Okay, so we're back from the big trip. 4,000 km on the car, 17 days on the road, 3 days (part) riding trains, and some misc railfanning shots. If I wait to get all the photos edited, uploaded, and a total trip report writen, you'll never see anything. So what I'm going to do is edit a few, upload them, and write a shorter post (in this thread) on each group. As a bit of background, we drove from the east coast of Mexico up to Chihuahua (1,600 km) basically with the idea of riding the Copper Canyon train. That was the main driver for the trip, but we had to work in some other vacation stuff to keep the whole family happy. I'll skip most of the general sightseeing stuff, and concentrate of the train shots. By the way, in case you haven't already done so, you might be interested in seeing Stourbridge Lion's epic thread on the Copper Canyon trainride here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=81794 Before even getting to Chihuahua (city), we passed this Ferromex work train with a short string of ballast hoppers. The loco, which I believe to be a GP38-2, is still in the old two tone blue “Smurf” (or “Pitufo” in Spanish) paint scheme that she wore before privatization of FNM back in the mid 90’s. One of the cars surprised me. It’s this hopper car that still has the odl NdeM reporting marks. Maybe there are plenty of them running around, but it’s the first one I’ve seen that hasn’t had the reporting marks patched over with the new railroad’s reporting marks (in this case, FXE). And bringing up the rear was this caboose, still in service as a MoW crew car. I shot a string of these last month in San Luis Potosí, over on KCSdeM. Okay, that’s it for the first post. Yeah, I know, not so exciting yet. Back to editing and uploading. Next up, I get to the station in Chihuahua. Regards Ed
Thanks, Fitz. It does get better. Anyway, while I'm on a roll, here are a couple more shots. We're now at the (fairly non-descript) station in Chihuahua. I'm not starting the trip from here, but did want to pick up my tickets. Out in front of the station is this old NdeM 2-6-2. Not your most common type of loco. Built by Alco back in 1911. I could be wrong, but it looks to me like she doesn't have boiler insulation and sheathing, just the boiler cleaned and painted. Could be a preservation deal, to prevent rusting under the jacketing. Here's a sign for the railroad itself. Commonly called "Chepe", it comes from the initials from the railroad's name, which was Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico (Chihuahua to Pacific Railroad) or Ch-P. The logo is a stylized foot with a thonged sandal, evoking the idea of the Rarámuri people who inhabit the Canyon region, and who are famed as long distance runners. This is actually part of FXE (Ferromex), but the line is commonly referred to as Chepe. Mostly passenger service (one first class and one second class each direction, daily), they do run a couple of freight trains a day in each direction. Out behind the station was this old FNM business car. Looked to be still serviceable. And they had a "Big hook" on standby too. I would guess that they get a lot of chances to use this on that twisting route between here and the coast. I know that I saw a number of cars down in the bottom of the canyons that they hadn't even recovered. Sorry, didn't have my "pole filter" on the canera when I took the shot. The yard was fenced, and no access except for shooting through the wire. I'm trying to figure out if those silver bars on the crane are protection against any load swinging into the cab. Later on we see some locos being serviced and readied for a trip. Regards Ed
Ed, once or twice a month, I'll see a NdeM boxcar come through on CSX between New Orleans and Mobile. So I assume they're not that rare in the States. Looking forward to seeing more of your "vacation".
You probably get to see more of them than I do, seeing how there are no tracks within 3 hours of here. Just out of curiosity, when you say NdeM cars, are you just referring to the big NdeM noodle style logo, or are you saying that the actual car reporting marks haven't been patched over as either FXE, TFM, or FSRR? I have seen a number where the big logo is still intact, but they have all had their reporting marks changed. More tomorrow, I hope. Ed
Okay, next day we're doing some misc sightseeing around the city and I somehow manage to direct our car into the neighborhood where Ferromex has their engine servicing facility. Here's a lineup of what I believe to be GP-38-2's just outside the maintenance shop, probably ready for a day's work. The facility was fenced so I couldn't get close, but here are a couple of better views. First #2019, still in the old two tone blue FNM paint scheme. Then #2017, in the regular Ferromex red/white/green paint scheme. Of course, with the engine compartment doors open, it doesn't look as good as it should. Looks like the mechanics are doing some minor work. And finally, #2020. Remember this one? It's the same locomotive we saw a couple of days ago hauling that ballast train south of Chihuahua. These are not the locomotives they use on the Copper Canyon passenger trains. For those they use GP40-2's. I assume these are used on other FXE routes around Chihuahua. Don't lose faith, we'll actually get to the canyon soon. Regards Ed
We then left trains for a couple of days to do some general sightseeing. Drove to Basaseachi National Park to see the waterfalls. Basaseachi is the second highest waterfall in Mexico at around 258 meters (maybe about 850 feet). Of course, now is nearly the end of the dry season, so the flow is severely reduced. Still interesting to see and hike around. In the same park is the highest waterfall in Mexico, Piedra Volada, at 453 meters (about 1,500 feet). But during the dry season the flow completely dries up in this waterfall, so we didn't bother trying to reach it. But back to the trains. For logistic reasons, we decided not to take the train from Chihuahua. but to board it at San Juanito. Since the station itself is not in service, I went over the afternoon before to see how the train operated at that scheduled stop. Here comes my first view of a northbound (Los Mochis to Chihuahua) first class train. GP40-2 #3000 is pulling a dining car, a bar car, and 5 coaches, a typical consist for a holiday period. What it did when it came into town was slow roll through the station. I guess they had no scheduled passengers detraining and no one waiting on the platform to be picked up. Here's a better shot of #3000. You'll see a lot more of this locomotive through the thread. Tomorrow it will be pulling our southbound (Chihuahua to Los Mochis) first class (Primera Express) train. Next day we were waiting on the platform and she slowed down and picked us up. I could hardly believe it. We had been planning this trip for several years and were finally pulling it off. Here's a shot of our car. That me on the right with the big SEG on my face. That's Junior in the foreground with the blue/yellow jacket. I think he was happier than he looked. San Juanito is up on the flatter top of the canyons (maybe up around 2,450 meters above sea level, about 8,000 feet). But soon we started getting into some more interesting scenery. Here's a typical shot from the vestibule as we round a bend. There was no problem from the crew in riding in the vestibule sections with the upper part of the door open. But somehow I think I should have received a discount ticket. I paid for a seat but spent the whole trip standing!!! Tomorrow, the Loop and Divisadero. Regards Ed
I'd guess those are GP38-2s... but that's not what they were built as. They have the air filter box and two radiator fans characteristic of the 38-series. There's no fuel filler sight glass, so it's not a Dash 2. Note the strangely large gap between the radiator fans, suggesting that a smaller fan between them was removed. Also note that there are only nine handrail stanchions per side. The GP38/39/40 and their Dash 2 versions have ten, as seen on this example of a stock Phase I GP38-2: http://www.trainpix.com/BN/EMDORIG/GP38-2/2079.HTM These Ferromex units must have originally been GP35s.
Heck, you're way ahead of me in being able to identify diseasels. I have to turn to my trusty Diseasel Spotter's Guide, or as in this case, rely on partial data on rosters of the various Mexican railroads as unofficially listed on a Mexican railfan website down here. I think your idea that they may have started as GP35's is probably pretty good. One of the sites that I got the roster info from lists them as being aquired in 1965, which is too early for GP38's, and way too early for Dash 2's, but about right for GP35's. But Marre's book, Diesel Locomotives The First Fifty Years, mentions that the NdeM GP35's had high short hoods. So could the short hoods have been part of the rebuild work when they were rebuilt/upgraded? Thanks Ed
One thing that I was looking for on the trip was the place where the line makes a 360º turn and crosses under itself loosing some altitude. I knew approximately where it was (between Creel and Pitorreal) but not the exact km post. So it kind of caught me by surprise. I didn't take nearly as many tunnel shots as did Stourbridge Lion, but I thought that this short series was worth showing, even if they aren't the best photos in the RI archives. First is a shot from above as we pass over the lower level. The cut was in shadow, so I had to try to lighten the shot up so that you could see the trackage. Then as we curve down to the right we wind up approaching the tunnel we lust passed over. And then we come out of the tunnel and I snapped off one shot looking back. You'll notice that the upper level actually crosses on an arch bridge, with the tunnel lower down the slope. There's not much freight traffic on this route. Some local maintenance men said maybe one or two trains a day in each direction. Since Ferromex has crossing points both at Cd Juarez / El Paso (on their interior N/S mainline) and Nogales (on their coastline N/S mainline), I assume that most traffic heads north on one or the other of these lines and that they minimize E/W traffic due to the grade/distance. But we did meet one northbound freight waiting for us on the siding at Pitorreal. It's headed up by GP40-2 #3022. By the way, maybe I ought to show you a route map of Ferromex so you have a better idea just where we are. The following link should bring up their website's route map. We're up in the northwestern section of the country, on the line heading southwest from chihuahua to Topolobampo (on the coast). http://www.ferromex.com.mx/ruta.html Next up, Divisadero. Regards Ed
Divisadero is probably the best know stop on the whole route. All the passenger trains (that's the two first class and the two second class) make a 20 minute stop here to allow passengers to detrain and run to the overlook for a view into Urique Canyon (Barranca de Urique). There are also a bunch of food stalls if you want a quick snack, and a market area where one can pick up souvenirs or local arts and crafts (but with only 20 minutes you've got to be quick). There are also a few pretty pricey (although first class) hotels here and at the next stop, Posada Barrancas, only 5 minutes away. Anyway, here's a view of the train stopped at Divisadero. Food stalls to the right, shopping farther to the right, and the overlook way to the right out of the picture. I wasted (?) a few precious moments running up ahead to get a shot of the train stopped on the mainline. Fran humored me. I caught up with Fran and Junior at the overlook, and we got the record shot to show that we had been there. And just to show you a bit better what some of the scenery on this route is all about, here's a view looking out into Barranca Urique. The sun is in front of us, so this doesn't do justice to the view. Okay, the engineer is blowing the whistle, so we need to reboard the train. Later Ed
GREEN??? Did they finally get some rain? It was so dry when I was there last year. :shade: :shade: :shade: :shade:
I specifically asked and was told that they did get rain during the rainy season last year. That would have been late June through early September. So yeah, it looked marginally greener to me than your photos. You need to keep in mind that the timing of our visit in early April is nearing the end of the dry season, so things are not exactly lush. And yes, the waterfall at Temoris had a small amount of water coming down. Regards Ed
Only 26 km downhill from Divisadero we met up with the uphill first class train. While there's no guarantee of meeting any freight trains, you're sure of meets with the opposing first and second class passenger trains. Here we are waiting at the siding at Chinhuahuicame (yeah, try saying that three times fast) and here comes the northbound Primera Express. The actual location for the meet varies depending on how the trains are running, but they have a lot of sidings to choose from. GP40-2 #3011 pulls up next to us and stops. I wasn't expecting twhat came next. The two trains exchanged most of the crew, at least the dining and bar car staff, and all the passenger car attendents. The engineers and firemen (asst engineers) stayed with the locomotives. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed to me that the conductors changed too. I guess that allows them to get home the same day, while the engine crew has to overnight at the other end of the line. Crew change made (and a few supplies switched between dining cars) and they're out of here. I wasn't the only one filming the meet. Right behind the other train was this MoW crew holding the same siding. We passed a number of maintenance crews during the trip, so Ferromex seemed to be doing due diligence in keeping up the line. Okay, that about does it for today, my typing finger is getting worn down to a nubbin. Later Ed
Copper Canyon ROCKS!!!!!!! Given our two topics (Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures) - Copper Canyon, Mexico) and the below map we are about the pass each other going in opposite directions.
