The abandoned train lines of Catadupa, St. James.

Janet Silvera, Hospitality Jamaica Coordinator

TWELVE YEARS ago, the town square of Catadupa, St. James, was as busy as Spanish Town, St. Catherine, as the mighty tourism dollar became the order of the day. Today, the deep rural district looks like a derelict ghost town.

Tourism was the 3,500 residents' mainstay after they lost the banana industry. The industry also became a thing of the past, when the railway lines closed.

Dressmakers, tailors, artisans and craftsmen worked assiduously to sustain the boon from both the Governor's Coach and Appleton Express tourist trains that plied between Montego Bay and the Appleton Rum Estate in St. Elizabeth.

"The tourists would stop here on their way to the Appleton Rum Tour and choose their material. They would be measured, and on their way back, receive the finished product," related 67-year-old dressmaker, Gerda Chambers.

SCHOOLING CHILDREN

For 30 years, Mrs. Chambers made dresses for visitors and was able to school all her children with the money earned from the industry, "It helped me, the shopkeeper I bought from, and even the butcher."

Mrs. Chambers, along with some 50 women and 30 men, benefited directly from the two trains that stopped in the
district as regularly as five days per week.

After the trains stopped, life became unbearable for the citizens, their livelihood spiralled downwards and residents such as

Pauline King said that now throwing 'partner' and Cash Pot have become her support unit.

"That is how I am able to send the children to school," King admitted. "The entire community depended on the trains."

Catadupa and its environs, which include the communities of Maiseland, Richmond Hill, Bellfont, Lapland, Steven Edge and Bird Track, boast two major attractions: Croydon in the Mountains and the birthplace of Jamaica's National Hero, Samuel 'Daddy' Sharpe and has the potential to return to its former glory.

"We know the days of the trains are over, but give us the buses," are the cries coming from the residents. They say no tourists have ever been robbed in the community or had problems with drug pushers.

"There are no economic opportunities in the community," said John Williams, former vice-president of the Catadupa Craft Vendors Association. He said there was a need for the intervention of the Tourism Product Development Company.

The people in the district who didn't fall by the wayside have since gone into other areas of businesses. Gerda Chambers travels 22 miles to the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay where she does what has been coined 'a little buying and selling' of yam and plantain.

Some of the women sell their wares to the villas in the tourism capital, Montego Bay, and the men sell their carvings to craft merchants.

The once thriving Catadupa train station now houses a bar on the lower level and living quarters on the upper. Pauline King said that now throwing 'partner' and Cash Pot have become her support unit.

"That is how I am able to send the children to school," King admitted. "The entire community depended on the trains."

Catadupa and its environs, which include the communities of Maiseland, Richmond Hill, Bellfont, Lapland, Steven Edge and Bird Track, boast two major attractions: Croydon in the Mountains and the birthplace of Jamaica's National Hero, Samuel 'Daddy' Sharpe and has the potential to return to its former glory.

"We know the days of the trains are over, but give us the buses," are the cries coming from the residents. They say no tourists have ever been robbed in the community or had problems with drug pushers.

"There are no economic opportunities in the community," said John Williams, former vice-president of the Catadupa Craft Vendors Association. He said there was a need for the intervention of the Tourism Product Development Company.

OTHER BUSINESS VENTURES

The people in the district who didn't fall by the wayside have since gone into other areas of businesses. Gerda Chambers travels 22 miles to the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay where she does what has been coined 'a little buying and selling' of yam and plantain.

Some of the women sell their wares to the villas in the tourism capital, Montego Bay, and the men sell their carvings to craft merchants.

The once thriving Catadupa train station now houses a bar on the lower level and living quarters on the upper.