The Tren Blindado — the Armoured Train — is one of the most tangible revolutionary monuments in Cuba. Four of the original derailed railcars sit exactly where they were toppled on 28 December 1958, at the site where Che Guevara's rebel column defeated a Batista force of 400 soldiers and effectively decided the outcome of the Cuban Revolution.
The monument has been left largely as it was found, with the cars split open, twisted metal still showing the marks of the ambush. Inside the main car is a museum with original weapons, photographs, and documents from the battle. It is an open-air museum, low-key by Cuban standards, and all the more effective for it — the scale of the derailed cars is immediately striking. The location near the river, about a kilometre north of Parque Vidal, is an easy walk or a short taxi ride from the centre of town.