Actually, I think we just passed each other. You're already in San Rafael, and I'm already 11 km downhill at Chinhuahuicame. Hey, was that you on the uphill first class train we just met??? Ed
Continuing southbound, or downhill, from Chinhuahuicame you enter the most impressive stretch of the railroad. We're going to go through 60 tunnels, and cross 23 bridges, in the next 80 kilometers (about 50 miles). Here we are crossing what I believe to be Rocohuaina bridge, just before gettingto Cuiteco. My note taking on the trip was rather suspect, so don't hold me to that. And yeah, I know you're getting tired of seeing these shots of the train from the rear, but I didn't have a lot of choice. No photo run-bys. Again, the photos are limited because I don't have a wide angle lens, and they absolutely don't do justice to the scenery we were passing through. As we arrived at Bahuichivo station we found the northbound second class train, headed by GP40-2 #3012, waiting for us in the siding. Bahuichivo is a popular station, as it is the access point to Cerocahui and Urique Canyon. Lots of on and off traffic here. The second class train is virtually the same at the first class one. These cars were the first class cars before they bought the new ones. Similar seats, air conditioning, very comfortable. No dining car and no bar car, but half the price. They do have a car that sells soft drinks and snacks, maybe sandwiches. Sorry, I didn't have time to check. I was too busy hanging out the open vestibule. Note the different paint scheme on the second class cars. It runs on a schedule basically an hour and change behind the first class train. And yet another shot of us heading down through the canyon somewhere just north of Temoris. Okay, next up, the loops at Temoris. Regards Ed
One of the most impressive places on the trip is Temoris. In this valley the trains makes two U-turns while continually dropping elevation. So there are three parallel sets of tracks at different elevations. One of the U-turns is in a tunnel a half mile long. The other is on a bridge. We're about half way down the canyon country and at about 1,400 meters above sea level (maybe 4,500 feet). Entering Temoris from the north, we can see the three different levels of track created by the two 180º curves and the constantly dropping track level. We're on the highest level, which is up to the right in the photo. After passing through the tunnel at the far end (not visible) the second level of track comes back towards us at the middle and reaches Temoris station in the lower right hand corner of the photo. The bridge to cross the river, and to get to the third level of tracks, on the left, is below us and to our left. Here is the Santa Barbara bridge, where the track loops back from the middle level (bottom of picture) to the lowest level (at top) and heads out of the canyon to the south. The station is below us and out of site in this photo. The river has a lot more flow in the rainly season. We're basically nearing the end of the dry season. Sorry about not having my "branch filter" on the camera. Here's a view from the south end. The high level is up and to the left. If you look real hard you might be able to make out some of the tunnel portals. "La Pera" tunnel, where the track does more than a 180º while dropping elevation, is behind us. We're on the middle level, heading for the station. You can see the bridge in the distance. Across the river to the right is the lowest level. Here's a view while we were stopped at the station, just to give you an idea of how the canyon looks from down there. I tell you that the pictures just don't do this place justice (have I said that before?). By now it was late in the afternoon and I was getting hungry. So next stop was the dining car. Regards Ed
Okay, I had been standing in the vestibule since about 10:30 in the morning. I was getting hungry. We had waited to pass Temoris, as I hadn't wanted to miss that part. But now we headed up front. Not the white tablecloths and great service of the old trains, but a decent meal. Fran is still smiling but Junior is getting tired. It was so bright outside that the window shows up white. We were actually passing a good looking section of countryside at this moment. As you come towards the end of the real canyon section of the trip (maybe around Km 750 or so) you get a view of Huites Resevoir off to teh east. This is a pretty large manmade resevoir, and it stays in view for quite a while. By now we were starting into the flatter section between the canyons and our destination for the day, El Fuerte, in the state on Sinaloa. The sun was getting lower and we were seeing longer shadows. Still interesting. Snapped off one last shot before getting to El Fuerte. The line continues on for another 110 kilometers (+/-) to the coast at Los Mochis (and Topolobampo), but unless you love flatland, getting off at El Fuerte makes sense. We planned on spending two nights here before heading back up the hill. Regards Ed
Ed, this has been a great Travelogue, thanks for sharing! Do the GPs supply HEP for all cars, or does each car supply its own power through batteries and generators?
Thanks. The trip was everything I had expected and more. Fran and I are definitely planning on going back again. As far as I could see, all the cars have independent fuel tanks, diesels and generator sets under the floor. I don't know if there is any system for sharing or supplying from the locomotive in case of the failure of any car's unit. Regards Ed
We arrived in El Fuerte after having spent about 8 hours on the train. The train continues on to the coast at Los Mochis, but arrives there about 2-1/2 hours later. Conversely, you have to get up and get to the station about 2-1/2 hours earlier in the morning for the return trip. That, plus the fact that the land between El Fuerte and Los Mochis is pretty flat, made us decide to overnight at El Fuerte. Actually, we will spend two nights and one day here, to give the family a break from the train, and to give us a chance to do some local sightseeing. Let's see where we've come from and where we're going. This billboard map is located at the station in El Fuerte. While not exactly a USGS map, it does give the traveler a rough idea. You can see the line from Chihuahua (upper right) to the coast at Los Mochis / Topolobampo. We travelled from San Juanito (not shown, but in the upper right section above Creel and below La Junta) down to El Fuerte. The map does indicate the loops we saw at Temoris and the true loop just below Creel. It also provides a rough graph of distance and elevation, although you may not be able to make it out that clearly. Heading back up the hill we are going to break the trip into two sections. First we'll be going as far as Bahuichivo, then staying a hotel at Cerocahui for a few days in order to give us some time to make a trip down to Urique. Then we'll be finishing up from Bahuichivo back to San Juanito (where we left the car). We found a nice hotel in El Fuerte, not one of the first class ones, but definitely more than simply acceptable. Best of all, it is the only hotel in El Fuerte with a view overlooking the river. Here's a shot from the patio in the center of the hotel. By the way, the town is about 10-15 minutes by taxi from the station. Don't expect to walk it. Here's a shot of El Fuerte station itself. Not exactly a classic looking station, but at least it's not closed and boarded up (or worse) like the majority of the stations on the line. There were a number of people waiting to board the train. We got a ride out to the station with what we figured was plenty of time. Surprise, our second class train showed up 20 minutes early. We were fortunate to be there because there's no other way up the mountain. Miss this train and you get to your next stop a day late. Note the different color scheme on the second class train. By the way, we chose second class for this leg just to give us an extra hour of sleep in the morning! The sun is on the other side of the train, but I didn't want to find myself on the wrong side of the train during boarding, so you'll just have to bear with me on this shot. Next, back up the hill. Regards Ed
Yeah, I know. I actually got some shots, both of the monument and the locomotive. But I figured you covered them pretty well in your thread. Maybe on the way back up the hill I'll include something. Ed
Have to smile with this shot as just about a year ago I was standing right near that Km Post doing exactly the same thing... :shade: :shade: :shade:
Ed, absolutely terrific photos!! I love seeing the Ferromex speeder. Plus, am envious that you took Primera, I have been on Segundo several times now, my budget doesn't allow me the fancy first class run! The Geeps are ex GP35s rebuilt into GP38-2s. Many were done at Torreon, Coahuila in 1999 and 2000. I've been trying to catalog and photo as many as possible, starting with 2000 which I finally got slides of at Creel last August. Some still have their GP35 fuel tanks. Tony
Hey Tony, welcome to TrainBoard. Thanks for the compliment. I need to get busy and edit/upload the photos for the second half of the trip, heading back uphill from El Fuerte. Don't feel bad about not going on Primera. Except for the lack of a dining car the experience is pretty much the same. The cars they use are the ones that used to be the first class cars, and are in great shape. Fran and I have commented that when we go back we will probably only travel in Second Class. I'm still waiting for them to come out with a discount ticket for railfans that is standing room only (in the vestibule!!). I think I used my seat a grand total of 15 minutes. See you at the convention in Aguascalientes in a couple of months. Regards Ed
Okay, time to pick up where I left off before the last trip. If I recall correctly, we had just spent a couple of nights down in El Fuerte, and were getting ready to head back up the Sierra Madre Occidental (Western Sierra Madre range). Leaving El Fuerte you're still in the relatively flat coastal plain. About 60 km east (timetable north) of El Fuerte station we finally cross the bridge over the El Fuerte river. Not much flow at this time of year (near the end of the dry season) and I suspect that it's a bit different in the fall, although this is never really wet country. Just some low foothills on either side of the mainline. I hope you guys appreciate how badly I sunburned my face staying on the sunny side of the cars at all times so that i could get better photos!! Some 90 km east of El Fuerte now, and we're into the mountains. Here we're approaching the Rio Chinipas bridge. It's the highest one on the route. The river level seems high because this river is flowing into a large resevoir. And here we've turned and are heading out over the bridge itself. Okay, now to see if I can maintain some momentum so that I can finish posting photos from the trip before I leave town again. Regards Ed
Once past Rio Chinipas you're really back in the canyon (barranca) country again. Here are a few shots where the scenery really starts to dwarf the train. Sorry about the poles and shrubs getting in the way, there were a lot of them, usually placed just where they would mess up a shot the worst. I didn't photograph nearly as many of the 86 tunnels on this route as Darren (Stourbridge Lion) did, but I have to include a few just to please him!! This one isn't a bored tunnel, but is made of precast concrete sections and serves as a rockslide protection. I dídn't get to see if it was a numbered tunnel or not. Despite the fact that the pole is in the center of the frame, the real subject of this shot is the train within the canyon. We're approaching Temoris (of the loops) now, so the next few shots will be from there. Regards Ed
Now we're coming back into Temoris. If you recall, this is where the tracks make two 180º+ (one inside a tunnel) turns to gain elevation, providing a view that shows the tracks on three different elevations within the canyon. First we make a turn across the bridge over the Rio Santa Barbara. I was hoping that the sun would be just a little lower in order to get more sunlight on the sides of the train. It's not completely overhead, but almost so. Still in all, this is one of my best photos from the trip. I'll include this second shot of the same thing, just a few seconds later. Better light, but I like the composition of the previous shot better. Whipping over to the other side of the vestibule, I shot this one looking back at the bridge we just crossed. You can see the small shadow that the milepost casts. While this area is still very dry, as we have climbed up from the flatter coastal land you can see that the shrubbery is a bit greener. They did have some rain (not much) last year. And zooming out a bit here's one of the same bridge that gives you a better idea of the canyon. Regards Ed
Okay, one more photo of the bridge. This time we're looking northeast and you can see the canyon continuing beyond the bridge. We're headed that way on the train. Now that we've looped across the river we come to the station at Temoris. This is a relatively tiny burg down in the canyons with extremely limited access from outside. Nevertheless thay had a lot of activity at the station that day, with a number of people waiting to board the northbound second class train. I assume that most of these people had come back home during Easter week, and were now heading back to wherever they worked/lived. After passing the station the line continues to rise, then does another U turn (more than 180º) inside a tunnel and reappears here. We're now on the highest level of track, and headed back towards those mountains (and tunnels, although you can't easily make them out) on the far end of the canyon. Almost looks like a model train layout from up here. And we bid a fond fareweel to Temoris, heading out to the northeast. I'd like to come back and spend a full day here in town, with time to photograph the trains coming through, rather than just grabbing a shot from the vestibule as we pass through. Maybe on the next trip. One note, see the car and dirt tracks in the lower left corner of the photo? No highway bridge here. Don't try this in the rainy season. Regards Ed
It's fun seeing your images which bring back great memories of our trip too... :shade: :shade: :shade: :shade:
This day we were only going back up hill as far as the station at Bahuichivo. When we got there I was able to get a better shot of the locomotive and cars than I snapped at El Fuerte in the morning. Here is our locomotive #3012, a (rebuilt GP35?) now classed as a GP40-2. Like I said earlier, still in the two-toned blue "Smurf" paint scheme of the old pre-privatization FNM. And here is a shot of the cars on the train. We got off here to go to Cercahui, about a half hour over dirt roads from the station. Cerocahui is the usual jumping off point if you head down Urique Canyon, which is the deepest of the canyons in the system. I will tell you that the views during that canyon descent were the most dramatic we saw on the whole trip. Even though there are no trains in view, I wanted to include at least one shot from that part of the trip (since you almost have to use the train to get here). That's the town of Urique that shows up just in front of me. That's the sinuous dirt road (you can see a small part just in front of my gut) that is the way down and the way back up. Roughly speaking, there's about a mile in vertical elevation difference between us. I need to refer to my trip notes to be sure. The descent into Urique Canyon was probably the (non-train ride related) highlight of our trip to the Copper Canyon. We took several days off the train here to hike around and just relax. We'll get back on the train and continue back up the hill in a little bit. Regards Ed
