I still have more questions than answers about the Bermuda Railway, and this page still lists things I am trying to find out. Any clues, in the form of books, brochures, photographs, or memories, would be greatly appreciated. (The links lead back to the pages where the questions are raised.) Building the Bermuda Railway • What was the motive force behind the Railway?
Was it obvious that Island transportation had to be improved, and that a railway was the least disruptive solution, or did the impetus for the Railway come more from outside forces such as the Furness Withy steamship line? Did the British Colonial Office play any role in the decision? Both, is the obvious answer to this question. While the extended argument over trains vs. automobiles (see No Motors, Thank You) was in a way a debate over Bermuda's internal and external interests, many influential Bermudians felt that local and foreign interests coincided in the tourist trade. The effectiveness of lobbying by tourist interests was clear, but tourism was an increasing source of wealth for Bermuda as a whole.
• Who financed the Railway?
Was any attempt made to raise the needed capital locally, or did all the money come from England? What were the expectations of the investors? • Why was the Railway built to such apparently low standards?
The enterprise had all the earmarks of being built on the cheap, yet, per mile, it ended up being the most expensive railway in the world. Who set the standards? Were the problems due to inexperience and bad management? Who were the original contractors, who chose them and why, What experience did they have? Operating the Bermuda Railway • Were the ill-effects of poor planning and construction overcome with the 1932 maintenance work?
Could management already see signs of major problems to come, and was any planning done to prepare for them? • Who used the railway?
Did it mainly serve the tourist trade? Did the Railway replace traditional means of transportation or, as David Raine suggests, did Bermudians basically ignore it? How important was freight traffic? • Did Railway revenues ever cover costs?
If not, why not? Was the problem the high cost of operations and maintenance costs, or was the Company crippled by its debt load? Using figures from the 1945 Commission on Public Transport report to the Bermuda government, between 1932 and 1944 the Railway's operating profits ranged from a low of £4,430 in 1935 to a high of £42,495 in 1942, the peak traffic year of the War. But this was without even considering depreciation of equipment or buildings. As for the debt load, nothing was ever paid on investor capital; by the end some £400,000 was owing in unpaid interest!
The War Years • How exactly did the war affect traffic figures?
Raine says that an estimated 14 million passengers took the train during the BRC's 17-year existence; according to Pomeroy, 1 1/2 million passengers were carried in 1945 alone, the most in any year. The figures show greatly increased traffic during the War, especially from 1942 with the arrival of the US bases, and a corresponding increase in operating profit. Unfortunately the boom also brought greatly increased wear and tear, which the railway company was largely unable to deal with.
• Was the significance of deterioration in the line's bridges and trestles fully understood?
Did the Company already see the writing on the wall, or did it still think the Railway could continue to operate once the war was over? • Did increased motor traffic during the war contribute to the end of the Railway?
Did the presence of motor vehicles on their roads convince Bermudians that automobiles and trucks were not the problem they had been seen as in the 1920s? Were road improvements undertaken because of the increased military traffic? Did the increased use of motorized transportation affect Bermudians as well as military personnel? Closing the Railway • Why did the Bermuda Government purchase the failing company?
Did it think there was some way to save the line? Did it feel obliged to maintain the colony's only public transportation. Was it trying to protect the interests of the line's owners? (The small amount of money paid makes this last possibility seem unlikely!) Still a question to be answered, but a retrospective on the Railway published in the Bermuda Royal Gazette in 1985 included an intriguing quote from a Mr. Bob Clarke, who was apparently a member of the Bermuda Public Transportation Board in 1946:
"We had a meeting with the engineer and an accountant from the English company [the Railway's British owners]. They said unless the Bermuda Government bought out the rolling stock and physical assets, they were going to run all the trains down to the yard at East Broadway, lock up the trains and go home.
"The Bermuda Government was faced with the complete breakdown of public transport and decided to take it over."
Bermuda Railway Operations • Who designed the Railway?
Why didn't they build a narrow-gauge system? How did they decide to go with gasoline power rather than steam or even diesel? This question remains open. It is clear that significant changes took place between the presentation of the Foxlee Report in 1922, with its proposal for a steam-powered narrow-gauge line, and the Bermuda Railway Company Act in 1924, which led to the actual standard gauge, gasoline-powered Bermuda Railway.
• Was the Railway irrelevant to most Bermudians?
Did Bermudians use the Railway regularly and, if not, why not? Was it essentially a tourist railway? • How important were freight operations?
How much goods traffic did the Railway handle, and how did it contribute to revenues. Did the Railway replace traditional means of transport? Freight traffic was a secondary consideration from the start. Although the Foxlee Report mentions potential goods traffic (even estimating that it would provide 30% of revenue), it clearly states that the tourist trade was the single factor that made a railway feasible at all.
As it turned out, between 1932 and 1944, non-passenger traffic accounted for only about 15% of revenue, again according to figures from the Commission on Public Transport report.
People of the Bermuda Railway • Who worked on the Railway?
Did native Bermudians play a role, or was it run mainly by expatriates from Britain? Was any attempt made to train Bermudian staff? | 
