A couple of weeks ago Fran and I went up to Mexico City to join up with the usual cast of characters, (also known as my railfanning buddies), for another of our one day railfanning outings. This time we had another full bus, plus a couple of cars full of friends who drove over from Puebla. Our first stop was Apizaco, Tlaxcala. Apizaco had a long railroad tradition, and was a major stop on the original railroad between Mexico City and Veracruz. The F.C. Mexicano had extensive yards, car shops and locomotive repair shops in Apizaco. We had made arrangements ahead of time and had some permits that would allow us access to areas not normally accessible to the public. In fact, the head of the local for the railroad Workers Union (STFRM) would be along to act as our escort and guide. An obligatory stop while in Apizaco is to view F.C. Mexicano #212, a 1946 Baldwin made 2-8-0, that sits in the middle of a traffic circle. They maintain this loco in very nice condition. It was, if memory serves me correctly, part of the last order of steam locomotives delivered to Mexico. The locomotives were retired from service in 1964. I have another shot of this same locomotive in my album, but in that one the tender is draped in a flag banner for Independence Day. This is a better shot. While we were admiring the loco, the mayor of Apizaco made a cameo visit to our group. I was impressed. From there we headed off to the local town/railroad museum, housed next to the tracks in an old building known as the “Casa de Piedra” (House of Stone). It’s a nicely done little museum with a lot of old railroad photos. The town historian and a pair of retired railroad workers guided us in the tour of the museum. This nicely restored F.C.M caboose sits out behind the museum. The interior isn’t restored to it’s working state, but has been made into a reading room for retired railroaders. About that time the crew of the local switcher brought the locomotive, FSRR #14506, a C30-Super7N, over by the museum and we were invited to climb up and take a look. This unit is fairly clean, a sure sign that it doesn’t see too much road work heading east from Apizaco. Yeah, it’s a corny cliché, but I couldn’t resist sitting in the left hand seat and having Fran snap my picture. More to come.
Right alongside FSRR #11025, a C30-7 still in the two-tone blue “Smurf” paint scheme, sat on a siding with a caboose and a couple of freight cars (probably m-o-w duty). A little farther along, there was a whole line of old diesels that had been sold to Cuba that were waiting shipment. The lead unit was C340-7 #6768. The shops in Apizaco, both car and locomotive, were the largest on the F.C. Mexicano (later, after merging into NdeM, it would be known as the Division “El Mexicano”). We had a chance to go inside the car repair shops. These are still in use by Ferrosur, and they were full of cars in the process of repair. It wasn’t possible to get any really panoramic shots, but here’s a representative sample. The eastern end of the car shops are hemmed in by the old station and the western end of the locomotive shop buildings. They have this small transfer table which I assume provides access and a way to remove cars from the shop. The locomotive shops are no longer in service. There is some effort being made to lease them to a third party. We didn’t get to go inside. More to come.
We were lucky in another way in Apizaco. The Ferrosur business car “Presidente Carranza” had just undergone some minor repair work in the shops, and was still in the shop. They graciously opened it up and allowed us to go through it. It’s a 1921 Pullman built car that spent most of its life with the NdeM. It did spend several years as a private car for Asarco, but was purchased by FSRR several years ago. These aren’t the best shots in the world, but they’ll have to do. Leaving the shop area we headed out on the platform in front of the old station. FSRR #4419, an AC4400-CW was slowly rolling a short train westbound. You can tell from the heavy soot covering on the loco that this unit does see regular work on the mountainous stretch east of here, and heading down as far as Orizaba. Numerous tunnels on this stretch cause the locos to soon be covered with a heavy layer of soot. More to come.
Here’s a shot of the old water tank at Apizaco. It’s different than most down here because of its large square base. It’s in between the yard tracks (this side of the tank) and the old locomotive servicing area (far side of the tank). No evidence of a downspout on this side, so I don’t know if this served water columns in the servicing area or whether the downspout was just on the other side. We couldn’t get out there to get a better shot. It wasn’t possible to back up and get a good shot of the old depot buildings as the active yard was right in front. So you’ll just have to settle for this shot of a small section of the depot. Unfortunately, these trains don’t run anymore. Eastbound to Veracruz and the sea, westbound to Mexico City, and south on the short line to Puebla. Too bad, as those were some great prices. Looks like this signboard hasn’t been disturbed in at least 10 years. That’s probably about how long it has been since they cut off passenger service. I mentioned that Apizaco was a major point on the first railroad in Mexico. Here’s a plaque that speaks to that fact. Erected in 1973, it roughlytranslates as “Ferrocarril Mexicano – Centenary commemoration of the first railroad line of the country. Jan 1, 1973.” The initials on the bottom are for “S.C.T.” (Secretary of Communications and Transport), “FF CC NdeM” (National Railroads of Mexico), and “STFRM” (Mexican Railway Workers Union). More to come.
There was more to see at Apizaco, but time was short, so we had to get back on the bus and head for our next stop which was Grajales, Puebla (originally known as San Marcos). Arriving at the edge of town we could see the lights of an approaching train. So we quickly had the bus turn off into the parking lot of this brewery (unfortunately not open for tours on Saturday….) and we bailed out to look for a good vantage point. I climbed up a rather rickety pedestrian overpass. This would have been a great shot if I had remembered to bring my “power line filter” with me. It’s still a nice snap of a short grain train headed up by Ferrosur C30-Super7N’s #14507 and 14512. Fran had found a good position trackside. She was rather ticked off when some goober (not a regular member of our outings) jumped in front of her at the last minute. More to come.
San Marcos was a station on the original F.C. Mexicano between Veracruz and Mexico City. Here’s a shot of the old freight house. You can see from the weeds growing up through the siding that it hasn’t been used in a long time. That’s the main line in the foreground. This is a block of apartments that was built back around the early 1900’s as housing for railroad workers assigned at San Marcos. They are still in use. Just down from the old station we find Line VB crossing the main Line S by means of a bridge. The line in the foreground was the original line to Veracruz. When the narrow gauge F.C. Interoceanico was built crossing at this point a few years later, the competing railroad lines either weren’t able to, or didn’t care to, come to an agreement for a crossing at grade. So the narrow gauge line built a steep fill to get up and across the F.C. Mexicano line. The old Interoceanico has long since been standard gauged, and the two lines are joined at an interchange just beyond the bridge, but the crossing remains as originally constructed. Speaking of the interchange, here it is. Looks like a few cars didn’t quite make the curve a while back. From the state of decay of the cars, it looks like these have been abandoned. More to come.
As you walk down the grade at the bridge you come around a curve and get a view of the town of Grajales. The town name was changed from San Marcos to Grajales sometime in the early-mid 1900’s. This is the old Interoceanic line, now part of the Ferrosur concession. Not the best photo in the world, but I like it because of the church in thebackground. Here’s a better shot of the water tank, showing the remains of the spout and the counterweight supports. Note the angled buttress walls at the back of the base structure. Interestingly, the lineside shacks here beside the Grajales station, which is only a few hundred yards from the old San Marcos station, are almost all wooden. Here’s what appears to be an old boxcar that had been converted into a dwelling. Looked to still be at least partially in use. Okay, I know this isn’t the busiest line in the system. But you guys really need to speak to the maintenance guys about the sign……. More to come.
From Grajales, we headed up the road a relatively short distance to Oriental. This is another town that in its day was an important rail center, now fallen on lean times. This was one of the last bastions of dual gauge operation in Mexico. At the edge of town they have a nicely maintained 4-8-4 ‘Niagra” on display. There are 12 of these beasts that survived the torch, none of them in operating condition. I’ve seen and photographed 4 of them so far. Here’s a shot of the drivers on one side. Yes, I know that they are missing some rods and bearings. It’s still impressive. A few blocks closer to the station is another locomotive on display, not as impressive as the Niagra, but just as interesting. It’s a 1904 2-8-0 from the old F.C. Oriental Mexicano (Eastern Mexican Railroad), 3’-0” narrow gauge. Vandals have already stolen the bell and broken out the headlight. I’m amazed that they haven’t taken the whistle yet. The rails that this loco is sitting on are tiny, must be 40# rail. Must have been a lot of fun to run this little puppy. Get a load of how far back into the cab the firebox protrudes. And you think those N scale locomotives where the motor sticks out don’t have a prototype? More to come.
The boiler plate is from the rebuild. It says that the loco was built by Baldwin in 1904, and repaired in the shops at Puebla in 1963. But I’ve seen several sources that say that this was actually built by Kerr, Stuart & Co., a British firm. Take a close look at the counterweight on this. Do I miss my guess or do those marks on the leading edge of the counterweight look like torch cuts? I wonder if they didn’t have to refab a counterweight in their shops. While I was wandering around the loco taking photos, a few of the neighbor kids were climbing on the loco. They asked a few questions and I wound up spending a bit of time explaining some of the things on the loco. Probably more than they really wanted to know. Anyway, we had to pose for the obligatory group shot. More to come.
Oriental is now on the KCSdeM line between Mexico City and Veracruz. This line is longer than the FSRR line between the same two points (the old F.C. Mexicano line) and doesn’t have near the traffic that FSRR carries. Here’s a view of the yard throat at Oriental, from the west end. The first track to the right leads to the old “Y”. The second lead to the ladder track. As I said earlier, Oriental has fallen on lean times. No classification work and minimal, if any interchange traffic with FSRR. As an indicator of how things are, KCSM recently took up five of the yard tracks in what was originally the old standar gauge yard. That’s pretty much the whole yard. In this view from a pedestrian overpass, you can still see the traces of the old yard tracks. On the other side of the overpass you can see the track material piled for eventual removal. Interestingly enough, KCSM is actively upgrading the mainline itself. In this same shot (and the previous one also) you can see cars of ballast and new concrete ties sitting on the mainline. On the other side of the depot was the old narrow gauge yard, long since standard gauged. This yard hasn’t yet been removed, but as you can see in this shot, it’s just filled with cars that are out of service. It’s not entirely clear to me if these are stockpiled here because they need minor repairs or whether it’s a sort of temporary holding yard for cars that may be reaching the end of their useful lives. You’ll notice that the cars seem to be old NdeM cars that were inherited by KCSM when they took over the operating concession ten years ago. More to come.
At some time in its past, the narrow gauge yard at Oriental was at least partially dual gauged. You can still see traces of the dual gauged track in places. While the locomotive servicing facilities at Oriental weren’t huge, they were interesting. Here we’re looking at the old engine houses. The building on the left was for standard gauge locomotives, and the one on the right was narrow gauge. Looking into the old narrow gauge engine house you can see that the roof is now partially collapsed. You can see the old narrow gauge inspection pits. And last, but not least, here’s a shot of the water tank at Oriental. You can still see the old stub pipe for the water outlet, and the remains of the counterweight / downspout support. More to come.
That was the end of the railfanning day. We didn’t catch as many trains as we would have liked, but we saw some interesting stuff. And it’s always good to get back together with my other railfanning buddies up in Mexico City. Fran and I hung around Mexico City for a few more days, and we had a chance to ride on the new “Tren Suburbano” that was still going through its trial period while we were there. I wrote up a separate report on the Tren Suburbano (commuter rail), and just want to include a few of those shots here, mainly because these have some historic interest. The southern terminus of the new Tren Suburbano is at the old main railroad station, Buenavista. While the old platforms and tracks have all been removed and rebuilt to suit the new rains, they did maintain the façade of the old station. And the main concourse of the station looks great. Out front of the station is this old Shay, ex-Teziutlan Copper Company (TCC) #2, built by Lima in 1911. And just one teaser shot of the new Tren Suburbano. If you haven’t already seen that thread and are interested in reading more about the Tren Suburbano, the link to the thread is: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=98893 That’s it folks. Regards Ed
Ed, fascinating. You covered a lot of interesting information, places, people, infrastructure, the whole nine yards. Like you, I'm impressed with the condition the Mexican folks keep those stuffed and mounted steam locomotives in. I wonder if they could be interested in restoring one of the Niagras to operational? I've only seen one, here in the states, 3028 I think, but they have great lines to them. Thanks for the trip report. Keep 'em coming! :tb-biggrin:
I notice that most preserved Mexican engines have many details picked out in red. Somehow, I doubt they actually looked like that in service. At least, the red coupler on that Niagara can't be original.
I suspect that you're correct. I never had the pleasure of seeing any NdeM steam in operation. The few pictures of operating steam in the "NdeM in Color" show the locomotives almost entirely in black, with only a few scattered red details, mostly poling pockets and window frames. Personally I don't really care what color they paint them as long as they keep them painted and protected from rust. Regards Ed
