Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures) - Copper Canyon, Mexico

I hinted this was coming and now another one of my RRAdventure stories is about to begin. This time it is Copper Canyon, Mexico.

As the story proceeds my RRAdventures website will be updated so my readers here at TrainBoard will be the first to see this story unfold. I also plan to have a few Video Clips so my young fans will have more motion and sounds to enjoy with the parents like they did with my earlierRRAdventures stories too.
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Our trip began on April 8th in AZ and we headed south by bus

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I caught these cars out of the Bus window near Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. We were moving rather quickly so I didn't get a clear shot of their road numbers but you can tell the Box Cars have been repainted in one form or another.
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The next day we continued our bus ride south

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At this point we have reached Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico

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When FNM (NdeM) was split up and privatized in the 90's, they divided up the locomotives and rolling stock among the new railroads. Most of the old rolling stock got simple patch jobs with new reporting marks, so you'll see a lot of that on the trip. Even the locos have been slow to be repainted, and you still see a lot of the two-tone blue FNM paint scheme ("Smurf") with just a small symbol that designates which new railroad it belongs to. Some have small logos added. Some have been totally repainted.

Regards

Ed

 

Here's a good example. You can clearly make out the old NdeM noodle logo on the left side of the car. On the right is the "Unir Servir" ("Uniting serving") logo. But on the left side you can see the reporting marks have been patched to FXE (Ferromex).

Regards

Ed

 

THANKS Ed for the extra information you can supply on this topic

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Cervecería Modelo del Noroeste, S.A. de C.V.

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For grins, this is an image from Google Earth exactly where my images are taken from

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Yeah, I noticed that too. Just my guess, but I suspect he has done that on purpose to keep us from "reading ahead".

 

Yep!

You my friends here at TrainBoard will be the first to see this topic unfold as I'm only uploading the next set of images just before I post them here.

:giggle7yc::biggrin9xs::biggrin9xs::biggrin9xs:
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Several Ferromex Box Cars at Cervecería Modelo del Noroeste

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A few more Ferromex Box Cars

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Including some new (i.e. non-patched) cars. Although I see that not all have escaped grafitti.

Ed (glad to see today's installment come out before my bedtime.......)

 

We pass though Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico before reaching our hotel for the night

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Train Day!!!!!!! - El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico

Our Wake Up call came at 05:30 AM so we could get breakfast and take our bus over to the station in time for a 7:30 departure.
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El Fuerte Station / Depot (838.6km)

We won't be traveling the entire line (420 miles) but if we did we would pass though 86 tunnels and over 32 trestles. The section we will travel over will however travel though most of them.

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The line itself took 89 years from concept to final spike. The railroad was planned in 1872 by Albert Owen. After several failures, bankruptcies, etc. the Mexican Goverment bought the railroad and the first trian from Chihuahua arrived in Los Mochis in 1961.
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The best book on the history of this railroad is John Leeds Kerr's book "Destination Topolobampo". Out of print, but it shows up fairly often on ebay.

Owen may have originally planned or dreamed of the route, but it was Arthur Stillwell (of KCS fame, "Port Arthur, TX") who created the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient RR (KCM&O) and who actually built most of the line.

Another major glitch in construction was the Mexican Revolution, which shut down construction for several years, and destroyed a considerable amount of rolling stock and infrastructure. When the government finally started work on trying to complete the hardest section, through the canyon, they had to pour a huge amount of money into it.

You didn't miss much by starting in El Fuerte. The line from Topolobampo (on the coast) or Los Mochis has only climbed about 600 feet in 50 or so miles to get to this point. Plus, you got to sleep in an extra 2-1/2 hours. The train starts from Los Mochis at 06:00.

Here's a link to the line mileposts (in kilometers) and elevation (in meters).
http://www.chepe.com.mx/ing_html/mapa/altura.html

Regards

Ed

 

Well, the train is late, about 90 minutes to wait. Just like Amtrak...

So, let's check out the equipment that is around here

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]FXE #575010 Bulkhead Flat Car

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