I see you have an image posted in the Photos of the Week too! Congratulations my friend! Oh, and you look just right sitting on the seat inside the cab of the C30-Super7N! Nice Railfan report from Mexico! Too bad the brewery was not open for tour, and I bet you were thirsty too! And the image of the abandoned boxcars is a classic! Hey, do they still use the narrow gauge on the dual track segments?
Nope, the only operational narrow gauge locomotive in the country (that I know of) is the old 2-8-0 #279 down in Cuautla that I've posted about earlier. All the other narrow gauge lines were either standard gauged or lifted. I'm not sure how much dual gauge track remains in the yard at Oriental. That shot was oneof the few places where i could clearly see the track. I did see one yard track that was just narrow gauge, but it was pretty well abandoned and weed covered. Regards Ed .
If we don't count the very small stretch of rail in Cuautla where the #279 still operates, then 1993 was exactly right as the date of the last regular narrow gauge operation in Mexico. That would be the old branch to Teziutlán, Puebla.
Are they storing those old cars for any future use? Or simply not as quick to scrap equipment as we are north of the border? Boxcab E50
I believe that most of the narrow gauge GA-8's were either sold to South American roads or scrapped when most of the narrow gauge lines in Mexico were standard gauged. There is one survivor at the National Railroad Museum in Puebla. Here's a shot of it that I took back in 2004. Let me clarify that I believe this to be a GA-8. The number doesn't fall within the series of the 22 that were built for the NdeM. Because it is sitting very near a narrow gauge steam loco that was rescued from the FC CyZ (Ferrocarril Coahuila y Zacatecas) I'm guessing that it might have come from the CyZ. There's also the possibility that it's the lone GA-18 that was built for the CyZ, which was similar (identical?) to the GA-8's outside, but with a different engine. I also believe that there are two more rusting away at Teziutlan, but I haven't had a chance to visit there yet. When the railroad announced that it was going to abandon service to Teziutlan back in 1993, the locals protested and blocked the train that was in Teziutlan from leaving. The railroad simply abandoned the train in place and lifted the rails anyway. As far as I know the two locomotives and several cars are still there in Teziutlan, but have not been cared for and have been seriously vandalized. In fact, a year or so ago there was a report that they were going to be scrapped. Regards Ed
Wasn't the purpose of the freight car trucks on GA-8s to put the traction motors in the body, thus making them easily gauge-convertible?
I had missed that entirely. Thanks for pointing that out. In fact, the "NdeM in Color" book has a couple of comments about that characteristic of the GA-8's. "The traction motors are hung under the floor with the motor shafts running parallel to the rails due to the lack of space in the trucks. The traction motors are then connected with universals to the inboard axle of each truck." and "Accodating a variety of gauges by changing trucks, the GA-8 was a lightweight model designed by EMD for export." The book also comments that a number of the GA-8's were transferred to FUS (Ferrocarriles Unidos del Sureste) down in the Yucatan after most branches were standard gauged. Boy, I really need to read the text more carefully instead of just looking at the pictures. Don't know where I could have picked up that bad habit..... Regards Ed .
Oh, and looking around some more it appears that there's one other GA-8 down at the railroad museum in Merida, Yucatan. I haven't been there yet myself. Regards Ed .
