The Last Gatekeeper of Jamaica's Railway
One Love Jamaica
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#jamaica #hiddenhistory #railway
In the hills of Leyton Valley, Portland, one woman still remembers the gate to a viaduct most of Jamaica has forgotten.
Deep in Leyton Valley, Portland — along the old Bog Walk to Port Antonio branch line that once carried the island's banana trade to the world — we sat down with Miss Millicent Green, an elder whose memory stretches back to a chapter of Jamaica's railway history that few living voices can still tell.
Miss Green shared the story of the woman she calls her mother — in truth, her aunt, who raised her — who she says operated the train gate at the viaduct crossing the Spanish River. It was a role that placed her at the heart of daily life in Leyton, watching over the crossing as trains carried Portland's banana harvest toward Port Antonio's ports.
Miss Green also recounted one of the most vivid memories passed down to her: a flood that sent the Spanish River rising over the viaduct itself, and a daring rescue of a farmer caught in the rushing water. It's the kind of story that never made it into a history book — kept alive only because someone remembered to tell it, and someone else was there to listen.
This episode of One Love Jamaica sits at the intersection of personal memory and documented history. The Port Antonio line, completed in 1896, was built to serve Portland's booming banana and coconut trade, and its bridges — including the older steel-beam crossings at rivers like the Spanish River — were once vital arteries of the parish's economy. Today, much of that infrastructure stands quiet, and the people who worked and lived alongside it are becoming harder to find.
Miss Green's account is shared here as her own testimony and family memory — a piece of Portland's oral history that deserves to be preserved and heard in her own words.Thank you for watching this video. Please like, share and subscribe for more video on all things Jamaican. Please also turn on post notification so you don't miss out when we post.
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One Love Jamaica
20 Comments
Big up too to Ms. Green for taking the time to come on camera and to tell her experiences growing up within this part of the operation of the JRC.
I have work to do, but found your vid so enthralling, I couldn't stop watching!!
Thanks again for taking the time and effort (and risks!!) of making this vid for our information and entertainment.
I'm watching it today, August 17, the date of Marcus Mosiah Garvey's birthday (139) and also the 75th anniversary of hurricane Charlie's passage through Jamaica ('51 Storm).
I saw where another viewer commented that the Spanish river has silted up and poses a threat, in the event of heavy rainfall, to the bridge currently used to traverse the river. I think that is indicative of the neglect the authorities have far too often allowed to develop which, if allowed to continue, may result in unintended changes to the history of some of these sites and to the lives of our people. I hope they too (the local public works authorities) will watch your video and be instructed/informed by its contents,
One Love!! :face-red-heart-shape:
Great memories.
Thank you.
Thank you for this informative JA history
It's the only railway station building that remains in Portland right now.you Can visit one day and hear more on that railway building.
When I was small in the late 1970s train stop run. So I don't know nothing about the train , my mom always tells me, because her father and grandfather used to work on the train line those days.
The Last Gatekeeper of Jamaica's Railway
One Love Jamaica
40,039 views
#jamaica #hiddenhistory #railway
In the hills of Leyton Valley, Portland, one woman still remembers the gate to a viaduct most of Jamaica has forgotten.
Deep in Leyton Valley, Portland — along the old Bog Walk to Port Antonio branch line that once carried the island's banana trade to the world — we sat down with Miss Millicent Green, an elder whose memory stretches back to a chapter of Jamaica's railway history that few living voices can still tell.
Miss Green shared the story of the woman she calls her mother — in truth, her aunt, who raised her — who she says operated the train gate at the viaduct crossing the Spanish River. It was a role that placed her at the heart of daily life in Leyton, watching over the crossing as trains carried Portland's banana harvest toward Port Antonio's ports.
Miss Green also recounted one of the most vivid memories passed down to her: a flood that sent the Spanish River rising over the viaduct itself, and a daring rescue of a farmer caught in the rushing water. It's the kind of story that never made it into a history book — kept alive only because someone remembered to tell it, and someone else was there to listen.
This episode of One Love Jamaica sits at the intersection of personal memory and documented history. The Port Antonio line, completed in 1896, was built to serve Portland's booming banana and coconut trade, and its bridges — including the older steel-beam crossings at rivers like the Spanish River — were once vital arteries of the parish's economy. Today, much of that infrastructure stands quiet, and the people who worked and lived alongside it are becoming harder to find.
Miss Green's account is shared here as her own testimony and family memory — a piece of Portland's oral history that deserves to be preserved and heard in her own words.Thank you for watching this video. Please like, share and subscribe for more video on all things Jamaican. Please also turn on post notification so you don't miss out when we post.
==========================
Share and Subscribe
@oneloveja
Follow us on Instagram:
Instagram: onelovejamaica_
Follow and like us on FaceBook
Facebook: onelovejamaica1
One Love Jamaica
Thanks for this story.