St Kitts Scenic Railway
St. Kitts Scenic Railway Tour Brochure (2.7MB) 
The St. Kitts Scenic Railway takes passengers on a 3-hour tour that makes a 30-mile circle around the beautiful Eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts, with 18 miles by narrow gauge train and 12 miles on sightseeing buses. Built between 1912 and 1926 to transport sugar cane from the island’s sugar plantations to the sugar factory in the capital city of Basseterre, today the “Last Railway in the West Indies” provides visitors an unsurpassed opportunity to experience the scenery and culture of this unspoiled country.
Cruise ship passengers board Railway transfer buses right beside the pier at Port Zante for their ride to join the train. The tour operates both as a train / bus and as a bus / train tour, depending on the departure time.
Leaving Needsmust station, the train is soon surrounded by fields of sugar cane. The railway winds around the slopes of Mt. Liamuiga, its volcanic tooth piercing the clouds, and along the Atlantic Ocean. There are hidden black sand beaches, and hundreds of crumbling and overgrown plantation estates. The train crosses numerous tall steel girder bridges, with one stretching 300 feet across a deep ravine, or “ghut”. Sweeping vistas offer up the nearby islands of Nevis, St. Barts, St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius.
The “Island Series” railcars of the St. Kitts Scenic Railway are unlike any other railcars anywhere in the world. They are double-decked, with an upper open–air observation platform that puts you high above the top of the sugar cane and island vegetation for unobstructed 360 degree viewing, and a lower air-conditioned “parlor”. The carpeted parlor has huge six–foot vaulted windows, and is furnished with cushioned rattan chairs at inlaid tables. There is a service bar, a restroom, and paintings by local artists hang on the walls.
Guests are treated to a colorful narration of the history of the Caribbean and St. Kitts by the Tour Director, and are entertained by the three–voice a cappella St. Kitts Railway Choir singing Caribbean folk songs, children's songs, and familiar hymns. The journey immerses travelers into St. Kitts village life. Passing Mansion Village, we see cliffside piggeries, and beyond are fields of pineapples. At Saddlers Village we pass within inches of papaya, guava, and banana trees, while backyards are strung with rainbows of billowing laundry. All along the route laborers and farmers stop in their work, and school children run out of classes as the train goes by. Smiles and waves bloom from all directions.
At La Valle Station, passengers transfer from the train to sightseeing buses and complete the circle tour on the Island Main Road. The route passes under the silent guns of Brimstone Hill Fortress, and through a dozen small villages and towns that dot the Caribbean Sea side of St. Kitts before returning back to the city of Basseterre and the cruise ship port. Hotel guests are transferred on to the end of their tour at Needsmsust Station.
