Virtual Railfan Tour of Peru - Cusco to Machu Picchu in 1984

February 20, 2021

On my way back to Canada from Argentina in 1984 I stopped off at Lima, Peru and flew to Cusco, an interesting Inca city that had been taken over by the Spanish.

To get to Machu Picchu there was a train service from the center of Cusco

There were a number of steam locomotives stored but unused on this narrow gauge (3' 0") system

There were two trains going to Machu Picchu that morning

Leaving Cusco the two trains then had to negotiate a number of switch backs to climb out of town. Notice the dual gauge track work. There is also a standard gauge railway running into Cusco although it has its own passenger station on the other side of town

This map illustrates the tortuous route climb to the summit

We ran backwards and forwards seemingly endlessly getting higher but no further away from Cusco.

We finally reached the summit and ran into the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Tourists are now bussed up to the summit where they join the train and save several hours on the journey.

There were several stops at small villages where the inhabitants were well versed at selling food for the locals and trinkets for the tourists. The latter included plastic ponchos which came in handy later in the day when it rained heavily.

There were a few stops for meets. I was free to roam around keeping an eye put for trains and made sure to get back on when everybody else did

These are Alco locomotives built by MLW in Montreal. They were run on both standard and narrow gauge lines and were interchanged merely by changing the trucks.