Soledad Plantation 2-8-0 Locomotives in Cuba

Class Aramao (Locobase 14028)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 44, p. 318. See also Thomas Barbour, "Barbour explains work being carried on by Harvard at Soledad Plantation," Harvard Crimson, 31 May 1928. and Marion D Cahan, "The Harvard Garden in Cuba - a Brief History" at [] . Works number was 33553 in July 1909.

Although a coal burner, the Aramao still needed to use the classic Radley & Hunter cabbage stack to suppress sparks. The engine was one of several delivered to Cuba during this period that were built to the same specifications. It was ordered by Guiler Engineering Company to operate on this 22-mile plantation road near Cienfuegos in western Cuba for decades and was reported to still be in service in 1995.

The Soledad Plantation was well-known to a variety of historians and researchers because of its Harvard connection. The Harvard Botanical Gardens began research into improved varieties of sugar cane in 1901 and later expanded its efforts to include many kinds of tropical plants and crops.