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Bermuda's Railway Trail

Exploring and enjoying this lovely scenic walkway

By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) exclusively for Bermuda Online

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Books and other publicity on Bermuda Railway

Bermuda Railway going over a coastal bridge

Railway terminal, Pembroke, until 1948 (after which it became the bus terminal)

• The Bermuda Railway, Gone But Not Forgotten, Colin A. Pomeroy, 1993. ISBN 0-9521298-0-9. Book. History and operations, also information and photographs about rolling stock, stations, bridges and trestles, and other technical details. Printlink, PO Box HM 937, Hamilton HM DX, Bermuda for $19.50 (US), including postage and handling, or directly from the author at Pallington Lakes, Pallington, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 8QU, England for £10.95 (£12.00 outside the UK) including postage and handling.
• Rattle and Shake, The Story of the Bermuda Railway. David F. Raine. Pompano Publications, 1992. ISBN 0-921962-08-8. Situating the railway in the Bermuda of the time, with greater historical detail. Also with many historical photographs and pictures of the remains of the line still visible today. Bridge House Gallery, #1 Bridge Street, St. George's GE 01, Bermuda.
• The Bermuda Railway.  Brendan Hollis. Video, Triton Productions Limited, 1989. One of the About Bermuda television series. Includes an interesting interview with Bill Kitchen, son of the line's Chief Engineer, who also worked on the Railway before World War II. Available in bookstores and other shops in Bermuda.
• Bermuda: Seeing the Sights by Railway, Bermuda Railway Company, Ltd. 1936. Tourism brochure with the railway line as it was in the mid-1930s, describing every station, and also includes a fold-out map. 
• Hiking Bermuda. Book. 2003. 20 Nature Walks and Day Hikes. Cecile and Stephen Davidson. 160 pages. Standard hiking book format. A guide to the back roads of Bermuda, including the Railway Trail.
• Welcome to the Railway Trail. Bermuda Department of Tourism. A Guide. Divides the Trail into seven sections, each of which takes 1 1/2 to 3 hours to walk. 
• Bermuda Railway Museum. At the former Bermuda Railway Aquarium Station, near Flatts Village. five minutes from the Government Aquarium.

Sound the train once made. train.WAV. The Bermuda Railway Trail ("the Trail) is owned by the Bermuda Government. In 2000, the Parks Department - at 169 South Road, Paget DV 04, P. O. Box HM 120, Hamilton HM AX, Bermuda of the Ministry of the Environment took over administration and management, to enhance it as an eco-tourism attraction. (To date it does not have its own website on the Trail). 

All visitors arriving by air at Bermuda International Airport or by Cruise Ship should phone the Parks Department at (441) 236-4201 or fax 236-2711 for all enquiries relating to the Trail. If from a cruise ship, tell the Parks Department where the ship will be moored - at King's Wharf in Dockyard or City of Hamilton or Town of St. George when you wish to go on The Trail. It should be noted that in the humidity, heat and risk of sunburn from May to October, it is not recommended that you cycle the Trail then unless you are used to such conditions and carry plenty of bottled water as no part of The Trail has a water station. If you rent a cycle anyway, instead of walking, you will need to rent first, then hit The Trail, then cycle back to where you rented it to return it, as no rental service will come to collect you.

Features. Car free bikeway and walkway; unpaved, following the former rail track. It is wonderful for the able walker or runner and the ambulatory disabled who do not need a walker or crutches. It is not suitable for the accompanied or unaccompanied in a wheelchair, or an electric scooters for the disabled. It is neither level nor paved, is uneven in places, has steps, sometimes stops abruptly and only able walkers can more safely or nimbly negotiate streets or roads crossing or running from the trail, often without sidewalks.

In 2001, the entire Trail was designated a Class B Protected Area under the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986. There is a free illustrated walking guide, issued by the Bermuda Government and available only from the Visitors Service Bureau of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce in the City of Hamilton or Town of St. George. Visitors should go in person to get a copy.  Also, read the two definitive histories of the line from the early 1930s to its ending in 1949. 

On the Trail, no motor or electric vehicles of any kind are allowed. If you see any, report them by license number to your hotel or guest house or guest unit and make sure they call the Police, for they are illegal. State emphatically if necessary that their presence spoils your visit and that you expect the ruling to be enforced. There are gorgeous marine views in many places.  See farms, fields, pastoral tranquility and shining, turquoise open water, depending on where you are. In many areas, the open Trail has trees, plants and flowers hugging the original track area. It is one of the very best ways to appreciate the coastal and inland beauty of Bermuda on foot or by pedal cycle.  Railway in City of Hamilton 1931

Walk or jog or take a rented pedal cycle and a camera, to search out this unique and  tranquil place for a journey back in time. It was when Bermuda was without any motor transportation (instead of the 2,506 motor vehicles per square mile on the roads now, one of the highest in traffic density anywhere).  A major revamp of the Trail has begun. Areas where the Trail ends prematurely are to be added, but won't be completed until 2005, because of the huge cost. However, some improvements were made  in 2003. For example, the stretch from Shelly Bay Beach west to Flatts. At some point in the future, private sector parkland will be linked to the Trail.

Photos above by author Keith A. Forbes

Details and history

As early as 1910, a Canadian corporation attempted to bring regularly scheduled, motorized public transportation to Bermuda and went so far as to form the Bermuda Trolley Company Limited. Unfortunately, nothing came from it as there was a bitter altercation between some of its principals and various people in Bermuda that reached its climax in 1924 when an entirely separate entity, the Bermuda Railway Company, was formed. Had the Canadian owned Bermuda Trolley Company not been interfered with, it would have had a positive effect. t would have brought public motorized transportation to Bermuda far earlier than when train services finally began. It took from 1924 to 1931 to get all eight Acts of Parliament through the local legislature and give the Bermuda Railway Company the authority it needed to buy the land on which to run the railway and start its operations.
I J. Reginald Conyers was the Vice President of the company. As one of Bermuda's few barristers (lawyers) at the time, he was ultimately responsible for the huge amount of legal conveyancing of property to the company from its original owners. A Member of Parliament in 1928, he was too busy to take on conveyancing load by himself. Thus he recruited Bayard Dill and James Pearman, also lawyers. From that developed the Conyers, Dill & Pearman legal practice still doing business today. All sorts of delays pushed back its completion date. Bermudians wanted a quick return on their investments. They regarded the project as too expensive. They refused to invest ( but became builders, train drivers, conductors and users). In 1931, British private investors finally finished its construction. It was the most costly railway or railroad per mile anywhere in the world.
The first full successful trial run was made from Hamilton to Somerset (as the line to St. George's had not yet been completed) in the afternoon of Tuesday, 13th October 1931. The official opening was on 31st October. The official party assembled at # 1 Shed in the city where they were welcomed by a reception committee. Governor Cubitt and Lady Cubitt were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. O. A. Jones, for the construction engineers; H. W. Watlington, who had guided most of the railway legislation through Parliament; Mr. Stemp, Managing Director and traffic coordinator of the Bermuda Railway Company; and J. R. Conyers, Vice President. Then came Major R. W. Appleby, Attorney General of Bermuda at the time and one of the Railway Commissioners. (Later, he became a founding partner of one of the two great local legal partnerships).

Photos by author Keith A. Forbes

The Railway Commissioners were appointed by the Bermuda Government to independently oversee the operations of the railway. After speeches, the group boarded the train for Somerset Bridge, driven by W. G. Amos. At Somerset Bridge, more speeches were made. After a buffet reception, the group and driver re-boarded the train. One carriage had to be left behind at Riddell's Bay, after air brake problems were experienced.

Regular passenger service began on 1st November 1931. It was also the day the railway claimed its first casualty. Immediately after his first ride, George Watts Hill Kempe, accompanied by his wife, was able to alight without mishap at a regular stop but in the darkness lost his footing. He fell over an embankment, was severely injured and died soon afterwards. On a happier note, the train tunnel under Bermudiana Road was blasted through to Pitts Bay Road less than two weeks later.

When fully completed in early 1932, the line ran from Sandys Parish in the west to St. George's Parish in the east, via the City of Hamilton. (Today, the City, Pembroke and parts of the Devonshire portions no longer exist). The Western route - from Hamilton to Sandys - had 24 stations. They included those at Elbow Beach, and Ord Road and Kyber Pass. Others, like Broom Street, no longer exist. The Eastern Route - from Hamilton to St. George's - had 18 stations. They included Pond Hill, the Aquarium, Coney Island, Ferry Reach and Mullet Bay.

Today, the Railway Trail does not pass through any villages or towns. There are no parking spaces anywhere along it specifically for bicycles to be locked and left. 

Stations of the Bermuda Railway 

Seascapes and landscapes

	The train ran past scenic landscapes and seascapes, via bridges and trestles connecting coves and inlets, many built by Canadian Indians. But they suffered from constant corrosion and many no longer exist. From 1931 through 1946 it was the only form of public transport for locals and their visitors. Automobiles were not allowed until 1939 for the American and British military and 1948 for local residents. During World War 2, British and American soldiers stationed in Bermuda and their Bermudian counterparts added so significantly to the railway's use with their constant movements that huge damage was caused to bridges, sleepers, track and trestles.
	The Bermuda Railway became too impractical and expensive. It was unable to meet the costs of repairing its rolling stock. The Bermuda Government purchased the railway company in 1946 at a distressed price, primarily to ensure it alone had control over Bermuda's transport system. The national bus system was first introduced in 1946. Three successive Acts of Parliament in 1947 finally officially closed what little was left of the Bermuda Railway.
	Early in 1948 the last train went from Hamilton along the 22 railway bridges between Somerset and St. George's. It was open for 17 years and carried an estimated 14 million passengers. Its remaining assets were sold at bankruptcy prices by the Bermuda Government  to what was then the British colony of British Guiana (now independent Guyana) in South America and shipped there. (As far as we know, parts of the old Bermuda system still run there, inland). In 1948, the Bermuda Government finally allowed motor vehicles for private use to be imported.

For years, the track deteriorated. The cost of converting the old Bermuda Railway system into a road for motor traffic was deemed to be too high. Finally, in the 1980s, the Bermuda Government converted the abandoned tracks into a walking and biking trail running almost the entire length of Bermuda. Much of it is well away from the continuous noise of traffic on the main roads and a delightful way to see lovely parts of Bermuda that may otherwise be missed. They offer beautiful sightseeing. 

Section 1 & 2

Section 1 is nearly 2 miles long, it stretches east from the Somerset Bus Terminal (original Railway terminal) to Somerset Bridge where Section 2 begins. On October 31, 1931, in Somerset, Governor of Bermuda, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Astley Cubbitt, formerly opened the western branch - in sections 1 and 2 - of the Bermuda Railway.

Section 2 starts between the bridge and Overplus Lane on the water side. Pass Springfield and the Gilbert Nature Reserve, then Harmon's Bay, the Heydon Trust Estate, Scaur Hill fort, Skroggins Bay and former Lantana Colony Club, to Somerset Bridge. Overplus Lane was omitted by mistake when the original survey was made in the 1600's. From the water side of Southampton Parish, see what used to be the US Naval Annex.

Section 3

The greater part is in Southampton Parish. Going east, access it via Overplus Lane. Pass Evans Pond, with native flora including Bermuda cedars. You might see herons. At the junction with Whale Bay Road, there's the former Railway station, now a Sunday School. Diverting along Whale Bay Road for more gorgeous scenery to Whale Bay Park and Beach.

Going east back on the Trail, to the left of the main Middle Road, look over Evans Bay and Franks Bay. There, cross the Middle Road and rejoin the Trail for Section 3. From here on, get superb views of the Great Sound and Black Bay. Continue east, via the Tribe Road # 2 junction. See Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

Observe Jews Bay. Note the Southampton Princess Hotel. Below it, on the Great Sound, are the hotel's Waterlot Inn restaurant and Princess Park. Proceed to Riddle's Bay and the Warwick Parish boundary.

Take a right on Tribe Road # 7, and go right to the end for the scenery of the South Shore, especially the Beach Parklands area. Parts of Sections 3 and 4 are in Warwick Parish. They start right on the Parish boundary line. Take Middle Road as far as the turn-off to Camp Hill Road at the Heron Bay Plaza (just over the Southampton Parish boundary line). Then turn on Camp Hill Road, then turn left again (going east) at the Bermuda Railroad Trail marker.

Note the old Riddell's Bay station. Keep going, to the intersection with Tribe Road # 7. Divert to the right on this road, because it leads to South Shore Park. Stay on the Trail to pass between Warwick Secondary School and Warwick Ridge Park. If trees interest you, look carefully at the variety in the woodland area. Bermuda allspice predominates.

Further east, avoid an accidental right turn onto Lusher Hill West. Instead, bear slightly left and you'll walk along the southern perimeter of the Pembroke Hamilton Club (PHC) Stadium where cricket and soccer matches are played.

Then walk under the huge old quarry, Khyber Pass. It was named in honor of the exploits in Bermuda from 1851 to 1853 of the Second Battalion, 56th Regiment (West Essex) of the British Army. Its First Battalion was virtually annihilated in 1841 at Khyber Pass in Afghanistan after a disastrous retreat from Kabul. The lone survivor was the surgeon, Doctor Brydon, half dead when he reached Jallabalad with the news. So when the recomposed regiment reached Bermuda, its first overseas posting afterwards, its military reputation ensured that areas of Warwick Parish - Khyber Pass, Khyber Heights Lane, Khyber Heights Road and Khyber Pass Road - and a street in the old town of St. George, near Fort George - got named after Khyber Pass.

The Second Battalion also fared badly in Bermuda. In 1853, nearly 230 of its officers and men died in Bermuda from Yellow Fever. A little further, see Warwick Pond on your left, followed by the intersection of Tribe Road No. 3, the end of Section 3.

Section 4

The Paget Parish portion goes past prime agricultural areas. It will take you on both the Trail and Ord Road - named after a former Governor. Walk along the southern perimeter of the  Belmont Golf Course. From here, bear to the left, where the Trail continues and discards Ord Road. Pass behind Bright Temple AME Church.  A little further ahead, you'll see Cobb's Hill Gospel Chapel and Cobb's Hill Road intersection, the eastern boundary of Warwick Parish. A left on Cobb's Hill Road will take you to the intersection with Middle Road, where you can catch the # 8 bus east or west. Two of our favorite places on the Trail are the Paget Parish areas immediately to their east. Take a walk to the Harmony Hall Hotel in less than one hour - and then from here, to the South Road via an intriguing old tunnel.  When Paget Parish's exclusive Trimingham Hill area was created and much of Pembroke Parish - from near the City of Hamilton on the south to the North Shore - was re-developed, the Trail lost much ground. There is nothing left at all of the original Trail through east Paget and Pembroke Parishes.

Key

Section 5  

Mostly in Devonshire Parish, it begins a hundred yards up Palmetto Road from the junction with the main North Shore Road. See the access sign just east of the Public Transportation Headquarters Building, on the eastern end of Palmetto Park. This section heads east to Smith's Parish.  Cross over the bridge at Barker's Hill, with the Ocean View Golf Course to the south. Pass by Palmetto House. Enjoy the North Shore coastal, domestic homes and rural views. At the Smith's Parish boundary, enter Penhurst Park. The Smith's Parish portion is only just over a mile long. Going east, there are gorgeous seascapes, from hilly vantage points. The turquoise waters of the North Shore coastline are exquisite.  The Trail bisects Penhurst Park, with its southern extremity bordering the Middle Road and its northern extremity actually across the North Shore Road and right on the coastline.  Further east, you'll cross a bridge going over Store Hill, connecting the Middle Road with the North Shore Road. (Improvements to this area are slated in the near future). At this point, you'll see private dwelling houses to your left and right, in different styles and colors. As you walk on, overlook two small islands, Gibbet and Little Gibbet Islands. Gibbet Island was where witches were burned at the stake and felons hung in the old days.  Cross the North Shore Road to where the remnants of the bridgework overlook Flatts Inlet to see the mouth of Flatts Inlet. This is where the Smith's Parish portion of the trail ends.  Note the beach on your left. When the trains ran, from 1931 to 1948, they crossed over Flatts Inlet via a trestle bridge and entered Hamilton Parish.

Key

Section 6

The Hamilton Parish portion is especially interesting. It starts at the other side of Flatts Inlet, about three hundred yards northeast of the Bermuda Aquarium, Natural History Museum and Zoo.  Enjoy a nice view of the Inlet and see the remains of the old bridge pylons where the railway once crossed over. On the North Shore Road - and Bermuda Railroad Trail - half a mile east of the Bermuda Aquarium, Natural History Museum and Zoo in Hamilton Parish, is the small, privately owned Bermuda Railway Museum museum.  It occupies a former Bermuda Railroad station. Bus routes 10 and 11 will get you to the nearby stop. Owner Ms. Rosa Hollis has a nice collection of maps, photographs and old Bermuda Railroad memorabilia. They give a glimpse into life on the island in the 1930's and 1940's when the Bermuda Railroad operated. A half mile later, just before you get to Shelly Bay, you'll see old chimney ruins (pictured). They were the kiln for intense early to mid 19th century shipbuilding, when Bermuda sailing clippers were in demand globally. Now completed is a new Shelly Bay Pedestrian link, begun in 2992. It reconnected the long-severed trail from Stonehaven Road to Shelly Bay, at a cost of 418,000.  It used a combination of new paths and six new aluminum bridges. The project took 18 months to complete and now walkers can now go from Flatts Inlet all the way to Shelly Bay Beach.   There, pass through the Nature Reserve, to Burch's Cove. From there, walk the North Shore Road again, for four hundred yards or so. Pick up the trail again past the Crawl Hill Esso Service Station, on the sea side. (Improvements in this area are planned in the near future).  From here on, past the Clear View Suites and Villas buildings, the trail has magnificent seascapes all the way. Emerge just before you get to Bailey's Bay. There are a couple more diversions onto the North Shore Road, then the trail again, along Coney Island Road to near where Hamilton Parish meets Coney Island, in St. George's Parish.

Key

Section 7

There is a lot more still to see but you have to go to St. George's Parish to see for yourself the magnificent North Shore views. The railway ended, going east, in the (now destroyed) station in the Town of St. George.

Before you get there, at Ferry Reach in St. George's Parish is the old Astor estate. It got its name when American tycoon Vincent Astor (1891-1959, son of John Astor who died on the Titanic) built an estate here, on the South Shore of Ferry Reach, at great expense in the 1930's. His architect was Edward Durrell Stone. The property included a sprawling mansion still there - now guest cottages or subdivided into apartments. - and a large boat house. Astor also built a 2ft gauge (narrow gauge) railway, with a Baldwin locomotive (see photo below) which carried him and his guests over the hill to his own private station on the Bermuda Railway. Astor erected the house with his first wife, Helen Huntington, but both likely lost interest in it when the pristine Castle Harbour, their main vista, was destroyed to make Kindley Field.  (Interestingly, at about the same time as the Astor railway was built, there was a similar-gauge small railway in the United Kingdom, the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (L&BR) - now a Trust in the UK, with a similar or identical Baldwin locomotive, which was scrapped back in 1935. L&BR was restored in 1979 and now runs a steam service). Astor was the major benefactor of the Bermuda Aquarium from 1926 and arranged most of the financing when it was at Agar's Island. When he died, the estate was sold to others. In 1962, an RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft from the United States Air Force crashed on the property after taking off from the nearby Kindley Air Force Base and damaged some of the outbuildings. All four crew members perished. It has been alleged that this was when the private railway stopped but in fact it was much earlier than this when it ended, probably about the same time as the demise of the Bermuda Railway in 1948.

Old Private Ferry Reach Station for the Astor family with Astor building nearby

Equipment in building next to the Astor Ferry Reach station

Remains of old Baldwin steam engine

Another view of old building for Astor private railway.

Captured in Art

A prominent contemporary artist has specialized in painting scenes of the Bermuda Railroad. Mr. John Finch is a retired engineer who lives on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom but used to come to Bermuda regularly to see his daughter Carolyn, an artist, when she lived here. His artistic renditions of the Bermuda Railway are historically correct and exquisite. One such work, "The Boat Train at Bailey's Bay," features a Bermuda Railroad train crossing the trestle bridge over Bailey's Bay in Hamilton Parish. It is complete with houses of the period near the trestle bridge.