century transport
chugs into 2000 with museum and
station replica plans

By Stan Constantino
Star-Bulletin

ROLLY Subia remembers growing up in Ewa and -- as children will do -- placing pennies and rocks on the railroad tracks there and asking train operators if he could ride along.

"The train is such a unique part of Ewa that you kind of wish you could go back to the past, when the train actually brought you to different places on the island," said Rubia, who still lives in Ewa.

"Looking at the train gives you that old plantation atmosphere, a sense of history."

The train Subia was speaking about is the former Oahu Railway & Land Co., which runs today along a 13-mile length of track from Ewa Beach to Paradise Cove, shuttling passengers on Sunday rides.

Known as the "kamaaina train" or the Hawaiian Railway train, it is maintained and operated by the nonprofit Hawaiian Railway Society.

Janet Lorimer, a society administrator, said the group has embarked upon a twofold mission.

The first part is to save, restore and then protect as much of the railroad equipment used in Hawaii as possible.

The second is to keep a piece of history alive by explaining the train's story to visitors.

"Most people don't know we have a train here," said Lorimer, an Ewa Beach resident.

From 1889 the OR&L was a common carrier transporting passengers, freight and plantation supplies.

Tracks extended from Honolulu, around the Leeward side of the island and along the North Shore to Kahuku, and from Honolulu to just above Wahiawa. According to society officials, trains during World War II carried troops, munitions, livestock and produce, among other things.

In 1947, OR&L service chugged to a halt as other means of transportation -- such as cars and buses -- became popular. Train tracks were removed, and many of the locomotives and train cars cut up for scrap metal, officials said.

For the last few years, the society has made efforts to restore this part of Hawaii's history.

Lorimer said because the OR&L was the backbone of transportation in Hawaii for almost 60 years, it played an important part in the state's past.

"People remember the railroad with a certain nostalgia," she said. A train lover herself, she hopes to see the society's restoration and preservation efforts succeed.

The Hawaiian Railway Society wants someday to build an authentic replica of a railway station. Other projects it would like to accomplish are the restoration of track to Nanakuli and construction of a railroad museum in Ewa.

Officials said there also has been some talk of opening track to Waipahu Cultural Garden Park.

But for now the society is working on its upcoming project of offering night Halloween ghost rides Oct. 30-31.

Ride the Railway Sundays in Ewa Train rides from Ewa to Paradise Cove and back take about 90 minutes. They leave the station on Renton Road at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Rides are $8 for adults; $5 for children 2 to 12 and seniors 62 and older; and free for children under 2. For details, call 681-5461.