While we were in Mexico City over the weekend I had a chance to get in a little railfanning. We went out to a place about 13 miles north of the city, in an industrial area, where the main line tracks pass through. It’s called Lecheria. There wasn’t a huge amount of action on Saturday morning, but enough for me to get a few decent shots. Here’s FTVM (basically the Mexico City belt line that handles all inbound and outbound traffic, classification yards, and local industry service) #9138 really smoking it up. I’m led to believe it’s a U33B, but I’m open for correction on that (as I am on almost all my diseasel i.d.’s). It’s ex-FNM, and still wearing the 2 tone blue “smurf” paint scheme of FNM. It’s doing some local switching. Here’s a northbound FerroMex freight coming out of Mexico City (we’re at Km 21 here). Note the old overhead catenary lines. Dates back to an unsuccessful experiment at electrification back in the early 90’s. On the point of that train was FerroMex C30 Super-7R #3749, also ex-FNM (as are all the locomotives in this series of shots), although repainted in the FerroMex Green, Red and White. Soon after we caught another northbound, this time with FerroMex C30 Super-7R # 3725, leading an unrepainted ex-FNM unit, that I also think is a Super-7. And a better shot of #3725 itself. Although it looks almost black, that’s really green. At this point, we also have a single line that brings FerroSur trains from the southeast part of the country into the Valley of Mexico. Here’s FerroSur #9605 (U33C?) heading south. And finally, here are me, Fran, and our son Paco on the deck of the FTVM unit. It’s a pretty decent place to see trains. Somewhat cluttered for taking great shots, but it was really enjoyable seeing the action. No hassle about taking pictures (obviously, as the picture on the FVTM unit was taken by one of the brakemen). I’m looking forward to going back again. Regards Ed
Really nice series Ed...I've seen alot of the newer Ferromex Red/Green/White schemes in SoCal... Thanks for sharing. Keep 'em coming...if you got more! Mike
Nice shots, Ed. Keep 'em coming! Question: How is the graffitti situation in Mexico compared to US (on rolling stock, that is). More? Less? Same? None?
Main problem with showing more is that there are no trains within several hours drive of me. However I will be back in Mexico City at the end of the month and will probably head back out to Lecheria to shoot some more. Can't properly compare the grafitti situations. Haven't spent much time in the states recently and therefore don't have a good handle on how it is up there. Similarly, I don't see many trains down here so it's hard to really say. I'll try to notice more next time I'm out and about.
Always enjoy seeing your photos Ed so we can get a climps of what railroads are like in Mexico. Hopefully I can catch some my self soon too and if I ever do get a chance to catch up with you I look forward to getting a tour of Mexico City and surrounding areas.
Would love to have a chance to get together with any of you guys who come on down. I suppose Acapulco is out of the question for the "International Trainboard Get Together"? Flash: Are there decals for all/any of these engines to make a model? Since I don't model modern stuff, I don't really know. But Mexican decals are pretty scarce in N scale. I know a guy who does HO decals out of his house down here, he reduced some (older NdeM stuff) down and ran me some N scale ones. Probably not commercial quality, but they worked for me. I'll be seeing him in a few weeks and can check what modern stuff he has if you're really interested. Regards Ed
In the photo showing catenary, right by the where you are standing to take that picture, the concrete ties appear to transition to wood. Was there a road crossing? Am wondering what was the reason? Boxcab E50
It does look almost black. Perhaps that green doesn't hold up well under weathering? I like the FNM "Smurf" colors much better. Boxcab E50
I know you've explained it previously But tonight I cannot recall. Why did the electrification fail? Was it socio-political faux-pas? Boxcab E50
Ed, Sure looks like you had a good time. I would love to get down to Mexico and do some railfanning. Maybe one of these days........
Boxcab: In the photo showing catenary, right by the where you are standing to take that picture, the concrete ties appear to transition to wood. Was there a road crossing? Am wondering what was the reason? You've got it. Yes there is a road crossing there. The crossing utilizes precast concrete plates (instead of asphalt paving, concrete paving, wood, etc) which bolt down to the wood ties. Boxcab: I know you've explained it previously But tonight I cannot recall. Why did the electrification fail? Was it socio-political faux-pas? No, I haven't mentioned it before. I don't know all the details, but I can give you a 10,000 foot summary. This is mostly heresay, so don't quote me in wikipedia. In 1982, FNM purchased 39 E60-C locomotives from GE. Plan was to electrify the main line between Mexico City and Queretero, about 250km north. Project was badly planned and managed, and first electrified trains didn't run until 1994. Lots of problems including burning up the original signaling system (due to induced current from the catenary) which then had to be rebuilt using fiber optics. Final straw came when they found that the new double stack containers and high auto rack cars were so high that they were arcing between the cat and the tops of the cars. As soon as the lines were privatized in the mid 90's, TFM (KCSdeM), who now controlled that corridor, quickly removed (or at least de-energized) the catenary and went to full diesel-electric operation. Boxcab - pay attention here... Strangely enough, there had been an earlier, very successful electrification on the Mexico City - Veracruz mainline. Back in the 20's, they electrified a stretch through the roughest grades (the Maltrata summit area - 4.7% ruling grade) and had GE build 10 boxcab electrics B+B+B for use as helpers on that stretch. By the way, that 4.7% is non-compensated. Taking the sharp curves into acount gets you an equivalent 5.24% grade!! They worked great, NdeM bought two more later, and continued to use them until 1974. Several still exist in museums. Here's a shot of #1001 at the National Railroad Museum in Puebla. Regards Ed
I remember reading that some of the motors purchased for that new electrification came north to the USA. What was the reason for discontinuing that old electrification? Cost of upgrading older equipment? Boxcab E50
The main reason was the sparking between the cat and the high cars. They were having to detour double stacks and auto cars around a longer, slower, non-electrified route. Didn't make sense.
Hi Ed- Actually, I wa sasking about the older box cab operation that you'd noted ended in 1974. Why was that discontinued? Boxcab E50
Not really sure. My best guess is that with the general dieselization of NdeM, and the ability of the diesels to m.u., the electric system became unnecessary. There were only a dozen of those boxcabs. Probably fairly easy to replace with diseasels, and eliminate an entire system that was already aging. It was originally put in back in the 20's to help the steam locomotives up that grade. Regards Ed
Well, at least someone had the foresight to preserve an example, or two. Not quite as scraphappy as we know here. Boxcab E50
