Virtual Railfan Tour of Chile - Ferrocarril Tocopilla al Toco 1993

 

Tocopilla is not very prepossessing.

I'll start in the north of Chile with this nitrate railway. It was 3' 6" gauge and ran on 1500V DC. It was closed in August 2015 after severe rainfall damaged the tracks to the extent that the owner decided it was beyond economic repair. The area is generally very dry desert so heavy rainfall was likely not anticipated.

The line was known as the Tocopilla - Maria Elena line

Tocopilla yard

Tocopilla yard. The locomotive could be a GE 70 ton in which case it may originally have been meter gauge,


Tocopilla

The trip was worthwhile for the scenery alone, one of the driest places on earth.



Our private cars were attached t the rear of service trains


The train crew were openly drinking beer - a rule G violation in Canada

I had to wait until we had returned to Tocopilla for a large beer,













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