Thirty Inches Apart - Patagonia

Following on from 'BAGS of Steam'

Having arrived at Ingeniero Jacobacci in the middle of the night after a 33 hour journey, we were to say the least somewhat knackered. I did note broad gauge 2-8-0 4119 was station pilot here before we boarded the thirty inch gauge Esquel train which was standing in the bay platform. It was due to leave at 5.50am, so we had a couple of hours to relax and inevitably fall asleep. I remember dozing off and waking up to the sound of music coming from a transistor radio being played far too loud. 5.50am came and went, still the train remained in the station. We should have visited the loco shed area which housed both broad and narrow gauge engines, but with the combination of darkness and tiredness, we didn't. Eventually the motive power backed down from the shed, not one, but two locos. They were 103, a Henschel built 2-8-2, and 5 , another 2-8-2, from Baldwin Loco Works, both oil burners. The train consisted of two oil tank wagons, seven assorted vans, a first class carriage, a second class carriage and, mercifully, a restaurant car - needed with a journey of 402 kilometres in prospect! Departure finally came at 06.50, an hour late.

After Cerro Mesa, we proceeded with No.5 in sole charge to the next stop at Norquinco. At a wayside station where we didn't stop, we noted Henschel 2-8-2 107 dead in the loop. Arrival in Norquinco, 200 kilometres from Jacobacci and 202 more to Esquel, was at 15.30. There was a long wait for the service going in the opposite direction which eventually arrived at 17.03 headed by another Henschel, 106. Sadly for us, the restaurant car had already been detached from our train to return to Jacobacci.

With 106's arrival, we were away quickly at 17.08, albeit the scheduled departure was 13.35, so about three and a half hours late.

Next stop 37 kilometres on was at the important railway location of El Maiten, with its big loco shed and main workshops for the line. There was a loco change and shunting here, which gave us time for a swift visit to the shed, with eight Henschel 2-8-2s and one Baldwin 2-8-2 seen, five being in steam. There were also six dumped 2-8-2s which we didn't identify.

Loco 5 left us here and our new engine was Henschel 110 which came off shed. From El Maiten the train consisted of five assorted vans and two carriages.

As we pulled out of the station at 18.30 we passed loco 102 in steam, not seen on the shed.

It soon became dark and sleep overtook me for most of the remaining journey, though I was awake to note loco 105 at Leleque on a freight. around twenty past eight.

It was five minutes into Sunday when we finally arrived at Esquel, two hours and fifty minutes late, after an epic journey which started in BA at 18.00 Thursday evening and had covered 1949 kilometres.

All we wanted now was to get to a hotel and sleep. We piled into a taxi at the station and asked the driver - in our non-existent Spanish - to take us to a hotel. After a short ride, we were dropped off and ushered through a door, up some stairs and into a bedroom with a double bed. The lighting was subdued and there was a cigarette butt burning in the ashtray on the bedside table and a 'gentleman's ' magazine lying on the bed. Stepping back out onto the landing, we saw a couple of ladies hanging around and it dawned on us that we had been transported to the local brothel! As it used to say in the News of the World - 'we made an excuse and left...' We managed to find a proper hotel nearby and slept soundly!

It was our intention to fly out in the afternoon on the 17.15 flight to Comodoro Rivadavia, so we sought out the airline office in town. We were pleasantly surprised that the man in charge spoke perfect English - he told us he had worked in the Argentine Embassy in London. The less good news was that the 17.15 flight was fully booked, no chance of seats for the three of us. It was a relatively small aircraft, albeit British built, an Avro 748 turbo-prop. So we had to settle for booking on the Monday morning flight, leaving at 09.45.The airline man asked if we wanted to change money, he was looking for £s, as he was going to London later in the year to finalise a divorce from his English wife who lived in Northamptonshire!

We left Esquel on Monday morning to travel even further south in Patagonia, aboard a 44 seat Fokker Friendship, operated by LADE, the Lineas Aereas del Estado. We discovered that the pilot and co-pilot, both Argentinians, again spoke excellent English, having been trained by the RAF in England, demonstrating once more the close ties between the two countries at that time. This was an all-day flight, stopping off at various places in Patagonia: Trelew, where there had been another long 75cm railway, and a centre for Welsh immigrants; Comodoro Rivadavia, which still had a broad gauge railway; Puerto Deseado, also with an isolated broad gauge line; San Julian;Santa Cruz; with the final destination at 17.15 being the port of Rio Gallegos, from where a 262km long thirty inch gauge railway^ went inland to the coal mines at Rio Turbio. En route, we looked out for railway installations at the various towns mentioned, but there were just glimpses of trackage and sheds. However a few days later, we paid a visit to Comodoro Rivadavis en route back to Buenos Aires.

Rio Gallegos - Rio Turbio

At the time of our visit, this was said to be the most southerly railway in the world+.

The winds blew in Rio Gallegos - so fierce it was difficult to stand upright at times. The railway was operated by RFIRT - Red Ferro Industrial Rio Turbio - and owned by Yacimientos Carboniferos Fiscales, the State Coal Board. It was opened throughout between May and September 1951. In those days Henschel 2-8-2s,same type as on the Esquel line, were in charge, but in 1956 the railway acquired ten brand new powerful 2-10-2s built by Mitsubishi, running numbers 101 to 110. When more locos were needed, RFIRT again went for steam, with another ten, improved, 2-10-2s coming from Mitsubishi in 1963. All were fitted with mechanical stokers and twelve-wheeled bogie tenders*.

116, above, came from the second tranche of locos in 1963 and is visibly different to 102, having an extended chimney and smoke deflectors. Improvements were carried out under the direction of renowned loco engineer Senor L D Porta, who was RFIRT General Manager from 1957 to 1960.

Loco 104 'DON BOSCO' arrives from Rio Turbio, above left, with a full train stretching right round the curve and, above right, looking out at the ocean. This was train 5024, due at 17.25, loaded to 63 bogie wagons, probably about 1500 tonnes in all. Test runs had taken place with 3500 tonne trains, not bad for a steam worked thirty inch gauge railway.

Footnotes:

It was November 1996 before diesel locos took over completely from steam on train workings.

^ In 1995 the line was extended 34 kms to a new harbour at Puerto Punto Loyola and Rio Gallegos port was abandoned.

+ The 'Train at the End of the World' 500mm gauge tourist railway has that distinction in 2017. See http://www.trendelfindelmundo.com.ar/

* Lots of information about the railway and locos here: https://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/ldp/rfirt/santafes.htm

There are plans to operate tourist trains on the Rio Turbio line. Two steam locos from the line have been or are being overhauled in 2017.

Some information from 2015 is here: http://csrail.org/newsroom/2015/9/20/csr-web-exclusive-steam-returning-to-the-rio-turbio-railway