Train des Plantations

Les Rails de la Canne à Sucre (RCS)
Martinique
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The Journey

Navigate from Rhum Museum Station (Saint-James Distillerie) to Banana Museum (Musée de la Banane) across a span of 2.5km.

Scenery Highlights
  • Active sugarcane fields of the Saint-James estate — visible evidence of Martinique's historic sugar industry
  • Banana plantations along the Banana Museum leg
  • Two Bailey bridges crossing local watercourses
  • Habitation La Salle — remains of a 17th-century sugar works, the railway's intermediate heritage stop
  • Rivière Cerise (Cherry River) valley — the watercourse from which locomotive Moïse was recovered
  • Medicinal plants and tropical fruit trees encountered on the return leg
  • Sainte-Marie — cultural cradle of Martinique, with the distant silhouette of the Caravelle peninsula visible on clear days
Quick Facts
  • Duration

    1 hours

  • Distance

    2.5 km

  • Est. Price

    €6–8 individual; €4–5 school groups; €6 group rate (15+)

Official Booking Provider
Classes & Accommodations

Meals: None

Ensuite: No

Meals: None

Ensuite: No

Meals: None

Ensuite: No

Meals: None — pedagogical guide included

Ensuite: No

Meals: None — pedagogical guide included

Ensuite: No

Engine / Locomotive

Active: Davenport diesel locomotive 'Moïse' (fitted with a 232 hp Deutz diesel engine, recovered from the Rivière Cerise). Static exhibit: Corpet-Louvet 030T steam locomotive 'Trinité' (works number 1701, built 1925, weight 10.82 t, classified as a French historical monument in 2001) — non-functional, preserved at Saint-James station.

Locomotive Weight

Moïse (Davenport diesel): ~10 t (typical Davenport 4-wheel industrial switcher class). Trinité (Corpet-Louvet 030T, static): 10.82 t (1925 build plate).

Track Gauge

1,168 mm (3 ft 10 in / 117 cm) — the original Usine Sainte-Marie (USM) sugar-mill gauge; historically common in the French West Indies for plantation railways

Braking Technology

Standard industrial compressed-air train brake on Moïse (Davenport/Deutz)

Route Engineering Challenges

  • 1,168 mm (117 cm) heritage gauge — narrow and incompatible with mainline rolling stock, ruling out any future integration with SNCF

  • Two Bailey bridges over local watercourses requiring ongoing maintenance and periodic re-decking

  • Tropical climate: salt-air corrosion, heavy seasonal rain (June–November) and Atlantic tropical-storm exposure require off-season volunteer maintenance days (Sundays and Mondays)

  • Operation depends entirely on volunteer availability — minimum 5 adult passengers per departure means some sailings are consolidated

  • Recovery and recommissioning of Moïse from the Rivière Cerise was a multi-year volunteer restoration effort

  • Saint-Marie sits on the wetter Atlantic coast — visibility and photography are best in the December–May dry season ('carême')

Line length

2.5 km one-way; 2.8 km round-trip

Track gauge

1,168 mm (3 ft 10 in / 117 cm) — original USM sugar-mill gauge

Gauge origin

Usine Sainte-Marie (USM) sugar plantation railway, reconstituted for heritage tourism

Bridges

2 × Bailey bridges

Active locomotive

Davenport diesel 'Moïse' with 232 hp Deutz engine, salvaged from the Rivière Cerise

Static exhibit

Corpet-Louvet 030T steam 'Trinité' (works no. 1701, 1925, 10.82 t), classified French historical monument 2001

Operator

Association Les Rails de la Canne à Sucre (RCS), founded 1997

Founder

Serge Laforge (1997)

Current president

Patrice Pinard

Volunteer base

Retired employees of RATP, SNCF, Police nationale and La Poste

Schedule

Tue–Fri 09:15/10:30/11:45; Sat (and certain public holidays) 09:45/11:00; closed Sun & Mon

Minimum group

5 adult passengers per departure (else departure consolidated)

Currency

EUR (€) — Martinique is a French overseas department

Status

Operational — year-round, weather permitting

Quick Facts
  • Duration

    1 hours

  • Distance

    2.5 km

  • Est. Price

    €6–8 individual; €4–5 school groups; €6 group rate (15+)

Official Booking Provider