Colin Churcher 2020

In the yard at Buenos Aires waiting to depart On my second weekend I took a freight train from Buenos Aires to Olavarria and return with an overnight at Olavarria. This broad gauge line was built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway. I am not sure what type of locomotive this is although it looks Alco. The single locomotive was adequate for this route which was easily graded. Las Flores Las Flores At Las Flores the trees have been well pollarded Canuelas with British type signalling with a repeater on the same post. At Olavarria I met the railway Superintendent whom I had met a few years previously when he was a Canadian National Superintendent on the prairies.  We all had a great evening which was accompanied by the traditional Argentinean meat feast.

  Essential equipment required before one travels in the locomotive in Argentina On the second day of my first weekend we rode the head end of a passenger train between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast This is the inspector who accompanied me on my travels each weekend Train crews told me they would not take a locomotive with a non-functional stove to heat the water for mate.  It was the second man's job to keep the water hot and circulating for mate. There is a very formal procedure to be followed. This was my introduction into the mate ceremony. We did not stop at many stations on the way. This shows an open-air interlocking. The automatic tablet exchange apparatus is set out from the locomotive and the platform staff is out of sight standing well clear. This shows the tablet exchange apparatus deployed on the locomotive.  The exchange was made at speed and it made a fearful CLANG as the sound reverberated throughout the metal cab. Crews tended to slow down to

  Buenos Aires I have made four trips to Argentina The first was with a Canadian Government delegation in 1984, already covered in this blog.  The second trip was funded by the Argentinean government in 1994.  As Director General, Railway Safety for Transport Canada, I was asked to spend two weeks in Buenos Aires to give a series of safety seminars.  I worked an understanding that I would be at the government's service on weekdays for the two weeks provided that they showed me some of the Argentinean railways on the three weekends with an accompanying railway safety inspector who spoke English. The first Saturday was spent riding some the suburban trains and looking at some of the facilities Typical local station with British type signals, a signalbox and a water tank Block instruments and bells An overbridge was used with the high level platforms A diesel train. Low level platform with much rubbish. Overhead electric CTC panels controlled some larger installations

Token instruments with caps The last part of our trip through Brazil was heavily modified to take account of a 24 hour delay through a coach breakdown. It was made even worse by a very poor local guide who had difficulty in explaining what we were seeing. Sao Paulo Our wide gauge train. We had been promised a train of wide gauge and narrow gauge cars in the one consist but this did not happen This is one of the Sao Paulo Railway's 'gripper' brake locomotives built by Kerr Stuart in 1900 for the cable-hauled incline on the Serra do Mar, Run past We had a trip through lush countryside with stainless steel Budd-type cars out of Moretes After Sao Paulo we made our way westwards on a two day, two gauge, journey to leave Brazil for Bolivia at Corumba. Above is at Panorama. Panorama Campo Grande Campo Grande There was a very welcome drinks service.  

  These pictures are all shown in my records as on the Santos a Jundiai which is a 5' 3" gauge main line running from the coast inland and south of Campinas.  It is obviously a preserved electric operation but the gauge does not look to be 5' 3". I cannot pin it down any further.  If anyone can help with location or any other details please let me know.

  I took these pictures in the short time we had in Campinas This is a very British looking interlocking frame. The one unusual feature is that the levers are not painted different colors according to their function It was mainly an overhead electric operation although there were some diesels to be seen An enginehouse with some interesting dual gauge trackwork

  No 210 is a Baldwin built 4-6-0 The Brazillian Railway Society was running trips between Anhumas and Jaguarina, a part of the former Mogina railway meter gauge route between Campinas and  Mogi Mirim. The one thing I remember about this day is loading our bags on to the bus. We were in a crowded area and many were looking for an opportunity for steal a bag. The men in our group formed a cordon around our bags and had to physically prevent outsiders from coming too close. The women in the group acted as lookouts. No 210 was in the lead while No. 222 appears to be a 2-6-0. Wooding up Those hefty logs would have been heavy to manoeuvre The horse seemed quite interested in our train