Panama Train

Here are a couple shots of the Panama train as we exited the locks heading back into the Caribbean Sea:

And a bit of a closeup:

And a few minutes later as we went under the new suspension bridge under construction:

Costa Rica Banana Train

We started out on a bus to the train, which took us out into the "real" country, rather than what is usually a tourist trap area off the ship.  Though in Costa Rica, the little shopping bazaar was the best we've ever seen in port - only those with locally made products were allowed to have a booth.

Here is where we turned off the highway to head to the train: 

And Banana plants everywhere (and my Mom's hat):

We boarded the train right off the bus, and I mean, RIGHT OFF THE BUS.  The bus parked less then 2 feet from the steps of the train, and we just walked across.  I snapped this picture of the loco quickly so as not to interrupt everyone getting off the bus too much:

 And some scenery from along the way.  A banana plant:

More Banana Train

Here we had to pull off to a siding to allow the real Banana train to pass by.  The siding is a stub, so we backed into it and had stopped less than 30 seconds before the other train came roaring by:

 And a little closer:

 And the cargo, these were all reefer shipping containers:

 And, inside the car itself - these were old, wooden passenger cars with no A/C - only the windows were open:

A bit about the train

One of the things our guide told us is that the rainfall plays havoc on the tracks (the area gets well over 100 inches of rain per year, and I think he said it was 150-200 inches per year where we were).  You could tell pretty quickly, as it was a rough ride.  I was sure we were going to derail at some point, but stayed on the tracks the whole time.  

This was definitely worth going on, and only cost, I think, $60USD.  I was worried it would be too hot on the train (it was 33C/91F, but the motion of the train kept a decent breeze.  When we stopped, I had my little portable spray fan from Disney along and that helped.  

It was interesting also to see the places people lived.  While all were not exactly North American standard homes, some of them were kept up fairly well, while others didn't seem inhabitable (and may not actually have been, it was hard to tell).  But Costa Rica, from what we saw, was a place I would go again.  

Oh, and if you want to see the sloth and howler monkeys, these are the best photos we got of each:

Sloth: 

And howler monkey:

Costa Rica is Beautiful

Dave,

We visited Costa Rica as a stop on a cruise ship - twice, actually, once west to east, and just last spring, east to west.  Both times we stopped on the west coast side, at Punta Arenas.  I saw some narrow gauge track in the town, but no trains.  And going through the canal, both times it was in the old set of locks (although, on the west side we were right alongside the new locks).  Costa Rica certainly is a beautiful country, and very advanced as far as taking care of the ecology.  

Thanks for sharing your photos!

Al Carter

Al

I would definitely like to see the Pacific side of Costa Rica at some point, and I wouldn't be hurt if it was on another cruise.    I really enjoy cruising, almost as much as I like trains, but cruising is so much less for the same amount of time.

Our guide talked extensively about their push for country-wide carbon neutrality and that they put a lot of effort into educating their tourists about protecting the environment and the things they do to that end.  He also talked about bus transportation being very inexpensive and accessible to encourage people to ride instead of have their own car.  Of course, that is a lot easier done in a smaller country like Costa Rica than a larger one like Canada or the US.

Pura Vida !

Here is a video of the Banana Train ....

I lived in Costa Rica from 2005 til 2010 ... had a great time there - superb climate, friendly people, stunning scenery  ...

The Costa Rica railroads were barely operating while I was there, Nowadays, rail transport in Costa Rica is owned by INCOFER (Costa Rican Institute of Railways). Over the past 5 years, INCOFER has revamped and developed the Central Valley's 1.067 meter (3'6") rail lines to initiate suburban commuter trains in the San Jose metropolitan area.

FWIW ... Both locomotives in the photos (54 and 57) are GE U6B's originally purchased in 1966.

Thanks for posting the photos - brought back some nice memories.

Nice video, John!

You managed to get much better shots of the howler monkeys than we were able to.  thanks for posting that.