Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
system of tracks
that would allow the steam engine to circle the island of Puerto Rico.
The construction work was initiated in October of 1888.
The laying of track was hard work that required great physical effort
by the Spanish and Puerto Rican workers
who were hired for the job.
Children 12 and 13 years of age,
men barefoot and without machinery
raised bridges
crossed mountains
and died doing the work, victims of the yellow fever.
But the great work of those workers
made possible that, by 1898,
there were 370 Km of railway lines
from San Juan to Arecibo
from San Juan to Carolina
from Yauco to Ponce and from Aguadilla to Mayagüez
At the conclusion of the Spanish-American war and despite the change in sovereignty
the Puerto Rican Railway company continued its work
now administered
by the American Railroad of Puerto Rico.
In this second stage of its history
was constructed the central station of San Juan
designed by French architects
and originally administered by
Mr. George Villar.
The hardes work,
of conducting the train from town to town
was in the hands of Puerto Rican engineers
who put colour and mischief
into the history of the railroad.
Blessed be the Lord!
When I started they gave me
5 pesos for 15 days
as water carrier giving water to the brigade
giving water to the labourers, to the workers.
Later they took me from there
and they put me to work on bridges heating rivets
and suffering with sufferers
and doing crazy things, until y made myself a man working there.
Later, I fell in love, I liked the engines, what happened to this one and we left the bench
chasing after engines.
To get through bad times.
I was someone who put out his ear
to listen when
the train was coming, because you could hear,
at 50 or 200m you could hear,
and when I heard the sound
I put down the barrier at the crossing
and the train passed
and then do you know what I did?
I lay down to sleep
there weren't no mo'
I was there for about a year earning
15 dollars a month.
With 30 days that's 50 cents for 12 hours
I lived like that, with God's help, eating bread rolls and things like that
Later I went to work on the track as a labourer
from 7 AM to 5 PM, I earned
six Reales
Already it was a higher salary and it was during the day, I was happy it was day
3 pesetas
From there I got myself, little by little, gaining experiencea and the guy managed to
to get himself in since he was a guy from there, from Isabela
And until I went to work at,
they called on me to work on
the trains as a brakeman.
The last one on the wagon was me, sitting on the wagon wheel,
and there I spent quite some time under the sun and water and calm near Guajataca
and all those places around there,
earning some 30 or 40 bucks which was what I was earning.
When you found yourself in a station where they sold moonshine
there you went in.
Yeah, because if not for that you couldn't live or work
with how dangerous that was.
Together with the engineer,
appeared other people, street vendors of all types who offered travelers
the specialty of every town.
In that sense,
the train system brought jobs, indirectly, to hundreds of people
and propelled the commercial development of certain towns.
But the sector which was most impacted by the train system
was agriculture.
For centuries we depended on oxen and horses for the
transportation of our agricultural goods.
Our production depended on arduous physical effort
on rustic means of production.
The infrastructure created by the train system, facilitated the transportation of
sugar cane to the central sugar plant
even before we could
count on the machinery,
appropriate for labouring the fields and
processing the sugar cane,
the train laid ground in the development
of a sugar industry.
The train was the first sign of the new processes which were beginning
on the island.
New work tools would be added to that speedy machine
culminating in and era of great social changes.
The impact of the train extended to all types of activities,
including the new political processes of the country.
I saw them brining some wagons,
which were the wagons brining the sugar,
those wagons were prepared
to bring peasants from the fields
and they offered them a change of clothes
and a few coins,
and they shut them in there,
until election day, at the stop
at stop 11.
There was a large house with a corral and they shut them in there
That was in 1932 when they first gave women the vote.
I didn't vote in 32 because I wasn't of age.
Men
approaching the electoral contest
for general elections,
which will be in November of this year,
This director wants ro recall, to all its employees,
its position
on the matter.
In accordance with its rules and customs
it maintains due respect for all political creeds.
In the contest
it maintains a position of absolute neutrality.
The employees of this company can count on the complete assurance
that in fulfilling
the obligations of their respective duties
they have nothing to fear as far as the security of their places in the company.
With the help of the train,
the first mass gathering to occur in the country
managed to expand its sphere of influence.
When this train arrived and whistled
we all lived. We had just won the game
before it had begun.
It was huge emotional impact, the arrival
of the school train.
All this
great stadium, these stands
were filled with students
of the University of Puerto Rico and the sports public
The return,
the return was
full of joy for how much
we had won the fight
and though the hours weren't the best
since we traveled by night.
The bustle, the joy, the cheers
filled the whole trip.
What account did we give the train company and Mr. Fernando Segri?
A lightbulb.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community