The symphony of pu, including nose flutes and pu, Tuesday signalled the start of celebration festivities at the Grove Farm Haleko Locomotive Learning Park.
Leaders of the Waioli and Nuhou corporations, their invited guests, and employees celebrated not only the 100th anniversary of the Kaipu 3 steam locomotive, but the completion of restoration work that put the 26-ton, dry weight locomotive back on the tracks at Haleko.
Kaipu 3, the only remaining operating steam locomotive in Hawaii, was built in July 1925 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia for the Hawaiian Sugar Company in Makaweli as their number 6, named Kokee, on the leeward side of Kauai.
The Grove Farm Company acquired the locomotive in 1945 and operated it as its No. 3 engine until 1953. Kaipu was named for George Wilcox’s right-hand man, one of the first workers at Grove Farm, and was restored to operating condition in 1982, according to the Grove Farm Museum.
Kaipu 3 joins three other locomotives in the Puhi Roundhouse where it was stored until recent work to bring it back to life was finished in time for its 100th anniversary.
Kaipu’s stablemates at the Puhi Roundhouse include Paulo, which was built in 1887 in Dusseldorf, Germany, and shipped to the Koloa Sugar Company, the first commercial sugar plantation in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Named after Paul Isenberg, the owner of Lihue Plantation and an officer of Koloa Sugar Co., the popular little workhorse was used in the construction of the Waita Reservoir in Koloa as well as the breakwater wall at the Nawiliwili Harbor.
Ike Cockett of the Waioli and Nuhou corporations said Paulo is currently being restored and should be online in the near future. The goal of the corporations, according to Sam Pratt of the Waioli Corporation board, is to have all four locomotives operational and used on a rotation basis.
Wainiha, named for Kauai’s North Shore, was built in 1915 for the McBryde Sugar Plantation who sold it to Lihue Plantation in 1947. Grove Farm acquired Wainiha in 1955 and used it until 1957, making Grove Farm the last sugar plantation to haul cane by steam. During its peak, Wainiha could pull up to 50 railcars of cane.
Grove Farm gifted the locomotive to Mabel Wilcox, who funded the restoration in 1975.
Wahiawa is one of the last steam locomotives brought to Hawaii after being built in 1921 by the same locomotive company that built Kaipu and Wainiha. Originally built for the Kauai Railway Company, Wahiawa was sold to the McBryde Sugar Plantation in 1938, and the Grove Farm Company in 1947.
The Grove Farm Museum currently hosts “unhurried” tours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, starting at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the grounds off Nawiliwili Road. For more information, visit its website at www.grovefarm.org.
Source: The Garden Island
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