Hardcover with jacket, 320 pages, 11.25 x 8.75 x 1 in., B&W and Color photographs and illustrations.
The 1990s was a twilight era for Cuba's fascinating old transportation system. Trains hauled by century-old American steam locomotives met Model A Fords and wooden stations as if it were the 1920s. Horse-drawn carriages passed colonial architecture in towns and cities, with ox teams doing heavier work in scenic countryside's.
Wooden Brill interurban trains still carried passengers while General Electric steeple cabs hauled freight between Havana and Matanzas, just as they did when chocolate maker Hershey bought them new in 1920.
The author spent 18 months over several years documenting this transportation time-warp from one end of the island to the other.
Although Cuba has been modernizing its transportation system, most of the old American cars and locomotives seen in this book are being preserved as 'National Patrimony' and should be available for future visitors to see, photograph and (in some cases) even ride.
The book is a tour of the island and includes vintage B&W photographs, Color photographs from the 1990s, postcard and other ephemera reproductions. The majority of the photographs are in color of the trains and equipment.