PLACE: May Pen, Clarendon The Jamaican Railway Corporation engine 54, on its last run entering May Pen, Clarendon, 1968 Image from the National Library of Jamaica Photograph Collection. Permission to reproduce this image must be obtained from the National Library of Jamaica. This photograph was presented to the Institute of Jamaica in November 1968. Further information - The Railway in Jamaica For nearly 150 years, rail travel was a significant part of Jamaica’s transportation system. Regular train service began in 1845 and ceased in 1992 when the government-owned railway was shut down. In 1845, the Jamaica railway became the first line outside of Europe and North America to be opened to traffic. The line at first ran from Kingston to Spanish Town a distance of 22.5 km. The railway was started by English brothers William and David Smith. It was bought by the government in 1879 and the line was extended to Ewarton, St. Catherine. In 1890 the railway was sold to another private company, the West Indian Improvement Company, which laid the line over the mountains to Montego Bay (182km from Kingston) in 1894 and Port Antonio (121km from Kingston) in 1896. That same year, due to bankruptcy issues, the government took over the running of the railway, running lines into the interior from May Pen to Frankfield, Clarendon and Linstead to New Works, St. Catherine. The railway eventually had 330km of track, much of it through difficult terrain (up to 510m) and a large number of tunnels had to be made. The longest is the Gibraltar Tunnel outside Bog Walk that runs for 668m. The passenger and cargo rail service between Kingston and Port Antonio was affected by flood rains in 1979 and owing to damage to the lines the service to Port Antonio was shut down. Trains travelled from Kingston to Buff Bay up to 1982 but service on this line was eventually terminated in 1985 and on the Kingston to Montego Bay line in 1992. The lines from May Pen and Linstead to the interior had been closed a long time before. One major accident recorded by the railway was the Kendal crash of September 1, 1957 when an excursion train derailed, killing 175 and injuring 400. Source Senior, Olive, Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage. St. Andrew, Jamaica: Twin Guinep Publishers Ltd., 2003.