Spirit of Aloha | Articles | Island Chronicles | November/December 2005

Island Chronicles
By: CAROL SILVA

Riding the Old O‘ahu Railway

Travel by rail in Hawai‘i was safe, comfortable and inexpensive by the early decades of the 1900s. It was the heyday of passenger trains, and the gasoline motor coaches of the O‘ahu Railway & Land Co. had become a preferred mode of transportation. Among the regular passengers were commuters and guests spending leisure time with family or friends living in ‘Ewa, Wai‘anae or on the North Shore. Adventurous malihini visitors, too, caught the OR&L to see coastlines inaccessible by automobile, stop for lunch at the Hale‘iwa Hotel, then hop back on board for a return trip to the city. Rustic landscapes, as well as smells and sounds of the tropical countryside left colorful impressions that never failed to bring praise or hardy recommendations to other vacationers. Most attractive of all, the entire round trip cost only $2.45 per passenger.

At 9:15 each morning, the train rolled out of the station on Iwilei Road, at the edge of Chinatown. The locomotive and passenger cars or motor coaches puffed past the pineapple cannery and O‘ahu Prison. Across Kalihi basin, the Damon Estate and the monkeypod trees of Moanalua Gardens beckoned on the right; on the seaward side of the track were large mullet ponds, formerly owned by royalty and subsequently leased by the government, primarily to Chinese keepers.

From the first stop at Pu‘uloa, or Pearl Harbor, the broad sweep of ‘Ewa district and the Central plains could be seen. The whistle blew and the train continued on, picking up speed as it began trimming the shore of the different lochs and peninsulas. Several short stops followed at towns that sprouted around their sugar plantations. The first was the village of ‘Aiea, surrounding Honolulu Plantation, with the only refinery mill on the island; the bulk of its sugar was transported for use as syrup in local pineapple canneries.

Next came Kalauao Station, set among the rice fields. Depending on the season, a passenger might see paddies being plowed by water buffalo prior to planting, waves of ripening stalks blown about by gentle breezes or dozens of scarecrows and multihued windmills frightening off flocks of rice birds.

Pearl City was the next stop; O‘ahu Sugar Co.’s Waipahu Village, the ‘Ewa Mill and Sisal Station followed. Sisal sat in the middle of a coral plain cultivated in sisal plants (for rope-making) and algaroba (for firewood, charcoal and cattle fodder). Public beach parks and bathhouses, the fishing fleet at Wai‘anae, Ka‘ena Point and its lighthouse were landmarks along the route. Beyond Ka‘ena, the land was rocky and exposed to buffeting winds and thick, salty air. Remains of Hawaiian stone temples and a sizeable ancient fishing community were very evident there. The train breezed past ironwood windbreaks and large sugar acreages at Mokulē‘ia and Waialua and continued on to Hale‘iwa.

Many passengers disembarked at the Hale‘iwa Hotel, where a pleasant lunch was served to famished, dusty travelers. Taking a room at the hotel allowed the extra time to sail in the glassbottom boat and see the colorful coral gardens and bright fish beneath the waves. Sport fishermen chartered power sampans to catch the tasty ulua that abounded in these waters.

If guests wished to continue riding to the end of the line at Kahuku Plantation, they remained on board and got there a little after noon. The return trip to Iwilei departed Hale‘iwa at 3:02 p.m. and arrived in Honolulu just as the sun was beginning to set.

Today, the OR&L, the Hale‘iwa Hotel and the sugar, rice and sisal plantations are gone. Yet, if one looks carefully across the way from ‘A‘ala Park, the old train station still stands as a reminder of a more leisurely time in the history of Island travel.                                                                                                                                                           

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