The Kingston to Montego Bay railway was the main railway in Jamaica, which from 1845 to 1992 linked the capital

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

with the second city

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

, passing en route most of the major towns.

Construction, operation and closure

The first of (

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

) track were laid from Kingston to Angels (just north of

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

) in 1845 at a cost of £222,250, or £15,377 per mile against a budgeted cost £150,000.The rise and fall of railways in Jamaica, 1845-1975
Journal of Transport History - March 2003 An extension from

to Old Harbour was added in 1869The rise and fall of railways in Jamaica, 1845-1975 - Pg3
Journal of Transport History - March 2003. at a cost of £60,000.The Jamaica Railway 1845-1945 by H R Fox, General Manager, Jamaica Government Railway in The Railway Magazine of November & December 1945. A further extension from Old Harbour to

Porus Porus or Poros ( ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of what is now India and Pakistan. He is only mentioned in Gr ...

was added in 1885 at a cost of around £187,000. The final from

was completed in 1895.1866 to 1913 Crown Colony Government
discoverjamaica.com Much of the line closed in October 1992 when all passenger traffic on Jamaica's railways abruptly ceased. Some sections remain in use for

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

freightThe rise and fall of railways in Jamaica, 1845-1975 - Pg18
Journal of Transport History - March 2003 while the section from Montego Bay to the Appleton Estate remained open for a while as a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

Gradients and curvature

From Kingston the line ran west along the coastal plain, within of sea level, for about before starting a gentle climb over from Bodles to near Lancaster Halt. From here there was a plateau for about to the Milk River and the start of the climb through Scotts Pass and Porus to just north of Kendal. Between Kendal and Mile Gully the line reaches its summit at around ; in this section the

ruling curvature The minimum railway curve radius is the shortest allowable design radius for the centerline of railway tracks under a particular set of conditions. It has an important bearing on construction costs and operating costs and, in combination with ...

was and the ruling

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

was 1 in 30 (3.33%).The Jamaica Railway 1845-1945, H R Fox (General Manager, Jamaica Government Railway), The Railway Magazine Volume 91 Number 560 November and December 1945, pages 313-317. From Mile Gully there was a gentle descent over to near Raheen. From here the line ran on the level across the Appleton Plain to Maggotty and the start of a climb to near Stonehenge. From here to Catadupa the line ran on the level then descended to at Seven River. Another level section brought it to Long Hill Tunnel and the final descent into Montego Bay.

Stations and halts

There were 22 stations and 17 halts:Annual Transport Statistics Report: Jamaica in Figures 2003-2004
, Ministry of Transport and Works, July 2005, Table 3.5 - Mileage for JRC Stations, Halts & Sidings in relation to the Kingston Railway Terminus 2003-2004.

Tunnels

There are 13 tunnels on the line:

Bridges

There were 51 significant bridges and one viaduct on the line * Trench Town Gully * Shoemakers Gully * Cockfight Bridge (gully) * Salt River * Rio Cobre * Irrigation canal east * Irrigation canal west * Creek Town Gully * Track (rail over) * Irrigation canal * Cut Throat Gully * Spring Garden River * Irrigation canal east * Irrigation canal west * Coleburns Gully * Church Pen Gully east * Church Pen Gully west * Stony Gully * Fraser's Gully * Old Harbour(?) River * Bowers Gully * Palmetto Gully * Hunts Pen road (rail over) * A2 road (rail under) * Rio Minho - originally completed in 1874, it was completely rebuilt during the second decade of the twentieth century by Hewson (of the Jamaica Government Railway) using the then new method of concrete blocks
, Monthly Comments, Ansell Hart, 1968-06. * Jacks or St Annes Gully #1 * Jacks or St Annes Gully #2 * Jacks or St Annes Gully #3 * Jacks or St Annes Gully #4 * Flemings (sic) Gully east * Flemings (sic) Gully west * Milk River * Milk River (seasonal) * Track (rail over) * Kendal - Mandeville road (rail over) * B6 road, Balaclava (rail under) * Black River #1 * Black River #2 * Black River #3 * Ipswich - Merrywood road (rail under) * Richmond Hill road (rail under) * B6 road, Jubilee (rail under) * Seven River #1 * Seven River #2 * Seven River #3 * Seven River #4 * Seven River #5 * Browns River * Anchovy Gully * B8 road, Mount Carey (rail under) * Bogue Viaduct * Montego River

Junctions

There were three branch line junctions, three railway works junctions and four estate railway junctions on the line: Branch lines *Spanish Town Junction to

Bog Walk Bog Walk is a town in the parish of Saint Catherine, Jamaica. In 1898 work started on a hydroelectric power plant on the Rio Cobre near Bog Walk. The plant (1,500 H.P.) was completed the next year and used to power Kingston Kingston may ref ...

Ewarton Ewarton is a town in the parish of Saint Catherine, Jamaica. History The name is most likely a compound of the surname "Ewart" and the suffix -ton, meaning town. The town's economy prospered particularly from 1957 when ALCAN established a baux ...

, New Works and

Port Antonio Port Antonio () is the capital of the parish of Portland on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, about from Kingston. It had a population of 12,285 in 1982 and 13,246 in 1991. It is the island's third largest port, famous as a shipping point for ...

*May Pen Junction to Frankfield *Logans Junction to Fort Simmonds Railway works * Kingston railway workshops * Kingston permanent way department * Kingston engine sheds Estate railways * Caymanas estate * Bridge Pen * Raheen * Appleton Bauxite lines * Bodles Piers * Kingston railway piers numbers 1, 2 & 3

Notes and references

External links

Montego Bay to Williamsfield, Jamaica
7 minute black and white silent film shot from the rear of a moving train, SINTZENICH, Hal & WEDDUP, Charlie, Kineto, 1913, Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.
Advertisement for shares in the railway published in the ''Railway Register'' in Britain in 1845
{{coord missing, Jamaica Railway lines opened in 1845 Standard-gauge railways in Jamaica Railway lines closed in 1992