The handwritten inscription on the back of the photo follows:
G.B. on the steps of a Buda car, Herrera, Oriente, Cuba. This car is equipped with a Model A Ford motor and will run forward or backward 60 miles per hour operating on standard gauge railroad track. The United Fruit Co. owns 186 miles of track. January, 1929.
The United Fruit Co. has the dubious distinction of having been one of the main symbols of longstanding US exploitation of Cuba, its resources, and its people, and leading to the discontent which resulted in the successful communist revolution of the 1950s.
Mrs. R. N. Smith and her son, Russell Smith, Superintendent of Agriculture in their Buda car. Guaro, Oriente, Cuba. January, 1929.
Buda railway inspection cars were produced in Harvey, Illinois. It is not certain that this particular car was actually produced by Buda, or whether the photographer was referring to this vehicle generically as a Buda car. The Buda Foundry and Mfg. Co. and Buda Engine Co. did build railway maintenance and track equipment, but also built their own line of engines.