Here's an example of a typical water tank located at the locomotive servicing facility at Chihuahua, Chihuahua. You can see where the old downspout and its supports have been removed. Here's one a bit more unusual. Same steel tank on cut stone masonry base, but this tank at Tamasopo, SLP, has dual downspouts. I didn't find a downspout on this tank at San Lorenzo, so it may have served free standing water columns. And here's poor shot (grab shot late in the evening) of a really tall water tank near the shops in San Luis Potosí. That's some masonry work on the base. I imagine that this served various water columns in the area. SLP had extensive locomotive shops.
Not all the tanks were of the steel on masonry style. Here are a couple of exceptions. First is a tank at Tomellín, just some 70 miles north of Oaxaca. And here's another steel on steel tank beside the station/yard at Cuautla, Morelos. That's where the narrow gauge 2-8-0 #279 still steams, although she doesn't fill up from this tank any longer. And just to be cute, I wanted to include this little flying saucer style tank that I shot at Zacatecas. It obviously wasn't a locomotove water tank, but it was unusual enough to include it here. In any case, hope you enjoyed this brief gallery of Mexican water tanks. Best regards Ed
Thank you so much for the links, Ed! I will try very shortly for the picture websites! Including this website's photo section! And thank you so much for your pics, I guess that Mexico is getting greater and greater in my mind, among other things when dealing about modelrailroading and railfanning purposes! I understand why you set there in Mexico, even with the consideration that I love Canada! Dom
Interesting photos. All you seem to see about Mexico in Trains and other magazines these days are articles about the mainlines that have been taken over and upgraded by the U.S. railroads, they give the impression that's all that is left in Mexico.
Well, that track in the Yucatan was concessioned to Genessee & Wyoming, and they ran it as the FC Chiapas-Mayab. Maybe they should have done more to upgrade their concession, as KCS has done with theirs. But there just isn't a lot of traffic on that stretch. They knew when they bid on the concession what condition the right of way was in, and the amount of traffic. I agree that it makes for interesting shots, but it doesn't do much for railroad service in that remote part of the country. Regards Ed
About Genesee & Wyoming, one has to know that they gave up their concession with Ferrocarril Chiapas Mayab last year, after the fall 2006 hurricanes nearly completely destroyed the line that goes from Medias Aguas to Ciudad Hidalgo on the Guatemala border. Myself I was very concerned about what was remaining of that company's network, but another mexican railroad, Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec (FIT), took the operations over. And that's what I have in my mind about that line's subsistance. I don't think FIT (that belongs to the federal state if I remember) operates that line only for social or History purposes. Social? No way for the handle of railroaders who are sufficient to operate that line (with 2 trains each way a week, you don't need any dispatcher, signal and turnout operators, etc..). History? generally History doesn't represent any weight when we consider economics. So what else? Well, in my opinion, why this railroad subsists against odds is that I guess it's economic to be operated: revenues are greater than expenses, I suppose. And even with the drawback of its poor condition, there are at least two customers in the Valladolid area that rely on it: the Valladolid Powerplant that needs tankcars of fuel, and a cementery close to Valladolid downtown that expediates a few boxcars every week. And this, although two highways that could allow trucks to link Valladolid to Merida in two hours (toll highway) or four hours (freeway). In this case, the 13-hour run between both cities seem not to be a problem, and is convenient for both the Railroad and the customers. An exemple to illustrate this? Well, as new member of http://www.rrpicturearchives.net , I had a great fun last week about two shots showing a boxcar: -one was a shot I took 2 weeks 1/2 ago when in Valladolid, -another shot taken 1 year ago in a yard in Mexico City by another fellow. Both shots are showing the same boxcar (same roadnumber). Funny, is'n it? Especially if I consider that I don't know the track condition further than Merida to Campeche, Medias Aguas and beyond, thus maybe meaning a very long time for trains to go from Merida to the remaining of the country and northwards (USA, Canada). Dom
Great water tank pictures, Ed! Obviously scratch built. Each tank is different. Of course the masonry is different, but the upper steel tank is also different on each tank.
Let me offer another possible scenario. I think the government appointed FIT (which, as you correctly state, is a government entity) as the interim operator of what's left of the system just to keep the railroad operations alive until they can auction off the concession again. If they just allowed operations to cease for a year or two, the few customers that still use the railroad would convert to trucks and probably never return as railroad customers. And even the minimal maintenance that FIT gives the line is better than no maintenance at all. Imagine the state of the line after two years with no trains and no maintenance. They're trying to protect the value of the line as a potential concession, as well as maintaining service to existing customers (including the government run power plant). Just my opinion, but I think that the entire Chipas-Mayab system was probably only marginally profitable to G&W. When they lost the southern half of the system due to hurricane damage (and the government showed little or no interest in rebuilding it, which was their responsibility) I think it became a money losing proposition. I think that FIT operates it now at a loss, but that it doesn't really matter as it is now effectively under government subsidy. The country had a long history of operating NdeM/FNM at a loss just to maintain railroad operations for the good of the country. The privatization scheme (better called the "private concession scheme" because the government still owns the railroads themselves and just issues long term leases to operate) was designed to get the country/government out from under that constant negative cash flow. And, of course, the govt didn't have the cash needed to invest in infrastructure improvements necessary to bring the whole network up to standards. I think this is just a continuation (supposedly just temporary) of that history. I guess we'll see how it plays out in the next couple of years. The government is still making noises like it intends to rebuild the damaged section, some day anyway. And they still say they plan on asking for bids for a new concession operator for the line. As railfans, we can only hope they keep it operating one way or another. Best regards Ed
Very interresting thoughts, Ed, thank you very much! I wasn't aware the railroad network still belongs to the state in Mexico.... But about that line in Yucatan and its very light traffic, that is something that amazes me: when we consider the Cancun resort area, that represents an huge amount of freight that is needed as a logistic support (food, materials, concrete,etc...)....Currently I don't know how all this is supplied to Cancun, only 95 miles beyond Valladolid. I suppose on board of ships as I can't imagine the tremendous amount of needed goods only trucked. One could imagine an extension of the line beyond Valladolid up to Cancun, in my opinion that could by itself justify the whole Railroad upgrading, up to Ferrocarril del Sureste interchange, at Medias Aguas if I've the correct location in my mind. And I believe in that the mexican gov't should not have the least difficulty to find a concessionner. Dom
More water tanks! Well we were on another of our railfan outings last weekend, and I had a chance to grab shots of three more old water tanks. While this really isn't the right thread to post stuff like this (since it's really a thread about the Yucatan), as long as I've already posted all the other ones here I guess I'll just show you the latest ones. First up is a tank at Apizaco, Tlaxcala. Apizaco used to be a very important rail center on the old FC Mexicano, but the locomotive shops are silent these days. This tank is located in between the yard and the locomotive servicing facility. I couldn't get closer to get a better shot. Notice the very large square cut-stone base. Different from the others I have seen. No spout visible on this side. I'm assuming that it either supplied water columns, or that the downspout was on the loco servicing side of the tank. Next up is an old tank at Grajales, Puebla. You can still see the stub of the pipe that opened into the downspout, and also the remains of the counterweight supports from the downspout. Note the angled walls (buttresses) at the back of the base. And finally, here's the tank at Oriental, Puebla. Another town that was an important rail center, also fallen on hard times. Here the cut-stone base is circular. Again you can see the remains of the outfall pipe and counterweight supports. Only because the question was raised in another thread, I'll mention that the caboose is used as a mobile crew car/dormitory. For that reason, it has two water tanks mounted on the roof. You can also see a hot water heater mounted vertically between the tanks. The tank of LP gas for the heater is inside the caboose. Regards Ed .
Some day I am going to have to come down for a tour. I may even get to use my 20 word Spanish vocabulary. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.
With pleasure! I'm going back to Cancun in 8 days. The day prior to departure I'll phone again to the line's dispatcher, and if fortunately there is a train running meanwhile, other pictures should be following!:tb-wink: Dom
Hi folks, currently beeing on a layover at Cancun, I was lucky enough 2 days ago as a train was running from Merida to Valladolid. The loco was GP38-2 #9417, sistership of #9418 I shot 2 months 1/2 ago. One hopper belonging to Cruz Azul, a very important mexican concrete manufacturer having a factory in Valladolid, and 12 tankcars for Valladolid's powerplant. The loco sports this marking on its cabin side: "1800hp". I guess its prime mover is derated, owing to mostly flat conditions and low track speed that are the rule in Yucatan. Infortunately as we were already at the middle of the afternoon, with a sun mostly lighting from the west and the train moving eastwards, most shots are done with the facing sun.... However, still a very thrilly day! Dom
Nice shots Dom. Good to see that you're still getting good info on when trains are running from your dispatcher contact. I'm still waiting to hear any news on when the government will go out for bids on awarding the concession to another rail firm. Meanwhile the F.I.T. continues to provide service. Regards Ed
