Dole plans train tour as part of expansion
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser North Shore Bureau
WAHIAWA— James Dole once used a train to haul pineapple from Wahiawa to Honolulu. Now, in an effort to broaden the visitor experience to the Dole Plantation and create a bit of nostalgia, owner Castle and Cooke will develop a train tour of its farming operations in central O'ahu.
The train is part of a $2 million expansion plan for the Dole Plantation site.
Perhaps as early as next summer, Dole Plantation will have a 1 1/2-mile tour of pineapple fields, orchards and a reservoir that will give visitors a historical and educational perspective of agriculture in Wahiawa, said Harry Saunders, president of Castle and Cooke operations.
"We're all kids, and we all love to hop on a train," Saunders said. "It would take people up into the fields, and we can tape in educational information about the pineapple process and the history of the pineapple in central O'ahu."
Saunders said the company expects to discuss the project with various community organizations, including Rotary Clubs and neighborhood boards.
Dole Plantation already has the world's biggest maze, a visitor center and a garden with various types of pineapples, said Susan Harada, operations manager at Dole Plantation. Besides the $1.5 million train and its 15-minute tour, the expansion will includes a botanical garden.
The company already is preparing the fields for the tour: plowing under old crop, grading and planting pineapple and other produce.
The train — a locomotive with three cars — is not full size but will carry 108 people per trip, chugging along at about 6 miles per hour. The engine will be modeled after historical locomotives, and the passenger cars will be like open trolleys.
The decision to add the tour was based on feedback from customers. Visitors want more and continue to ask about cannery tours, which ended years ago, Harada said. The tours will inform people about Dole's diversified agriculture business and history.
The new plan is still evolving, she said, hinting that other ideas are being considered.
"There's so much more, but it's a little premature to talk about," Harada said, adding that the train is definitely planned.
Visitors at the center generally liked the idea of a train. Sandra Lebos and Bill Richardson said they stopped at the center out of curiosity but did not stay long. Both said they would be interested in learning more about the history of the plantation and taking the train tour.
"I'm interested in the history attached to (the plantation) rather than gift shops," said Lebos.
At the plantation, people learn that James Dole arrived in Hawai'i in 1899 and acquired 61 acres of land in Wahiawa, where he decided that the only thing that would grow there was pineapple. He established the Hawaiian Pineapple Co. in 1901 and built a cannery in Wahiawa in 1903. Shortly after O'ahu Railway and Land Co. established a link to Wahiawa in 1906, Dole built Dole Cannery in Iwilei.
Jana Harris said she wouldn't be interested.
"We're more into doing things than educational things," said Harris, of California, who liked the maze.
But Bill Whitwarth, of Texas, said he would have preferred a train tour because four knee surgeries makes it difficult for him to walk any distance without resting. Whitwarth was seated on the shaded verandah of the center while his family walked through the maze.
Liz Perry, of California, wished the cannery tours were still open but said she would take the train tour, if available.
"I would do it because I have small children, and they love trains," Perry said.
