Welcome to "Phil's Loco Photos"

Time for somewhere totally different but with familiar MLW traction, the destination was Cuba. We flew with elderly DC10 power from Gatwick - Habana via Bruxelles, so it was a long journey with us landing around midnight! Straight to our hotel and then straight to the station next morning to find some MLW power! Our first move was the 09.20 to Sancti Spiritus, which finally pulled out at 12.10 with MLW MX624 52442 to Matanzas where we waited for very late train 2 back to Habana with another MLW. Next day we managed a visit to the “Revolution de Octobre” shed and then did a local train from Habana Cristina - Santiago de Las Vegas and back. In the afternoon we joined train 1 for the 859 km run to Santiago de Cuba arriving around 07.00 next morning. After hassle from the locals we retreated to a very nice hotel and chilled out for the day. It was a very early start next morning with an elderly G12 on train 408, the 05.25 to Manzanillo which we took all the way and then returned to Bayamo. We then had a fast car to Cacocum for 52430 to Santa Clara it had a few lines with local trains, at least that was the plan, everything was cancelled! So retreat to another hotel for the rest of the day again! Next morning we join train 4 back to Habana, six minutes late when we got on and four hours late in Habana. Next day was an MLW out for a TE114K back in then another tip to Santiago de Las Vegas and back. Next day it took ages but we did manage a short run with M62-K 61601. We changed our flights to return early as the heat and not having pre booked hotels made it very hard going. Naturally there was a massive delay and we had an extra hotel before finally returning home