CAMAGÜEY.- Two huge tabs of smoke rise. Smiles draw faces and emotions invade. The commitment becomes reality: the 52501 locomotive will return to the streets. And announces it on August 13. This August 13.
This was the first one mounted by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, of that batch of 12 high-profile teams from China, who arrived in Cuba in 2006.
The time, the years of exploitation, took it just over 18 months ago to the Railway Equipment Repair Company of this city, where they “entered” to attend it entirely. And since then interest was born.
Its symbolism made these men turn each day into a special motivation, into a real thrashing where the hours were a challenge, because the word committed did not admit delays.
Attached to the huge mole, with the traces of the trade, face, arms and clothes stained with grease, the electromechanical engineer and principal specialist, Mario Adam Revilla, breathes relieved.
“They have been endless days,” he summarizes, while his hands slide through the imposing structure, as if he were a big boy.
Impossible, then, to erase at a stroke how much had to be done, how much had to be innovated, to reach this successful conclusion.
And happiness seizes them all, like the electrician and brigade chief, Raúl del Campo Alonso, who waited for his start in the machine cabin, and a smile caressed his face, when the loud snoring invaded the hangar.
The 52501 will carry its original colors. Those it showed when Fidel, the eternal Commander, rode it as soon as they entered the country.
And joy, satisfaction, well yes, there are plenty of reasons. And it happened today August 13, when our giant turns 93.
In addition, it is not any 13, and therefore the value, the incalculable value, of the 501 …
- Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez