What's Hiding Under the Bush in Porus, Jamaica?

[00:00:00]Jamaica's railway died in 1992, but in Porus nobody told the bridges.

[00:00:07]Welcome back my One Love Jamaica family.

[00:00:10]Well, today I'm in the Porus area close to the border border of Manchester and Clarendon. And what caught my attention was while driving through the old road in Porus, I noticed that bridge, as you will see in the drone footage, that I saw earlier, and it was one of those train bridges. And you know that kind of thing is one of that those kind of historical things will always draw my attention. Now, I saw a lady and a gentleman that were making their way at the time. And I basically stopped to just ask them some questions, but they didn't really have most much historical information about the particular bridge that I saw. The only thing they can tell me is that the Ewart Street car line um I guess that's a more colloquial name. And I'm now here on the line making my way along here in Porus just to give you a a look at what I'm seeing, and I can't tell you that the conditions and in terms of the conditions of the line here is in very good condition.

[00:01:20]Um the timber looking good, but obviously this train line has not been used more than likely in decades.

[00:01:31]And it's just sitting here and you know, you know, my whole thing about this whole thing of the train system, you know, in terms of I think that is something that we should work at, even setting it back in portions. Now, as you can see over here you see that some of these people kind of made use in terms of creating a bridge, making a bridge using the said timber that we always talk about. Very solid, very good, hardy, and very good and solid bridge that they have now created here in the community that leads them up to that also.

[00:02:06]Now, I'm going to take a walk. I don't know what I'll be seeing. As I said, I was just driving past, and as per usual, I'm extremely curious, as you know. So, let us just, you know, make our way along the line and see what we might discover.

[00:02:20]You never know.

[00:02:23]>> In 1885, the railway reached its end of the line in Porus, Manchester. For 9 years, this was as far west as the tracks went. A terminus, a freight shed, even a turntable to spin locomotives around. Then, in 1894, everything changed. Porus stopped being an ending and became a beginning, the launch point for the push toward Montego Bay.

[00:02:48]To get there, the railway had to climb into the hills of Manchester.

[00:02:53]Steep terrain, deep gullies, rivers cutting across the path. The engineers' answer, bridge after bridge, sometimes just meters apart. Around this same stretch of construction, workers also blasted straight through a mountain, the Comfort Hall Tunnel.

[00:03:13]Built in that same era as part of that same westward push, service ran for over a century. Then, in October 1992, the whole network went silent. No more freight, no more passengers, no more locomotives reversing on that turntable.

[00:03:30]Just steel and stone left to the bush.

[00:03:34]Some of it still stands today, quietly, completely intact. Most people drive past Porus and see nothing, but just off the road, the railway never really left.

[00:03:48]>> And I know there are those of you out there continuously worried about me moving around alone and sometime most of the time it's really unavoidable. I really can't do anything about it. I I work alone most of the time.

[00:04:01]So, you know, that's just that that that's one of the things that just comes with with the job.

[00:04:09]So, and I can't when I see an opportunity to um grab footage, I cannot refuse to do so because definitely the One Love Jamaica family always looking out for these historical tidbits and I really want to say thank you for the support.

[00:04:26]Um thank you for even the criticism that some of you give me.

[00:04:30]Trust me. I I don't mind. Send them coming. This is the way we grow. This is the way we get better.

[00:04:37]So, now as I proceed, you can see just looking here that this is an area that it seems that people tend to walk on a regular basis because I can see that there's somewhat of a footpath here that leads in a westerly direction on the train line.

[00:04:56]I had noticed a gentleman is either he had a shed or something set up by the train line back where I started from.

[00:05:03]But, when I go back up that side, I'll see if he'll be willing to talk.

[00:05:09]But, because it's kind of late, I wanted to capture as much footage as I could capture in relatively good lighting.

[00:05:16]Um he's closer to where I'm parked. So, I I always have to go back to the vehicle.

[00:05:21]So, it makes sense to just take advantage of what I'm able to capture here and see where this may lead. I'd earlier seen a young man walk past me and say, "Elder, you'll help me up." And he went along this way.

[00:05:35]So, this must connect multiple obviously connects connects multiple communities with of which I am not sure of some of the names. I'll have to go and research and you know, can give you a further information in the voiceovers, as per usual.

[00:05:51]Just on that side, I noticed that there is like a little river that runs it It's the same one that you'd see when you look at the drone footage at the bridge, that beautiful nice water that flows under that bridge.

[00:06:08]Now, as I proceed here, right where we are now is relatively heavily forested and you can see when they had constructed this line, that basically they would have cut through stone.

[00:06:22]Cuz you're looking at mainly stone to my left while facing west.

[00:06:29]So, to my left while facing west, that would be a southerly direction.

[00:06:35]So, let me continue on this journey.

[00:06:40]As I said, I do not know what to expect here.

[00:06:43]So, we're all exploring here for the first time.

[00:06:46]I, over the years driving through forest, I have noticed the line here. Um never ever stopped to really explore.

[00:06:56]But, you know, especially since I've been doing YouTube, I've become more and more curious in terms of wanting to tell these stories, wanting to find out information about these things.

[00:07:08]As I know you are also eager to find out, One Love Jamaica family.

[00:07:16]And big up to all the subscribers. Big up to even persons who have not yet subscribed.

[00:07:22]You know, I really appreciate it, but if you are watching the video, I'm asking you if you could subscribe.

[00:07:28]Please like and share the video.

[00:07:31]And you know, it would be good to watch the videos to the end. There are always important information that's given in these videos.

[00:07:38]And I notice here, we can see some different plant life.

[00:07:44]I don't know if that is a strain of what we would call the water grass that I was seeing earlier on.

[00:07:54]And as we proceed much further, you note that there's a home right here to my right.

[00:08:02]And it would seem that the main entrance is this way. There's also a little puppy standing guard here at the moment.

[00:08:11]So, you know that if anybody tries any kind of funny move, puppy is there and ready and waiting to snap up who dares to trespass. So, we can see some more water grass here.

[00:08:27]And what that tells me and there's some fern, that there tends to be a lot of water in this area. So, you know that more than likely there's a lot of limestone rock. But, guess what? It's the parish of Manchester.

[00:08:39]You know, it's famous for that.

[00:08:43]So, as we get up to this section, the grass gets a little bit higher here.

[00:08:50]And it's getting a little bit darker.

[00:08:52]Today is a very overcast day.

[00:08:55]Um the time is now just 3:47 p.m. in the evening and it looks much darker than that.

[00:09:02]But, it's not really that late.

[00:09:07]This has been a very overcast day. I just saw some butterflies flying by a while ago.

[00:09:14]So, we've cleared that section.

[00:09:19]Looking at some more lines now as we proceed.

[00:09:22]I noticed that I saw a cow somewhere in the distance.

[00:09:28]This area looks a little bit more clearer.

[00:09:32]And it looks like there is a second bridge cuz I can hear water in the distance.

[00:09:41]And yes, there is a second bridge. And apparently, there are persons here hanging out.

[00:09:50]Um here having a swim.

[00:09:56]Let me proceed as I said.

[00:09:58]This area is a much clearer area.

[00:10:02]And let us take a look over to my left.

[00:10:06]Yes, yes, general. Respect.

[00:10:08]Let's take a look over to my left here.

[00:10:13]I'm here in the water.

[00:10:15]But that can't necessarily see from this side.

[00:10:23]Oh.

[00:10:24]So, apparently, this isn't a bridge of such.

[00:10:28]The water seems to I thought that this was a bridge. It's not.

[00:10:33]The water seems to be flowing somewhere underground.

[00:10:37]Which ends up back over in that area.

[00:10:41]So, I'm not sure exactly where it flows.

[00:10:44]I thought that this was a bridge, but it's not.

[00:10:47]Um unless the bridge is much under in terms of in terms of the I I should say the hole that carries the water that section that opening that carries the water unless that is much much lower than where I'm currently at in terms of the level.

[00:11:02]Now, here is the that coal that I said was here.

[00:11:08]Reminiscent of that other coal you remember from that gold mine video.

[00:11:16]No.

[00:11:17]Let me continue down here.

[00:11:24]And again, you can see more of a kind of rocks here, kind of limestone-like rocks.

[00:11:31]I proceed again for another few meters.

[00:11:39]And again, you know, I must have to talk about the the quality of kind of timber that has been used.

[00:11:47]That these things have been here for many decades and are still standing, standing strong.

[00:11:54]But I'm not sure if it's strong enough to hold weight of a train currently.

[00:12:00]But strong enough to have been here for quite some time.

[00:12:10]So, as I get further on in this area, you know, so it looks to me that I've run into or I'm running into a dead end because I'm not seeing where Oh.

[00:12:35]So, you have to go around at this point.

[00:12:40]Look like maybe a tree or so fell in the way.

[00:12:45]Yes.

[00:12:47]And you can see that somebody would have cut the tree at this area.

[00:12:54]And yeah, that this looks like This is as far as I go to the west, you know, one love family cuz there's some amount of difficulty.

[00:13:08]There are trees that are falling and so on and I'm really I don't really have the time to fight through this.

[00:13:14]But this is as far as we go west.

[00:13:17]So, let's we just take a trot back in this direction.

[00:13:21]We can see that this section was covered due to a fallen tree.

[00:13:26]And persons would have used by the look of this a power saw to kind of cut.

[00:13:33]I don't know if you know what kind of plant this is.

[00:13:36]Please comment in the comment section.

[00:13:40]I'm all these here for the edification. One love, Jamaica family.

[00:13:45]You know?

[00:13:46]I'm not only here to give information, but to also receive.

[00:13:51]And I really thank you all for commenting and correcting all the mistakes when I made them. I remember I Um I saw somebody I don't I don't remember who that viewer was when I said North West Clarendon corrected me, "No, it's North East." And he's correct. I was thinking about North West St. Catherine, which is the area that would have bordered North East. So, really thank you very much.

[00:14:16]Really appreciate that, you know?

[00:14:19]Big up and respect.

[00:14:21]So, here we'll go by a number of ferns >> [clears throat] >> that have taken over this section of the line.

[00:14:33]And you know I have a question for the Jamaica the JRC Jamaica Railway Corporation, if I'm not mistaken.

[00:14:41]So So, this metal, which is obviously still in excellent condition, how long you plan to have these sitting here?

[00:14:53]If there is no plans to reinstitute um train service at least in some sections could this metal be used for something else in the meantime?

[00:15:06]Because by the time you're ready to institute it in any kind of number I am sure that there'll probably not be much much much use left for these um train lines that are here.

[00:15:24]So, as I said, over that side persons were having swimming earlier on.

[00:15:30]So, we proceed back.

[00:15:34]Um I'm not sure if this river is it would be the same Tulis, but there's a river called Saint Tulis here, which is further down in the community. Somebody can also comment and let me know if this is the same river that that goes from here and goes back down that side to Saint Tulis.

[00:15:56]I'd be, you know, happy if someone can assist me with that.

[00:16:03]So, let's go back now.

[00:16:08]And this is a nice little trek.

[00:16:11]See that there's a palm tree that was right here that somebody basically did some trimming to.

[00:16:23]I have all kind of number of plants that are in this area. If you identify any, please don't be shy.

[00:16:33]You can name them out.

[00:16:36]And I said I've seen a number of butterflies. There's another one.

[00:16:39]All right, see?

[00:16:41]I'm going to a number of them in this area.

[00:16:43]And also, you know, someone can explain why we might be having so many butterflies in this area.

[00:16:54]All right.

[00:17:01]Going back past that, you know, house that um I saw that little puppy standing guard.

[00:17:08]It's now to my left.

[00:17:10]A number of banana trees, coconut trees. I'm seeing a mango tree there.

[00:17:21]And a mixture of all kind of plant including ferns here.

[00:17:26]To my no, to my right.

[00:17:32]You know, I've I've experienced train rides but I do not think I've apart from going to Linstead and Hold Harbor as a youngster and and to Kingston, I don't think I've ever experienced a train ride coming to this part of the island.

[00:17:49]And you can imagine persons who have never experienced a train.

[00:17:54]Yeah, man. Remember I was in primary school at the time. The last time I remember we went on a school trip. Yes, we went to Hope Gardens.

[00:18:02]Yes, yes, Hope Gardens. I remember it now.

[00:18:05]And that time we went to the Coconut Park.

[00:18:09]Do you Some of you remember Coconut Park? That little section where you could get little rides and so on as a child. You know, it was it was the greatest the great one of the greatest experiences.

[00:18:20]Also, when we went into the maze, I remember getting lost in that maze and crying my head off.

[00:18:26]Yes.

[00:18:28]Yeah, man. I remember cried my head off while in that maze as a youngster.

[00:18:35]It was a very very frightening experience at the time.

[00:18:39]But it was fun all the same.

[00:18:45]So, as I said, one of Jamaica fam, I'm going to see if I can, you know, see if I can chat with the gentleman that is close to the area that I would have been parked if he's willing to.

[00:19:01]If not, this still was a nice little trek.

[00:19:04]Um you know, I I This one I have to do a lot more checks inform me check the I can probably check the Jamaica Railway Corporation website to see what information it can give me about this section of the line.

[00:19:20]Might not be as full some as many other videos I've been but any little information is important.

[00:19:29]Um wouldn't you say one of Jamaica fam?

[00:19:32]If you agree, just give me a fire emoji in the comment section.

[00:19:36]And again, me and the butterflies here.

[00:19:39]Um also is another section where the another tree would have fallen.

[00:19:44]I'm assuming all of this would have been from the recent passage of Hurricane [snorts] Melissa which, you know, has had devastated the island, especially those the western parts of Jamaica.

[00:20:01]You know, St. Elizabeth Westmoreland some sections of Manchester St. James, Hanover Trelawny heavily heavily hit.

[00:20:14]But we just pray that, you know it's going to be a long process and miserable but we have to build back better as a country.

[00:20:37]So here I'm almost back to my start starting point one of Jamaica fam.

[00:20:46]And this was a good little walk out also.

[00:20:50]A good little break from the driving cuz I've been you know, traveling for some time.

[00:20:55]I was in St. Elizabeth earlier on.

[00:20:58]Um multiple communities so it's kind of good to you know, get up from behind the vehicle and stretch from behind the steering and stretch my legs.

[00:21:10]So, you know, getting the blood flowing.

[00:21:13]Getting the you know, everything pumping, moving up and down, you know, helping to build that lung capacity.

[00:21:21]Yes, Mr. Fireworks. Are you in my trouble?

[00:21:24]>> [laughter] >> Everyone will be open respect. I know we love all our viewers and subscribers.

[00:21:31]So, there was the main road I was There's a main road that I was driving on at the time when I then took a glance and I would have seen at the lady and the the young man at the time, you know, proceeding over this this bridge that really caught my eye.

[00:21:49]And I noticed that there's this huge house that's built that is built right here with a very large retaining wall.

[00:21:57]But I'm seeing some signs of danger.

[00:22:00]If you look right there, there's some signs of danger. So, I just hope that they are able to get that area fixed so that, you know, we don't have everything sliding off into this river here in the community.

[00:22:16]As I said, they said that the community is called Lion and that's in the poorest area near the border of Manchester and Clarendon.

[00:22:36]So, proceeding here.

[00:22:39]Well, here this little building here looks something like a bathroom.

[00:22:46]Yeah, see. There's also a water tank there.

[00:22:50]Yeah, this must be a little bathroom. I don't know if it's related It's It's locked up.

[00:22:56]I don't know if it's connected to a bar that's located on that side, but it probably is or it has anything to do with the train line.

[00:23:07]That would be just speculation on my side.

[00:23:10]Now, I'm going to proceed up this way to see if there's a possibility, you know, to have a conversation with this um person that I had seen.

[00:23:25]I noticed also it seems like there's a building that um is covered in bush here.

[00:23:35]So, this is somewhere that you know, people would have probably lived at that time when the train service was flowing through the community.

[00:23:50]And right behind the bushes there, you you can see as a bit of peace, you can see a little of the property. You can't see it now.

[00:24:01]One love Jamaica family, you're looking at it right here.

[00:24:05]That's a good size home.

[00:24:07]But all of this here is now covered in grass and trees.

[00:24:14]And you know, again, is a theme of development. Sometimes development tends to bypass communities for one reason or the other.

[00:24:28]So, this is the building that I had spotted earlier on.

[00:24:34]And I think I saw the man was doing something with these palms.

[00:24:42]I'm not sure if he's drying them or so.

[00:24:45]Kind of just look like he he's put set them out in a particular way.

[00:24:49]And he probably is a broom maker from what I'm seeing here.

[00:24:56]What does it look like is here right now.

[00:25:04]So, let me just proceed.

[00:25:09]I saw these goats. I mean, another set [music] of goats again. You know that there have been quite a number of videos with goats in them.

[00:25:16]And here we're looking at another bridge-like structure.

[00:25:21]Yes.

[00:25:23]This is a bridge. Somebody ensured that make sure that the goats will not fall between this section here.

[00:25:33]And I can't tell you now this You look at You just look at You can appreciate how good quality of the timber that's here that is here.

[00:25:45]So, here as I said there's another bridge. So, there's a number of train bridges located here in the poorest area.

[00:26:00]And that That must have been some some expenditure to build all of these bridges in this area over this one single river.

[00:26:12]And I wonder why that would have been.

[00:26:16]Was there no other way?

[00:26:19]I can't answer that question.

[00:26:21]Well, here we can take a closer look at some of the structure here.

[00:26:30]So, I want to love Jamaica family. That was a nice little tour. Here's another look at the river as it snakes its way.

[00:26:44]So, let's Let us make my way now back to this area.

[00:26:51]It's unfortunate that wasn't, you know, but remember that I wanted to ensure I got as far as I could um with as much light still available as possible.

[00:27:07]But, I know for sure I saw the man earlier, you know, he was outside, you know, knocking these.

[00:27:15]So, I'm assuming that he makes he makes brooms and so on.

[00:27:22]So, but he looked like he's locked up and gone.

[00:27:26]One love Jamaica fam.

[00:27:28]And here, there's the main road here to my right.

[00:27:33]Um it's motorists and pedal cyclists both make their way.

[00:27:38]I do hope you enjoyed this little trek.

[00:27:42]One love Jamaica family.

[00:27:45]Yeah.

[00:27:46]I know that it was very good for me. I'm feeling much better now.

[00:27:50]Yeah, pretty nice. My lungs are open up and I'm feeling good after this little walk.

[00:27:58]>> [music] [music]