Construction, Operation and Closure
The first 14.5 miles (23.3 km) of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) track were laid from Kingston to Angels (just North of Spanish Town) in 1845 at a cost of £222,250, or £15,377 per mile against a budgeted cost £150,000.
An 11-mile (18 km) extension from Spanish Town to Old Harbour was added in 1869 at a cost of £60,000.
A further 24½ mile extension from Old Harbour to Porus was added in 1885 at a cost of around £187,000.
The final 62 miles (100 km) from Porus to Montego Bay was completed in 1895.
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 and Aluminium freight while the section from Montego Bay to the Appleton Estate remained open for a while as a tourist attraction.
Read more about this topic: Railways Of Jamaica: Kingston To Montego Bay
Famous quotes containing the word operation:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)