Madagascar (March, 2010) – Given we departed and returned on the first FCE train since the cyclone, it seemed every possible banana grown in banana-land was loaded onto the train. Interestingly, the train carried three times as many produce cars as it did passenger cars. It was an overwhelming realization; that the country's overdue banana crops were loaded, destined for distribution throughout the country. Instead of the 4 hours to Tolonguina, the reverse trip took more than eight hours. In addition to being several hours late the train struggled with the weight it carried, taxingly piloting the sharp mountainous declines without having cars flying off the rails.
