The Dunn's River Railway is located 'somewhere on the north coast of Jamaica'. It makes it's money by running luxury dining trains for affluent tourists and scenic trains shuttling holiday makers from the beach to the falls. This traffic subsidises the basic local passenger service that the company is obliged to provide under the terms of their operating agreement. There is plenty of freight traffic - bauxite, sugar cane, rum, coffee, bananas and other tropical fruit. Not forgetting the most profitable commodity of them all...

 

Jamaica is one of the worlds largest producers of bauxite ore for the aluminium industry so no model of a Jamaican railway is complete without a bauxite train. Here is my representation:

 

I could not find any photos of a Jamaican cane train so I based mine on those in Cuba:

 

I wanted a beach scene but I've yet to find a way of having a permanent setup that does not become a cat's toilet...so I have this little cameo of fine sand and rocks that I set up when I want to then dismantle at the end of the day. The Juici Pattie stall is a popular franchise in Jamaica.

 

The most typical vehicle on Jamaican roads is the Toyota Hiace minibus and after a long search I found one in 1:24 scale. I'm still looking for a model of a Coaster bus that are also very common on the island.

 

I've earned brownie points by including a model of the house that my wife lived in as a child. The real thing has been demolished to mine the land for bauxite so this little model is very nostalgic for my wife and her family.

 

This crowded scene gives some idea of the variety of stock I run. Most of it has the company logo to try and make it a bit more coherent but it's still a very broad mix of styles.

 

Another shot of the 'Caribbean Queen' luxury dining train. My 'blue train' now has five coaches including two dining cars and looks great at night with all the interior lighting. We always have it running when we have BBQ parties on warm summer evenings.

For more see www.dunnsriverrailway.webs.com