Laying tracks in Central America.

• Author: Watson, George S.
• Position: Upfront

Thank you very much for your article entitled "New Steam for Old Engines" [July-August 2004]. Mr. Minor C. Keith, who is mentioned in the article, hired my grandfather in 1894 in England to work on his railroad in Costa Rica. He then put him in charge of the mechanical workshop in the gold mines of Abangares, in Guanacaste Province.

Mr. Keith was one of the most important entrepreneurs of Central America, since his interests also included developing other industries such as banana, sugar cane, cacao, and cattle.

His dream was to build a railroad that would go from the northern border with Mexico all the way to Panama, a distance of 1,377 miles, with an estimated cost, in 1907, of US$50 million. But his dream never came true.

In 1904, he formed the Guatemala Railroad Company, in order to complete the Puerto...