Virtual Railfan Tour Paraguay - To the end of the line at Encarnacion

Our second day turned out misty 

But the mist soon cleared and we were treated to a leisurely journey through interesting countryside

Much of the trip was through a soggy landscape

Along the way we took on a newly painted locomotive that had just come out of Sapucay works

The soggy journey continued

At one point we disembarked to take a shot of the train on a bridge.  There were some photogenic boats by the start of the runpast

The train was placed correctly on the bridge but it stayed there for over half an hour - turns out the crew were making repairs

When our train finally moved forward there was another good photo opportunity.

The views from the tender were excellent with wood smoke wafting back

There were frequent stops  - to allow the engine to recover

We finally reached Encarnacion where a train for Asuncion was being made up

Encarnacion



A number of steam locomotives had been left to the jungle

It was not a good idea go go into the vegetation - never know what might be hiding in there

This was the only diesel I saw in Paraguay.  It is on a transfer at Encarnacion from Argentina.  Argentina did lend Paraguay a diesel to try out. Something was lost in the translation as it was not clear whether they broke it and gave it back or whether they couldn't get on with it.

Final picture at Encarnacion
In 1995 a dam under construction was beginning to inundate the eastern part of the railway in the Encarnacion area.  In La Paz in 2002 I had a brief discussion with Paraguay railway officials who were attending the Latin American Railway Congress meeting. The railway was on its last legs but they had the idea of running a passenger train between Asuncion and its airport. This came to naught the the railway is no more - it was wood fired steam powered until the end.







 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Wednesday - Zurich Hauptbahnhof Part One

Image
Zurich Hauptbahnhof  Paul has prepared some extensive notes and photos of the Zurich Hauptbahnhof.  This will be in several parts.  The busiest station in Switzerland is Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich HB) which is used primarily by the SBB. It has 26 tracks serving almost 3000 trains daily and it is one of the busiest stations in the world. It was built in the 1870s and is a main shopping destination as well as a transport hub. There are three levels for platforms and the "Shopville" shopping plaza.  The river Sihl river passes right through the station with platforms passing above and below the river. This shows the general layout of the station with the surrounding tram tracks shown in purple Tracks 3 to 18 are terminal tracks located at ground level, served by two side platforms and seven island platforms. These are used by long-distance trains from throughout Switzerland, and by international trains. Tracks 21 and 22 are underground terminal tracks, served by a single island
Read more

Thursday 21 September - Wrap Up

Image
  Flytoget at Oslo Central I caught a Flytoget express train to Oslo airport. These run every ten minutes throughout the day. Every other one stops at Lillestrom which was convenient as Paul joined me there, (he was staying at a nearby Lillestrom hotel). This is a high speed train which runs from the airport to Oslo Central station in 20 minutes. The trains are frequently crowded. This is an excellent service. Compare this to the "service" OC Transpo will be providing to Ottawa airport. A diesel train a couple of stops to the Trillium line, change to another diesel train to Bayview, then change to the electric Confederation line to get downtown. Tourists are going to love this with their large cases. We took a KLM flight to Amsterdam where  we changed to a KLM flight to Montreal and finally the KLM bus to Ottawa. We had anticipated some problems in Amsterdam with a relatively short transfer but everything worked out to the minute. The cabin crew on the flight from Oslo were g
Read more

Monday 18 September - Oslo Trams

Image
The weather here is atrocious cool and wet with heavy rain at times. I bought a 24 hour local transport pass at the tourist office. This allows me to travel around for 24 hours. I first had a look at the Central Station. The older units make quite a bit of noise Some cars are for people who need to buy a ticket. I then started to ride a few trams. Routes 12 and 19 seemed the most promising. I started with the 19 route and rode it out to the end at Majorstuen and then back through town but the trams were not running beyond Oslo Hospital because of track work. I then decided to sample route 12 which I rode out to Majorstuen and then back all the way to Kjelsas. This is a delightful ride. It runs close to the water then along major parks as well as climbing quite high at Kjelsas which gives good views over the city. At Majorstuen route 12 trams become route 11 and vice versa. Route at at Central Station route 12 at Majorstuen Route 11 at Kjelsas My day went well although the weather was a
Read more