Railroads of the Island of Hawai‘i :
A Fifty-Year History

Ian Birnie

The Hawaiian Historical Society invites its members and friends to a slide-show presentation, Railroads of the Island of Hawai‘i, by Ian Birnie at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 22, 2007, at the Mission Memorial Auditorium. The program is free and open to the public.

Birnie, who is harbor master for the island of Hawai‘i, will share his collection of slides of Hawai‘i island railroads and relate the many stories he has discovered about this colorful episode in Hawai‘i’s history.

Hilo Railroad Company, which later became Hawaii Consolidated Railway, was incorporated on March 28, 1899. It was intended primarily to serve the new sugar mill being built at ‘Ōla‘a, slightly more than eight miles south of Hilo. The first tracks were laid from Waiakea, near Hilo Bay, to ‘Ōla‘a.

In the fifty years that followed, at least nineteen railroads were built on the island, including two logging railroads. Birnie says that Hawai‘i island had the only standard guage railroad in the islands and also the most expensive railroad in the world in 1915. The April 1, 1946, tidal wave left the railroad in three detached and isolated portions. The company never recovered from this blow, and operations ended in December 1949.

Birnie's interest in railroads dates to his childhood. He spent sumers in Hilo, where an uncle worked for the Hawaii Consolidated Railway, and he got to ride the train down the Hāmākua Coast. A few years ago, the Lyman Museum asked him to put together a lectlure on railroads of the island. He started with about fifty slides from the museum's collection and now has more than one thousand slides.

The Mission Memorial Auditorium is located at 550 South King Street, next to Honolulu Hale. Free parking is available in the City and County Civic Parking Garage. Enter on Alapai Street or on South Beretania Street across from the Board of Water Supply.

For further information, contact the Hawaiian Historical Society office, 560 Kawaiaha‘o Street, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813. Telephone 808-537-6271.