In this episode, host Ian Wright goes on an eye-opening and hair-raising train journey across the Caribbean island of Cuba. The Communist country’s railway network is dilapidated and very unreliable, but it’s a fantastically enjoyable trip.

Surprisingly, Cuba was one of the first countries in the world to build a railway, starting all the way back in 1837. At the time, Cuba was the world’s largest sugar producer, and its early railways were designed not with passengers mainly in mind, but to transport sugarcane to the mills, and refined sugar to the ports.

On a day trip out of the capital Havana, Ian takes a ride on the historic Hershey line, Cuba’s only electrified railway, built in the 1920’s by the famous American chocolate manufacturer to facilitate exports from the huge Hershey sugar mill.

In Santa Clara, Ian visits the site of the famous battle in 1958, fought by rebels commanded by Che Guevara. Carriages of an armoured train sent by the hated dictator General Batista are preserved by the track, where they were derailed by the rebels in a successful act of sabotage that helped win the Revolution.

Ian travels on to the historic city of Trinidad by car, as the railway line to the city hasn’t been fixed since a hurricane destroyed a bridge over 20 years ago. Founded more than 500 years ago, Trinidad became rich in sugar and slavery and today is a wonderfully well-preserved UNESCO World Heritage Site.