Whoo, whoo… I’m Caribbean chuffed that I’m driving the steam train to St Nicholas Abbey for rum.
I’ve been writing all week about how we Scots are in with de bricks in Barbados.
And they are under our feet at the Abbey distillery with the names of the Scots families and the locations from where they came.
But first we’ve got to get there… and that means catching the steam train.
Tracks of history
The Heritage Railway has surprisingly only been about since 2018.
But the history of railways as our Footsteps guide Ronnie (remember him from earlier in the week) dates back 150 years.
Twenty-four miles long, it boasted 98 bridges and ran from 1883-1937 from Bridgetown to Belleplaine.
And Ronnie’s grandfather got suited and booted to work the rails.
Class act
He tells us that there were three classes of passengers on the rails.
And that you were quickly reminded of what that meant when third class meant having to push up the incline.
Now I think we’re all class, and we all got out to turn the table on the Heritage Museum up to St Nicholas Abbey.
And we all also got to pull the rope by the boiler (as if it wasn’t warm enough already).
Though we’re not calling out anybody here for shrieking, Welsh Corrie.
Abbey days
Along the winding journey of life I’ll return to the Heritage Railway and St Nicholas Abbey.
And obvs Barbados where I’ve already jumped at Crop Over and swum with turtles.
And ceilidhed at the Barbados Celtic Festival
Where we learned more about the railway and Abbey history from the family from an old cine camera video.
In a clipped narration which brought to mind Mr Cholmondley-Warner from Harry Endield and Chums.
For now I’m just Caribbean Chuffed to be here.